It’s been a whirlwind month of February in Formula One. There was the announcement that Madrid would be joining the calendar in 2026, then the series rejected Andretti’s bid to join the grid in 2025 or 2026, Oh, and then it was announced that Lewis Hamilton would leave Mercedes to join Ferrari after the 2024 season.
Amid all that, it’s easy to forget that the month of February is usually reserved for teams to unveil their cars for the new season. While F1 has been abuzz with breaking news bombshells, all 10 teams have still found the time to launch their new liveries for 2024.
Now that the event spaces that hosted all those launch parties have been swept up, ESPN’s Laurence Edmondson, Nate Saunders and Austin Lindberg pore over the photos from those nights to determine whose new look is most eye-catching. This is the 2024 Formula One livery Power Rankings:
10. Alpine
This car was revealed alongside Alpine’s new WEC entry at the launch in Enstone. All I’ll say is Google “Alpine A424” and you’ll see how the livery should look. — Edmondson
Rubbish. I could have done better on Microsoft Paint. Alpine has struggled to forge a meaningful identity in F1 since 2021, and this livery being so nondescript only reinforces that feeling. I still don’t know what this team or this brand stands for. — Saunders
This had so, so much potential. I love how the various shades of pink and blue overlay one another, in these angular shapes that recall the “A” of the Alpine logo. It’s just so disappointing that we see so little of that because someone with a calculator in Enstone determined that every brushstroke would cost the team eight millionths of a second over the course of a race. — Lindberg
9. Williams
Smart, business like, a bit boring. There’s lots of complaints about how much carbon fibre we see on the grid, but no one complains about the amount of blue. Anyway, the Duracell airbox still makes me smile. — Edmondson
Not great, not terrible. A bit underwhelming for a team like Williams. I agree on the Duracell airbox, but otherwise this livery leaves me wanting more. — Saunders
I do like the bright blue on top of the nose and the back half of the sidepods, but there’s a lot of navy on this car that I’m not sure is going to pop when it’s not under studio lights and in front of bright blue LCD screens. — Lindberg
8. Sauber
That’s a lot of exposed carbon fibre, even by 2024 standards, and it’s broken up by … haphazardly conceptualised lines of neon green? Am I supposed to think of a circuit board? Is Stake moving to Formula E? — Lindberg
Yes, there’s lots of black, but this is a striking colour we haven’t had on the grid for a long time. I’m a sucker for NFL Color Rush kits and loved the fluorescent flashes on the Brawn GP car in 2009. I feel like there’s parts of both concepts at play here and it works for a team trying to be a little outside of the box. It could be better, but the palette of the grid’s cars has been getting blander every year, so overall this is a welcome new addition. — Saunders
I don’t hate it, I really don’t. This team wanted a unique identity on the grid and the lurid green achieves that. Also, let them have some fun before the corporate figures from Audi arrive and start having six-hour meetings over the size and location of their four rings. — Edmondson
7. Haas
At least Haas’s cars were varying shades of black and grey before F1’s fad diet of exposed carbon fibre. I’m not sure that’s the kind of trendsetting anyone should feel too proud of, though. — Lindberg
Controversial opinion klaxon: What’s wrong with carbon fibre? On a road car you’d pay eye-watering amounts of money to see this much of the stuff. Done right, like Haas has with contrasting white and red, I think it looks sharp. — Edmondson
I agree. “Sharp” is the perfect word. This isn’t a mess of colours like some of the other cars on the grid. I like the use of the front and rear wing to proudly and prominently carry the red associated with the team’s logo. The flashes of white are also a great touch. — Saunders
6. McLaren
I wish they would fully embrace the papaya shade of orange Bruce McLaren’s early cars made famous as they have done in other series, like the car Fernando Alonso first raced with at the Indy 500 in 2017. Maybe that’s too much to ask of in F1 at the moment. This is close enough for now. — Saunders
I’m glad they ditched the blue, but the Google colours on the wheels still clash with an otherwise-sleek livery. Extra points for the chevron design where the two colours meet, which I can only assume is an intentional nod towards the Marlboro McLarens of the 1980s and 1990s. — Edmondson
Bit of a shame that the most striking part of this livery is CEO Zak Brown’s ability to sell sponsorship real estate, but agreed, Laurence, the nod to the liveries of Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna is a very nice touch. — Lindberg
5. RB
There’s a lot to like about this, a good mix of colours and almost no exposed carbon fibre. Fans are, rightly, annoyed by the team’s nonsensical name, but this is at least a throwback to something from Red Bull’s racing heritage. It passes the “will it look good on track” test. — Saunders
Toro Rosso, back from the dead. — Lindberg
If the Buffalo Bills had sponsored Toro Rosso between 2017 and 2019, this is what the car would have looked like — and I’m all for it. More importantly, this livery sees the return of a rare thing in F1: gloss paint. Everyone seems to use a matte finish nowadays, which has the tendency to make all liveries look flat. — Edmondson
4. Ferrari
I had two nagging feelings about this car. One, it looks more like a billboard than most, with sponsors clumsily scattered all over. Two, if you told me the white and yellow lines were added at the last second as an afterthought, I would believe you. It just looks a bit messy, but Ferrari red always looks good. It’s an uphill battle for those in Maranello, though; to me, Michael Schumacher’s cars (red with shades of white) of the early-2000s were perfect. Hard to get close. — Saunders
I grew up in the 1990s, so for me the perfect Ferrari livery is simple: deep glossy red on the body, black wings, optional gold wheels. It’s probably a controversial opinion, but I preferred last year’s design. — Edmondson
Ferrari has a nasty habit of defining a season’s car by an awkwardly shaped accent line or a clumsy-looking geometric shape, but not this year. The yellow and white lines look entirely natural and neatly accentuate what every racing Ferrari, outside of October 1964, should be: a sea of red. — Lindberg
3. Red Bull
Copy, paste, win the title, repeat. I have respect for the “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” approach. — Edmondson
Ditto. I’ve always liked this iteration of Red Bull’s livery. This look also has an aura about it after being a main character in 2021’s amazing season and then the two dominant seasons that have followed. — Saunders
This will be the ninth straight season in which the livery, apart from the shuffling of a few sponsors, will be identical. I’m old enough to remember Red Bull’s mission statement when it launched its F1 programme in 2005: “To win and to do it differently.” — Lindberg
2. Mercedes
A nice mix of old and new. Fittingly (but also unknowingly) for Hamilton’s last season, he will race in a car that looks like a mix of different title-winning cars from the past 10 years. It might not be the most appealing or inspiring colour, but if you’re called the Silver Arrows, you get away with it. Viewed straight on, especially, this car looks great. — Saunders
This feels like a compromise solution between the fans who wanted the return of all silver and the fans who believe the W11 (the first all-black livery in 2020) will never be improved upon. Like all good compromises, it’ll probably leave neither side satisfied. — Edmondson
I don’t know, Laurence, I feel pretty satisfied with Mercedes successfully marrying the silver and black design concepts. It’s a perfect livery for Hamilton’s farewell season in Brackley. — Lindberg
1. Aston Martin
If you can’t make British racing green look good, you’re doing something wrong. One point lost for the exposed carbon fibre on the sidepods, otherwise this is ace. — Saunders
Still one of the best-looking cars on the grid. Points are lost for the clashing green of Aramco on the rear wing and the seemingly unnecessary addition of more exposed carbon fibre on the sidepods. — Edmondson
I like Aston’s neon accent colour, but dialing it back a notch is probably more fitting for the brand. Let that British racing green sing. — Lindberg