#Livery Watch

[racingliners]

Livery Watch 2024 - End of Season Poll

So many one-off liveries, so little time... but which one was your favourite?

As I did last year, for the sake of fairness, I've listed one livery for each team (with the exception of Aston Martin, who did not get in on the one-off livery fun this year). Pictures of each livery will be listed below the cut. Plead your case for your favourites, give them your own ratings... as I am super into liveries I'm super curious to know what everyone else on f1blr thinks of the special liveries we got this season!

please reblog for sample size and go off in the tags as much as your heart desires 💚

Alpine - Las Vegas, Qatar & Abu Dhabi GPs 'Al-Pink' livery

Ferrari - Miami GP 'Blue' livery

Haas - United States GP livery

McLaren - United States GP 'Chrome' livery

Mercedes - Singapore GP 'Petronas 50th Anniversary' livery

Racing Bulls - Miami GP 'Gradient' livery

Red Bull - 'REBL CUSTMS - Stallion Red' livery

Sauber - Las Vegas GP 'Flame' livery

Williams - British GP 'Staff Tribute' Livery

[heartburiedingreece]

2023 miami red bull livery appreciation post

[skitskatdacat63]

2009 Singapore Grand Prix - Fernando Alonso

[alexjcrowley]

Rip most frenemies from F1 you would have loved the Andrea-Emily relationship from The Devil wears Prada

[familyabolisher]

turns out all i needed to feel like i could function again was a nice hangout with a friend where we drank pints and watched planes landing while the sun set & then to switch jobs on near-total impulse the next morning. Girl who is going to be writing again any minute now

[molliemoo3]

Am I gonna miss Callum in Indycar this year??? Yes, of course. Does the JHR being ugly and the Jota being gold and pretty help the sadness??? Yes, yes it does

[lvd2]

[batsplat]

hai hai i just read ur aliens aesthetics ranking and while yeah i get the boredom with honda's liveries, r any other teams really doing anything interesting w/ their liveries/aesthetics? maybe im just new but i feel like there's too much red on the grid rn

(aesthetic post) there IS too much red on the grid, though the red situation I imagine is about to get somewhat better. my understanding is that tech3's rebrand to bring it more in line with the general ktm ethos (bankruptcy) is also probably going to make it look quite similar to the main ktm. so like. more brown. the perception of a lot of red is also inevitably related to who's WINNING most of the races (and who the tv cameras show). if, say, the top 5 in 2025 is in any order martin, acosta, diggia, marquez and bagnaia... then that'd be two red bikes, a brown bike, a black bike, and a wonderfully yellow bike. red bikes winning THIS much is a disease of the early 2020s and it will eventually pass

I don't think anyone is doing something particularly interesting with their liveries right now... it's specifically repsol honda I'm bullying just for doing the SAME thing for about twenty years. I Would Like to make it very Clear that I don't have anything against the concept per se!! it's literally just... look. if I put on a race in 2005, I might see a yamaha, a ducati and a honda (admittedly in that year probably not a repsol honda but let's ignore that) fighting for position

and if I put on a race in 2010, I might see a yamaha, a ducati and a honda fighting for position

and if I put on a race in 2015, I might see a yamaha, a ducati and a honda fighting for position

and if I put on a race in 2020, I might see a yamaha, a ducati and a honda fighting for position

look, I'm not saying ducati in particular are reinventing the wheel here but... I mean, come on. you've got to admit I've got a point here. also historically yamaha and ducati had the decency to occasionally suck, which meant they're less ever-present on my screen. during the early 2010s for ducati and late 2010s for yamaha, I will be seeing considerably less of them than I do honda. whereas repsol honda only kinda sucked for very select periods in the noughties

so I've just seen too much of that livery!! it's ALWAYS the exact same two shades of orange with the white in between, very minimal variation. at least ducati switches up the shade of red!! obviously honda suck NOW, which has at least caused repsol to pack it in - giving us a quite different livery in 2024 and presumably a completely different livery this year now that repsol's properly gone. except the problem is they suck SO bad that when I try to picture the 2024 honda in my head, what my brain does is 'take a 2002 honda and stretch it out' because I barely SAW the repsol honda on my screen. so the thing that has made the aesthetics more tolerable to me results in me no longer seeing the bike at all. I would actually say last year's honda was one of my favourite liveries!! like. look at it (this post may be the first and last time seeing this bike for some people)

it's nice!! arguably a bit busy with the colours but, again, honestly at this point that's a plus as far as I'm concerned. it's distinctive, clearly recognisable... I mean the repsol thing at the bottom is probably the worst part of that livery and it does feel a bit two concepts at once, but honda's lost repsol now so. fine!

the problem pre-2024 is just how LITTLE variation there was. like I'd even have supported if they just changed the colouring of the front and back bit, as in the aforementioned 2002 livery (ignore how badly the yellow clashes with the orange, admittedly watching two years' worth of races with this guy winning also didn't help my feelings towards that livery)

but even the front thingy is orange from 2006 onwards!! at a certain point I'm just sick of seeing it!! and I get that neither of these liveries would be workable all-year round, but valencia 2003/aragon 2011 did show that there are theoretically different ways you can make a motorcycle orange

also the lack of individual variation between most repsol honda riders over the years... I'm not even getting a bit of a switch-up in colours depending on WHICH honda rider I am currently watching win. compare and contrast the honda and yamaha situation

but to bring it back to like. the actual subject of the ask. I think part of the issue with the current lot is that it's tougher these days anyway to come up with particularly nice designs for these bikes. partly it's because they're rather bulky now. though.... I mean, looking at some of the special liveries from last year silverstone.... the honda in particular made me go 'okay so you guys CAN come up with nice designs'. also people understandably ragged on vr46 for not just copying one of the countless nice liveries valentino had over the years, but I actually reckon I'd quite like it as a normal livery. nothing special in a still photo but it looked really nice in action tbh, partly because.... again. it does have to be said that the yellow in moderation does wonders for visibility

the vr46 livery does, however, kinda point to the big problem.... sponsorships. too many bloody sponsorships. it's really escalated over the past decade and it just makes it harder to do nice stuff with your liveries. in a way you HAVE to keep it simple so there's enough space for all the clutter. this is why pecco had his extremely justified whinge about HIS special livery last year

yes, ducati did half-ass it, but a big problem is the massive lenovo logo. also, the energy drinks. I don't massively mind either logo per se but I'm also sick of seeing those by now and it's not really making me more inclined to buy either brand if I'm being honest. though the worst sin there is still not what they put on the helmets or leathers or bikes or whatever else they can get their hands on - it's how they make the riders awkwardly carry the cans every time they pose on the podium. the only things riders should be holding on podiums is helmets and each other

anyway in terms of current teams' liveries (just going off 2024 since we've only seen a couple new ones)... I mean, look, you might dislike it on grounds of 'taste' or 'basic aesthetic sensibility' or 'health of your ocular nerve' but the vr46 livery unquestionably clears the 'doing something interesting' hurdle. I don't massively mind the yamaha livery per se but I DO mind that they stopped updating it several years ago, and I've already made my feelings on THAT kind of behaviour very clear. ducati I think could do with a slightly brighter livery again. ktm looks Fine but it's also mostly just a massive red bull logo, which... I've seen enough of. as previously discussed wrt gresini... I do think they were doing something interesting with the red stripes, it's just that I'm not a massive fan of the actual bike colour

I liked pramac last year and the year before!! I'm not saying I think the purple/red combo is the height of good taste - but it's clearly visible, memorable, and at least they're doing SOMETHING

it's more interesting than the blue and red they used to have - I think the one with the white base colour probably works better, especially given how dark a lot of the bikes it's fighting were, though I genuinely did like both

and the other one that's generally a winner year on year is aprilia

which, yes, it's mostly just a black bike. but it uses its highlights well - including on the livery - and the black base colour means that it doesn't look super cluttered with the sponsors. also aprilia doesn't have a title sponsor to take up a lot of space anyway, and their poverty is our gain

in conclusion. I really do just think teams should properly switch up their liveries every few years. I'm not even super picky WHAT the switch up is, it's just about giving my eyes something new to look at every now and again. this post is two years too late since honda has by now at last listened to my advice and lost their biggest sponsor because they suck so badly. but unfortunately they have left me with an obscenely large back catalogue of races featuring hondas that look too similar to each other, which. disappointing

[roscoehamiltons]

8 and 16 for the end of F1 season asks!

8. Favourite special helmet:

Lando's Hungary helmet

Esteban's Hungary helmet

Charles' Mexico helmet

bonus fave is Alex's China helmet bc it's both awesome and terrifying at the same time

16. What I'm most excited to see next year:

Besides lewis at ferrari 😺... there are some teammate pairings that I find interesting and am looking forward to seeing how things develop in terms of their dynamic and head-to-head battles! Of course this includes lewis/charles but also george/kimi, lando/oscar and alex/carlos!

ask me things for the f1 2024 Season ask game!

[racingliners]

Livery Watch 2025: Predictions & Wishlist

(to the rough tune of The Boys Are Back from High School Musical 3) 🎶Livery Watch is back! Livery Watch is back! (Oh yeah)🎶

Not gonna lie, I have very much enjoyed the F1 Winter Break of 2024-25 - so much happened last season that I personally really needed it. But! As we know the F1 grind never stops and the big F1-75 livery launch show is tomorrow! So it's time for me to dust off Livery Watch for another season.

As ever, my first post of the year is always a combination of my wishlist and a vague attempt at predicting what each team's core livery for 2024 will look like. I'll then reblog this post with my thoughts and ratings of each livery, to see how right or wrong I was. And I'm not trying to think about how potentially stressful tomorrow is going to be with all 10 liveries in one night but that's for tomorrow me.

So, let's get into it!

McLaren: I feel somewhat filled with subdued confidence that McLaren are going to carry on with a half-papaya orange half-exposed carbon livery as they have done for the past two seasons. In an ideal world I would like more papaya and less carbon on the car, but after the Alpine debacle last season I will accept literally any amount of paint on the car.

Ferrari: The law of averages says that if you do the same thing over and over, it'll eventually happen. So for the third Livery Watch in succession I am once again asking for the return of the Tuscany 2020 burgundy livery. And honestly, looking at Ferrari's instagram posts through January, plus after seeing the 2025 team kit and driver overalls, all the signs seem to be pointing to a darker red livery than Ferrari have used in previous years... so the hopium levels are currently very high. To go full wish list I'd love to see some white accents, similar to the Las Vegas 2023 livery.

Red Bull: As has been mentioned many a time here on racingliners dot tumblr dot com, I yearn for the return of the soft metallic dark blue livery of the 2010s. But let's be real, we're probably gonna get the same livery Red Bull have sported since 2016 so my expectations are currently below sea level. Hopefully it won't look as bad as the team kit.

Mercedes: I honestly would not have one single complaint if they just ran the W15 livery again. I loved it so much and I think it deserves to be showcased on a better car (the potential of the W16 notwithstanding). As we know, Toto Wolff has said in interviews that Mercedes are going to continue having black as part of the Mercedes livery which I'm really glad to hear, not just from the meaning of it but also because the black, silver and turquoise colour scheme has become really synonymous with Mercedes - so I'm expecting some kind of combination of the three on the W16.

Aston Martin: To repeat what I said in the tags of a post I reblogged earlier today - if there is any exposed carbon on the AMR25 I will be suing Lawrence Stroll for emotional damages without hesitation. The Aston Martin livery is the epitome of 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' for me, and also goes to show that you 100% can repeat a livery year on year if it works. And having been so lucky to see the Aston Martin safety car in person at a local car show last August - the glossy metallic Aston Martin green is the perfect colour. (I'm also making a quilt that's half Aston Martin colours so I also need them to not radically change their colour scheme so I don't end up with egg on my face).

Alpine: It has to be said that Alpine was very much the biggest disappointment of Livery Watch 2024, and I don't think I'm ever going to fully recover from it. So before I even think about the car's colour scheme I literally just want the car to be painted. Please. I'll even stop wishing for the downfall of Flavio Briatore (okay I probably won't but please just paint the bloody car). To briefly be more serious, the 2025 Alpine overalls feature a lot more pink than in previous seasons - I would like to hope that indicates that there will be more pink on the car. But looking at Alpine's social media over the past few days I think the livery is going to be a mix of French racing blue and the aforementioned BWT pink.

Haas: I can't see Haas going massively off-piste given that MoneyGram are staying on as the team's title sponsor, though I'm interested to see how or if Haas' technical partnership with Toyota will influence the livery in anyway. In terms of fully going off vibes aka looking at the team kit pictures, I do wonder if the livery is doing to feature more red as the Haas team kit for 2025 features some very red sleeves (which, I'm not massively keen on, but I don't think I have it in me to start Team Kit Watch).

Racing Bulls: Am I still riding the high of my shot in the dark wish of the return of the 2017-2019 Toro Rosso drinks can livery? Yes. Yes I am. And I'm massively hoping that Racing Bulls (worth noting they've stopped going by RB, so we thankfully don't have to hear them be called VCARB anymore) are going to carry that livery into 2025 - though hopefully with less red and white Hugo Boss stripes. I didn't enjoy them on the 2024 car and I think it would have looked so much better without them. But the medium metallic blue and silver Red Bull logos? Yes please.

Williams: Having watched the FW47 car launch and seen the 2025 Williams team kit - I feel pretty confident in saying that the livery is going to be some shade of dark blue. The introduction of Atlassian as title sponsor for 2025 could maybe introduce some lighter sky blue accents as the logo on the team kit and overalls is a different colour, and I would definitely welcome a mix of colours - especially if it's executed in a similar way to the 2023 geometric livery. And most importantly, I want to see the continuation of the duracell battery on the air intake above the cockpit please and thank you.

Sauber: Yes I'm still refusing to call them Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber because I still have better things to do with my time, but since 2025 is the second of the two year partnership deal before Sauber morphs into Audi next year - I'm fully expecting the carbon black and neon green combination again. Though hopefully with more green than black.

[vaguely-concerned]

having emotions about the headcanon that ingellvar left all their gold jewelry (I think emmrich calls it a watcher's 'grave dowry' which they accumulate and wear through their lifetime in preparation for their eventual burial which like. god I love these goth freaks) behind when they left the grand necropolis because as far as they're concerned they're being sent into exile and it doesn't seem right to bring it with them........

[racingcore]

Two hypercars to my very small collection.

[chussyracing]

which livery are you most excited for?

ferrari since it's my one true love and always has been (also because last year's launch was the best ever launch i have ever seen from any team ever, so the expectations are set high). other than that i'm curious about williams, because i love the blue color and i'm a SUCKER for the duracell sponsorship part of ther livery (they better keep it)

[collecting--stardust]

Ai ogura during P2 of German GP

[userblaney]

the fam dont like indy. rood.

[akorah]

The scent of jet fuel, the sound of idling Airbuses, the flickering of runway lights, and the breeze from jets landing on the runway are always guaranteed to feel like home.