The 10 Best Liveries of the Decade
We are coming up to that time of year, where throughout late February and early March we get our first look at the new cars for the approaching season ahead. Therefore, I thought it would be the perfect time to look back over the past decade, and enjoy the very best liveries F1 has had to offer.
These liveries cannot be one-offs. They are all designs which were used at least for the majority, if not the entirety, of the season.
10. Red Bull 2018
We have seen this design year in year out since 2016, when the Red Bull design team dropped the purple aspect of the previous livery in 2015. This car's look narrowly defeats the other iterations of the recent Red Bulls, purely because that TAG Heuer branding in between the spoiler and the side pod just looks marginally better than recent Honda branding. However, there really isn't much in it at all.
9. Racing Point 2018
Force India, and then Racing Point, went bold introducing a new pink livery in 2017 for their headline sponsor BWT. Whilst the original pink livery in 2017 looked below average, the 2018 iteration looked incredible. The pink was much brighter, and the SportPesa blue really added to the car unlike with Racing Points in 2019 and 2020, with the bright blue on the front wing, top of the engine cover and spoiler pairing superbly with the pink.
8. McLaren 2012
This livery is just so iconic, especially on the best McLaren we have seen since 2008. The shiny chrome, coupled with the bright red on the sidepod and the spoiler are a great match, creating a great looking car. The further aspects of red across the car prevent it looking boring, but also keep it looking clean and simple.
7. Lotus 2013
The 2013 iteration of this car was easily the best looking. It brought more red to the car than in 2012, giving it a better balance of black, gold and red. Lotus managed to really make this gold shine to create a great contrast to the black base of the car, unlike Haas in 2019.
6. Mercedes 2020
The black with the Petronas teal gliding through it looks amazing, and the INEOS red at the top of the car adds nicely to the livery too. That red star in tribute to Niki Lauda adds a nice detail to the car, adding even more meaning behind the special BLM-inspired design.
5. Alfa Romeo 2020
The mirrored design of the red background with white accents on the top half and the white background with red accents on the bottom half ensure this livery is highly pleasing to the eye. The Alfa Romeo branding on the side pod looks great too, and the red and white, again mirrored look, of the Huski Chocolate and Orlen branding on the front wing top the look off really nicely.
4. Caterham 2013
There isn't too much to say about this one, with the simple design on the Caterham. The green is what does it for me. It is beautiful and rare, and goes a treat with the white and yellow aspects on the car. This livery looks far superior to the other, darker green Caterham cars.
3. Toro Rosso 2018
Toro Rosso finally brightened up their car to a much shinier, positive blue in 2017 after running a very dark blue for years. The 2018 design went that extra step to look just a little better. The COLA branding on the side of the rear wings was a more colourful blue, white and red combo rather than just red like in 2017. The KFC branding filled in what had been a relatively empty spot on the 2017 car, with bold white text that matched the Bull and the Red Bull text perfectly. Also, the halo on the 2018 Toro Rosso compliments the design well, continuing the theme of the bright blue.
2. Force India 2014
This livery isn't talked about often enough. Force India used the colours of the Indian flag to create their liveries up to 2013, and it worked well. However, this livery is on another level. The black base with the Indian colours are blended extraordinarily well. The white on the front and spoiler of the car gives the design satisfying symmetry, and the orange on the sidepod looks amazing. The green just tops it off, showing a very well designed livery that was able to bring together four colours in a way in which they complimented each other perfectly.
Winner: McLaren 2020
The livery of the decade. We take that beautiful orange from the 2015 Force India, and expand it over the main body of the car and the halo. This third edition of the papaya and blue McLaren was the most exciting and lovely one yet. Like on the 2013 Lotus, the secondary colour on the car works incredibly well on the sidepod, air intake and front of the spoiler. This beautiful blue is also added to the front wing, to really help us enjoy that great combination of bright blue and papaya equally. With McLaren's growing success, the 2020 livery was filled with way more sponsors than it previously was, giving the car a really positive look without any empty spaces. The bright 'we race as one' colours on the rear end of the bottom of the sidepod give the car an even more vibrant, colourful appeal.
That's it! There was my 10 best liveries of the past decade. Which livery would you rank highest? Let me know on Instagram or twitter, both @sebonf1
Check out last week's article here!
https://www.sebonf1.com/post/ultimate-f1-calendar-for-2022