Its that time of year where people start making concepts of what they think the F1 cars should look like. And every year, the F1 community comes up with some fantastic designs that work extremely well and would really stand out. And for the past few years, everyone would be disappointed when the actual thing is revealed to be an extremely dull, uninspiring colour scheme. Take the 2015 Sauber C34 for example. Will Buxton (WillTheF1Journo) likened it to a livery designed in Microsoft Paint in 1998. That is an understatement. If someone gave me MS Paint 1998, I could probably design a much better and more inspiring livery quite easily, and so could most other people. In fact, I could probably design a much better livery on paper, like many others can. So what's different about the actual livery designers? Why can't they just get some colouring pencils out and think of good livery ideas that would make them stand out? And if they are struggling for ideas, how about they look at all the concepts that are done of their cars? When I design CRC cars, it takes like 15-20 minutes to come up with a good idea that works as a proper livery, unlike the dull designs F1 teams come up with? It just feels for the past 2 years, teams have just been slapping paint onto their cars in the hope it makes it look good without putting thought into it...
Here's what I, as a graphic design student, feel each team should do, which includes concepts I have done for each teams.
Mercedes
For the last few years, Mercedes have sported a silver livery with green highlights to reflect the Petronas brand. Mercedes changing from silver would be like Ferrari changing from red. Their silver comes from one race in the 1930s where their car was painted in white, but one race, the car is overweight, so they scratched off the white paint to make their car lighter and then raced to victory, They have raced in silver since, so I think they should scrap the green and black highlights and just go for a plain silver design. Like this...
That livery would work very well because its old school and fits in with the Mercedes tradition, and it would be easily recognisable as a Mercedes. Yes Petronas probably pay to have Mercedes paint the green on their car, but they are a rich company, they don't need the money. But to be honest I doubt they are going to go down this route unfortunately, and I think their livery is going to be similar to the 2015 car.
Here is my concept.
As you can see the base design, I got from the above concept, but I've made it a bit more realistic. I've put the Petronas logo back on the sidepod and moved the number up to the engine cover. This actually has a positive effect as I actually think the number works better on the engine cover than on the sidepod. This means goodbye to the big Mercedes logo on the engine cover but judging by the Mercedes site, it seems BlackBerry have gone as a sponsor, which creates space on the side of the bulkhead, which I think is a perfect position for the Mercedes logo. Something like this would be brilliant for Mercedes' livery, as it is a retro livery brought up to modern standards. Of course the car will probably have a similar livery to last year as I said, but I don't know why, as in my opinion, the Petronas logo stands out better on this design than it does on the green.
Ferrari
With one historic brand I said they should simplify their livery to make more of an impact, with another I think Ferrari should add more to their red livery. Look at their 1976 car...
With a bit of modernising and accommodating to the team's current sponsors, this could look fantastic on a modern F1 car and it is a livery that would work. And here is an example...
This is my concept. As you can see, I've basically taken the livery from above but modernised it, by adding the current sponsors. This livery works as its old school, its recognisable and it would make Ferrari stand out as a brand. Something else to note, it wouldn't be visible in this shot but why not put the driver names in the retro 'handwritten' font, the way Niki Lauda's name was written on the 1976 Ferrari.
Williams
This car I don't have much to say they should do or criticise about their livery because this is one of the few liveries on the 2015 grid that I think works very well. Since the livery was first used in 2014, people said more could be made out of the Martini stripes, but in my opinion, they've done the best they can out of them. If they made more out of the stripes, it would just look too 'junked up.' I think they should stick with this design for many more years because it works.
As you can see the concept I've done is the same livery as its predecessor, but I have rearranged a few of the sponsors. I've removed the sponsors that are not on the Williams site, because if their not on the site, then its likely they have parted company with the team. I've given BT a bit more exposure, such a large company needs that exposure.
Red Bull
Red Bull is another one of the liveries on the 2015 grid that worked. It is colourful and really shows off Red Bull as a brand really well. The addition of the purple in 2013, at first I didn't really like it, but it grew on me. Unfortunately, the purple is most likely going to go seen as they have lost the Infiniti sponsorship to Renault. What I think they should do is just have a livery similar to 2012, before the Infiniti sponsorship took over, as that is the livery all their junior drivers carry, so there is no reason why they shouldn't do it, but judging by the fact they are holding a livery launch event tomorrow seemingly with Tag Heuer as a massive part of it does make me think we might see something different to that.
With this concept, I have basically taken the 2015 livery, but replaced the Infiniti branding with Tag Heuer branding. This livery works, especially as after the loss of Caterham, green has become a sparse colour to the F1 grid.
Recently, Jehan Daruvala in the Toyota challenge series used this livery on his car, which implies we might expect to see something different this year. Especially as only twice have Force India stuck with the same livery as before.
This is the concept I produced. One notable absence is the Sahara logos, but it does seem that Sahara want to sell their stake in the team, so that logo may be absent from the car this year. Also gone is the silver on this concept. Now the white parts I did try in silver but it did not really work as well as they do when white. I've also added Kingfisher red back to the car, which with Sahara gone, they might return to being their title sponsor, the red really works with the rest of the car.
The bull on the side is very distinctive, its colourful and it really works well as a livery for a Red Bull junior team. Its a mega design that should be carried out on their 2016 car.
This is the concept I have done. As you can see, I have basically taken their 2006-2008 livery but also added the modern attributes seen on a Toro Rosso these days. One notable thing I have also done is added the number to the endplate, which really fits in well with the bull. I honestly have no idea why they even ditched this livery in 2009 in the first place.
Renault
When Renault returned to F1, the big talking point was what livery they were going to use, as a constructor they were known for having striking liveries.
The 2010 Renault R30 was probably my favourite livery ever to be on the F1 grid. It was bold, it was striking, and easily recognisable as a Renault. It wasn't too simple, but also wasn't too packed. It was mega.
When Renault unveiled their '2016 testcar' at the launch, we all grimaced when the sheets were taken off. Renault had been on twitter asking people to send them their concepts, and what was unveiled was a plain black car with touches of yellow. (the car seen above the R30 in this post) We all couldn't believe after all the concepts sent to them and all the competitions they ran regarding liveries, they came up with that. We all breathed a sigh of relief when it was revealed just to be a testing livery and a new livery will be unveiled before Melbourne.
This is the concept I have done. I have gone for an 80s style livery. It took a bit of experimenting before I painted a design that I was happy with. The yellow, black and white, really gives off an old school feel. Another retro touch I've added as well, is I've put a 'Turbo' sign with black lines beside it on the engine cover, as seen on the Renaults of the 1980s, which adds a bit more to the livery and also makes sense seen as they invented the turbo in F1.
Sauber
As I mentioned earlier, the Sauber C34 was one of the major livery letdowns of the 2015 season. I spoke a lot about this livery at the start of the post. When the rumours came around that they'd incorporate a blue and yellow livery, everyone was excited, but then they obviously unveiled that.
This is the concept I did for the 2016 Sauber. I've included a bit of Nasr's GP2 car from 2014 into it, as well as getting inspiration from the Saubers of the early-mid 2000s. I've also changed the shade of blue from that dull plastic blue seen on the 2015 car to a metallic blue. This livery I feel works as it isn't too simple but not too packed. It gives a Renault e.dams Formula E feel.
McLaren
When the McLaren MP4-30 was launched, everyone was dissastified with it. I personally had no problem with it, but a lot of people disliked it so they changed the livery to this...
This was an OK looking car, but not the red and white many fans were hoping for. Many concepts had come up of a packed white, red and black livery for the McLaren Honda, but I think they should go for a reasonably simple approach.
Here for the concept, I've painted McLaren's Marlboro livery onto the car but gone for a modern approach, by adding the black accents to separate the red and the white, which really modernises it. Its a livery that works.
Manor
Manor have always produced an extremely nice livery from the start of their days in F1. In so little time before they made the grid, they incorporated a really nice, striking livery, with red and white. Blue was added to the colour scheme at Silverstone courtesy of Flex-Box, which at first I didn't think went with the car but it grew on me.
Since then Manor unveiled this new logo, which does imply we might expect to see something different this year, but I think the red will remain, but more black will be seen on the car.
This is the mockup I've done on the Manor. As you can see, I've incorporated a red, black, white and FlexBox blue colour scheme. This really is a unique stand-out livery, which has shades of their 2014 car which in my opinion they should bring back as well as their sponsors.
Haas
There has been plenty of speculation about what Haas F1's first ever livery is going to be. Gene Haas said he likes yellow, which implies we are going to see a yellow car on the grid. But their garages, trucks and pit equipment are white, black and red...
However I don't think this means we are not going to see Haas paint their first car yellow. In fact yellow might work quite well with that.
This concept I've done uses yellow as the base colour, but with some white, black and red from the teams' equipment incorporated. Other notable things I have included on the livery are a rendition of the stars and stripes on the rear wing endplate, inspired by what Manor ran at the US GP last year (with the blue painted in black instead to fit in with the team's colours. I also put the number on the engine cover. All American motorsport teams make their numbers clearly visible, so I felt that was something that must be included.
So there we have it, what I feel each team should do with their liveries this year. Lets hope that when the real things come out, starting with the Red Bull livery tomorrow, we are not disappointed.
Ferrari
With one historic brand I said they should simplify their livery to make more of an impact, with another I think Ferrari should add more to their red livery. Look at their 1976 car...
With a bit of modernising and accommodating to the team's current sponsors, this could look fantastic on a modern F1 car and it is a livery that would work. And here is an example...
That is a design that would work extremely well. There are rumours of them going for a red and white livery this year, and I do really hope they go down this route, because its bold, it makes an impact and fits in with Ferrari's traditions...
This is my concept. As you can see, I've basically taken the livery from above but modernised it, by adding the current sponsors. This livery works as its old school, its recognisable and it would make Ferrari stand out as a brand. Something else to note, it wouldn't be visible in this shot but why not put the driver names in the retro 'handwritten' font, the way Niki Lauda's name was written on the 1976 Ferrari.
Williams
This car I don't have much to say they should do or criticise about their livery because this is one of the few liveries on the 2015 grid that I think works very well. Since the livery was first used in 2014, people said more could be made out of the Martini stripes, but in my opinion, they've done the best they can out of them. If they made more out of the stripes, it would just look too 'junked up.' I think they should stick with this design for many more years because it works.
As you can see the concept I've done is the same livery as its predecessor, but I have rearranged a few of the sponsors. I've removed the sponsors that are not on the Williams site, because if their not on the site, then its likely they have parted company with the team. I've given BT a bit more exposure, such a large company needs that exposure.
Red Bull
Red Bull is another one of the liveries on the 2015 grid that worked. It is colourful and really shows off Red Bull as a brand really well. The addition of the purple in 2013, at first I didn't really like it, but it grew on me. Unfortunately, the purple is most likely going to go seen as they have lost the Infiniti sponsorship to Renault. What I think they should do is just have a livery similar to 2012, before the Infiniti sponsorship took over, as that is the livery all their junior drivers carry, so there is no reason why they shouldn't do it, but judging by the fact they are holding a livery launch event tomorrow seemingly with Tag Heuer as a massive part of it does make me think we might see something different to that.
With this concept, I have basically taken the 2015 livery, but replaced the Infiniti branding with Tag Heuer branding. This livery works, especially as after the loss of Caterham, green has become a sparse colour to the F1 grid.
Force India
Force India is another team that I thought had a striking design in 2015. The black and the silver alone would've been an extremely dull livery, but the orange lines separating the silver and the black turn it into a striking and stunning design, but I feel this is a design that only works for one year.
Recently, Jehan Daruvala in the Toyota challenge series used this livery on his car, which implies we might expect to see something different this year. Especially as only twice have Force India stuck with the same livery as before.
This is the concept I produced. One notable absence is the Sahara logos, but it does seem that Sahara want to sell their stake in the team, so that logo may be absent from the car this year. Also gone is the silver on this concept. Now the white parts I did try in silver but it did not really work as well as they do when white. I've also added Kingfisher red back to the car, which with Sahara gone, they might return to being their title sponsor, the red really works with the rest of the car.
Toro Rosso
Alone, as a design, the Toro Rosso is a very nice livery, but the fact it's too similar to the Red Bull is the thing that bugs me about this livery, especially with Red Bull losing the Infiniti sponsorship, I feel they need to do something different this year. I think they should go back in time and recreate their 2006-2008 livery on their 2016 car, especially as Cepsa are gone which gives them more freedom.
The bull on the side is very distinctive, its colourful and it really works well as a livery for a Red Bull junior team. Its a mega design that should be carried out on their 2016 car.
This is the concept I have done. As you can see, I have basically taken their 2006-2008 livery but also added the modern attributes seen on a Toro Rosso these days. One notable thing I have also done is added the number to the endplate, which really fits in well with the bull. I honestly have no idea why they even ditched this livery in 2009 in the first place.
Renault
When Renault returned to F1, the big talking point was what livery they were going to use, as a constructor they were known for having striking liveries.
The 2010 Renault R30 was probably my favourite livery ever to be on the F1 grid. It was bold, it was striking, and easily recognisable as a Renault. It wasn't too simple, but also wasn't too packed. It was mega.
When Renault unveiled their '2016 testcar' at the launch, we all grimaced when the sheets were taken off. Renault had been on twitter asking people to send them their concepts, and what was unveiled was a plain black car with touches of yellow. (the car seen above the R30 in this post) We all couldn't believe after all the concepts sent to them and all the competitions they ran regarding liveries, they came up with that. We all breathed a sigh of relief when it was revealed just to be a testing livery and a new livery will be unveiled before Melbourne.
This is the concept I have done. I have gone for an 80s style livery. It took a bit of experimenting before I painted a design that I was happy with. The yellow, black and white, really gives off an old school feel. Another retro touch I've added as well, is I've put a 'Turbo' sign with black lines beside it on the engine cover, as seen on the Renaults of the 1980s, which adds a bit more to the livery and also makes sense seen as they invented the turbo in F1.
Sauber
As I mentioned earlier, the Sauber C34 was one of the major livery letdowns of the 2015 season. I spoke a lot about this livery at the start of the post. When the rumours came around that they'd incorporate a blue and yellow livery, everyone was excited, but then they obviously unveiled that.
This is the concept I did for the 2016 Sauber. I've included a bit of Nasr's GP2 car from 2014 into it, as well as getting inspiration from the Saubers of the early-mid 2000s. I've also changed the shade of blue from that dull plastic blue seen on the 2015 car to a metallic blue. This livery I feel works as it isn't too simple but not too packed. It gives a Renault e.dams Formula E feel.
McLaren
When the McLaren MP4-30 was launched, everyone was dissastified with it. I personally had no problem with it, but a lot of people disliked it so they changed the livery to this...
This was an OK looking car, but not the red and white many fans were hoping for. Many concepts had come up of a packed white, red and black livery for the McLaren Honda, but I think they should go for a reasonably simple approach.
Here for the concept, I've painted McLaren's Marlboro livery onto the car but gone for a modern approach, by adding the black accents to separate the red and the white, which really modernises it. Its a livery that works.
Manor
Manor have always produced an extremely nice livery from the start of their days in F1. In so little time before they made the grid, they incorporated a really nice, striking livery, with red and white. Blue was added to the colour scheme at Silverstone courtesy of Flex-Box, which at first I didn't think went with the car but it grew on me.
Since then Manor unveiled this new logo, which does imply we might expect to see something different this year, but I think the red will remain, but more black will be seen on the car.
This is the mockup I've done on the Manor. As you can see, I've incorporated a red, black, white and FlexBox blue colour scheme. This really is a unique stand-out livery, which has shades of their 2014 car which in my opinion they should bring back as well as their sponsors.
Haas
There has been plenty of speculation about what Haas F1's first ever livery is going to be. Gene Haas said he likes yellow, which implies we are going to see a yellow car on the grid. But their garages, trucks and pit equipment are white, black and red...
However I don't think this means we are not going to see Haas paint their first car yellow. In fact yellow might work quite well with that.
This concept I've done uses yellow as the base colour, but with some white, black and red from the teams' equipment incorporated. Other notable things I have included on the livery are a rendition of the stars and stripes on the rear wing endplate, inspired by what Manor ran at the US GP last year (with the blue painted in black instead to fit in with the team's colours. I also put the number on the engine cover. All American motorsport teams make their numbers clearly visible, so I felt that was something that must be included.
So there we have it, what I feel each team should do with their liveries this year. Lets hope that when the real things come out, starting with the Red Bull livery tomorrow, we are not disappointed.
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