From Bold to Beautiful: Ranking the Liveries of 2024
The liveries of 2024 showcased an impressive range of creativity and innovation, with each team bringing their unique style and personality to their designs. What is your top 10?
I. Introduction
A livery is a design or color scheme applied to a vehicle, often used in racing to distinguish one team or driver from another. Liveries can be simple or complex, incorporating logos, patterns, and colors that represent a team's sponsors, identity, or personality. In Formula 1 racing and not only, liveries play a significant role in the visual appeal of the sport, adding to the excitement and spectacle of the sport. In this article, we aim to rank the liveries of the 2024 racing season based on their design and aesthetic appeal.
II. Criteria for Ranking
To rank the liveries of the 2024 racing season, we will use several criteria to assess their design and aesthetic appeal. The first factor we will consider is the color scheme, looking at how well the colors complement each other and reflect the team's identity or sponsors. Secondly, we will evaluate the graphics, including patterns and shapes, to see how well they convey the team's message and add to the visual interest of the livery. We will also examine how the sponsor logos are incorporated into the livery and whether they are well integrated or distract from the overall design. Finally, we will evaluate the overall impression of the livery, taking into account factors such as balance, coherence, and uniqueness. A livery should be visually appealing and memorable, while also representing the team or driver in a way that is recognizable and consistent. By using these criteria, we hope to provide an objective and comprehensive ranking of the liveries of the 2024 racing season.
III. The Rankings
Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team
Mercedes launched a fresh new livery that combines the former styles used in the last years, the silver and the black colors, separated with the teal of Petronas and including the INEOS red. The car looks silver from the front and black from the sides, moving also the teal line above the sidepods. The livery looks like a banger.
Scuderia Ferrari
Ferrari continued their iconic red liveries, adding this year some subtle yellow and while lines that show the car curves. The livery also contains more carbon than in the last years, but in a very subtle way, not being too visible from the front or sides. In the same time, we also have red and black on both the front and the back wings.
Visa Cash App RB F1 Team
The former Alpha Tauri team got rebranded with new named sponsors and a new color combination. The livery contains a mix of white with metallic blue and red text, incorporating also the Red Bull iconic bull. This livery transmits Toro Rosso vibes.
Cognizant Aston Martin F1 Team
Aston Martin established their Formula 1 brand by using the iconic racing green color that made them famous and this year's livery continues that legacy. Although the livery contains more carbon than in the last years, it does this in a similar way with Scuderia Ferrari, making it less visible from both the front and the sides.
Oracle Red Bull Racing
Red Bull have delivered the same livery as last year, following the design used for years now, but this is not a bad thing. The Red Bull livery is one of the best liveries of Formula 1 and although it might be boring to see the same livery year after year, it has become a brand for the company.
Williams Racing
The matt blue design is an evolution of the livery introduced in the last years and again it seems to be an improvement. The design integration of the Duracell sponsor onto the livery is very smart and the subtle white and red lines look good. The livery seems also to have more sponsors than the years before.
McLaren F1 Team
The presence of the papaya orange on the grid is definitely a gain for the sport. McLaren have improved the livery launched during the last years and it looks good. Still, for this year, they gave up the cyan and although some people consider this an improvement, personally, I think this is not. Having a lot of black carbon with a few elements painted orange, for me it's not enough. I continue to like the Chrome wheel covers.
Kick Sauber
A new naming partner for Sauber brings also the biggest change in terms of liveries on the grid. The former Alfa Romeo banger livery is gone, being replaced with a very bold green and black livery. It definitely adds color on the grid, but the livery is totally lacking sponsors, with Stake being present on the car from most angles.
MoneyGram Haas F1 Team
Haas continued also with the color scheme presented in the last years, a combination of white, black and a hint of red. This year they have added black on the car nose, making it have a different vibe, especially from the front. Still, a lot of areas of the livery are a little bit messy, with too many lines and colors at one time.
BWT Alpine F1 Team
Alpine is the only team that launched two liveries, as usual, but this year, the differences between them are quite small. The livery totally lacks paint, being just a black car with some inserts of blue and pink. The car barely looks painted and especially the black nose, does not look good at all.
IV. Wheel Covers
Since moving to the larger wheels, a few years ago, the wheel covers have become a part of the liveries. Team have started to paint them in more and more creative ways. You can check the design of all wheel covers for 2024 in the following post:
My personal favorites are the ones on the Scuderia Ferrari and the BWT Alpine F1 Team cars, while the ones on the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team or Williams Racing seem to be less inspired. But what do you think?
V. Conclusion
In conclusion, after carefully evaluating the liveries of the 2024 racing season based on their design and aesthetic appeal, I have compiled the above list of the top 10 liveries. The last places go to BWT Alpine F1 Team, followed by MoneyGram Haas F1 Team and Kick Sauber, with the top liveries of the season being Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team, Scuderia Ferrari and Visa Cash App RB F1 Team. But that is my opinion. Do you think differently?
I encourage readers to share their own opinions and favorite liveries in the comments section or on social media, as well as to appreciate the hard work and creativity of the teams and designers who make the liveries come to life. As the racing season continues, we look forward to seeing more stunning liveries on the track and celebrating the importance of good design in racing.