Formula 1 2026's first pre-season test gave us a first proper chance to see how this year's liveries look in the flesh.
So we asked The Race's Creative Lead, Oliver Card, to cast his expert eye over the seven liveries revealed so far (with four more to come before the first Bahrain test) and rank them from 'worst' to best.
We say 'worst', because in Card's view, this is a really solid year of visuals - partly aided by F1's new livery rules, where teams now have to paint more of their car.
7: Alpine - Effort placed elsewhere
This was my top livery for 2025 and this is a mostly copy + paste job for this year. Absolutely fine from a design perspective, it isn’t an issue to have visual continuity (see Red Bull Racing years 2016 - 2025), however it does feel odd not to build on last year’s eye-catching design as we enter a new era of F1.
The good news for Alpine is that last year’s concept translates very well on its 2026 car, so with some minor dialling of accents here and there it still works. The bubblegum pink still pops and the glossy Alpine blue is still dynamic.
Considering the results from last year, you would think the team might want to shake things up a bit so it doesn’t bring back memories of an underwhelming season, but perhaps the wider message is “we’re focussing our energy elsewhere”. As the old adage goes, if you stand still, you go backwards and its lower ranking is reflective more so of other teams making big improvements rather than this being in any way a poor livery.
6: Audi - Understated menace on a mission
Audi has a rich heritage in motorsport, so it was always going to be interesting to see exactly where it pitched its 2026 challenger. There have been a few concepts along the way, most attention-grabbing in 2022 when it announced its intentions to join F1 as engine suppliers with an eye-catching striped Audi Sport livery that was brilliant, if entirely sponsor unfriendly.
Skip to 2026 and the final iteration had emerged and surprised many with a stark tri-tone design dominated by a titanium tone that nods to the Germanic silver of its racing predecessors. One person’s minimalism is another person’s tedious; its relatively simple form may have disappointed some, but I think it makes total sense as a commercial-focussed mission to represent the consumer luxury automotive brand over the Audi Sport racing division.
The geometric colour blocking is precise and anti-frenetic, differentiating itself from the more ubiquitous horizontal lines of teams like Mercedes and Racing Bulls. It’s an intelligent technique to set itself apart from the pack and gives the commercial department clear, luxurious real estate to sell to prospective sponsors seeking prime visibility. There is a risk of some dilution of this vision as new partners start to clutter the cleanliness, but only time will tell how this evolves.
Audi’s lava red has a fearsome vibrancy about it, a tone plucked from the fiery hot intensity of glowing brake discs (a nice tie-in to its initial TV idents seen on the Sky Sports F1 2025 season coverage). This new red tone can be tricky to capture on camera, ranging from orange to deep red under different lighting conditions, so it will be interesting to see how it will be perceived in real-world conditions. But set against glossy blacks, the rings look so deliciously menacing that I wouldn’t be surprised to see a hobbit flinging them into the nearest volcano.
5: Mercedes - Sending shockwaves
From the front view, this feels very much like the well-executed 2025 concept, but as we scan down the car, the clean silver lines disrupt into a new shockwave graphic that ripples off into a black foundation, finished with the familiar Mercedes-Benz star pattern. It’s busy, with a few different concepts brought together across the car, but pulls off an eye-catching package.
The star motif has become a set feature of recent Mercedes liveries, something we’re now increasingly seeing across the radiator grilles of Mercedes’ EV range, which is a nice tie-in from a consumer perspective. I am drawn most to the bird’s eye view as the most aesthetically pleasing, and I think it’s primarily because it features the most silver and shows the shockwave concept at its best. These new stripes seem to have caused confusion amongst fans; are they Adidas stripes? Are they AMG fins? This means the livery is provoking the right questions for the brands paying big money for presence on the car.
Speaking of which, Microsoft now has prominence on either side of the air intake and the front wings. This means Mercedes has lost some of its silver gradient on top of the car as the black has been increased to assist with sponsor visibility, but considering it integrates the tech company’s full colour window icon, I’ve seen clunkier integrations down the grid.
4: Ferrari - HP sorespot eases
Ferrari’s SF-26 livery returns to a glossy, punchier Scuderia red, that is offset with a larger white upper section (fringed with a clean pin stripe) that hugs the airbox and engine cover, eventually clipping upwards, leaving a large red expanse towards the tail for the car’s gratifyingly legible driver numbers (big tick). If the pinstripe was yellow, as seen on 2024’s SF-24, it could work well as a bridging accent between the white and red, but overall, this approach is a big improvement on 2025.
I would imagine that last year’s Lauda-inspired livery for Monza was a useful case study for this 2026 contender. It would be ill-advised (but potentially Tifosi pleasing) to go full 1970s retro, so this is a happy midpoint. The increased white means that the dominant HP logo now has more breathing room and finally starts to look settled on the car. If there are any negatives to adding more white, it would be that with Lewis Hamilton’s yellow helmet, there is a risk of the top view being “fried egg on a red plate”, but this may also be a consequence of staring at these shots for too long (and skipping breakfast this morning).
Speaking of colours, having blue on a Ferrari isn't sacrilegious (see the Fiat logo on F1-90, etc) but towards the back the rear-facing blue wing adorned with the IBM logo is still a little problematic. Blue is acceptable as an accent but works less effectively as a full panel colour; it would still be visually impactful if it was a blue IBM logo on a white background.
I'd also be tempted to apply white to the front and rear wings rather than black which is less complementary to the blue and white HP logos. The black tones ground the car, but bringing in more white could potentially tie the concept together more effectively from nose to tail.
3: Racing Bulls - Big brother botherer
Red Bull may have made a big statement this year, but the sister team have built on their crowd-pleasing 2025 livery to deliver a look that has stayed true to its established identity for 2026.
Racing Bulls retains its predominantly white base that, similar to Haas, is enhanced by sleek detailing accented elements that hug the form of the bodywork, giving the overall effect of a raked, lean machine.
There are a lot of challenging elements for a designer to contend with (integrating sponsors’ red, green, yellow, blue, white and black accents for a start). Gone are the mini bulls from the engine cover (which helps to declutter and is no great loss) and in its place is a more Ford-friendly panel. From its side profile, you’d be forgiven for thinking the contrasting blue and white cross points are a nod to veteran Red Bull driver David Coulthard’s Saltire-inspired helmet, but overall, Racing Bulls have delivered a livery that is greater than the sum of its many parts.
The Toro Rosso-era designs are still the brand’s high watermark, and I think it still feels like this could be a Red Bull one-off special rather than its own defined character, but that in itself is still praise. In fact, it is one of the most handsome liveries this year, threatens to steal the spotlight of its big brother and features potentially my favourite graphic detail in the form of the excellent chunky red driver numbers on the engine cover.
2: Red Bull - Better, brighter blues
Be still my beating heart (or maybe that's just the energy drink talking) after the best part of a decade, Red Bull’s livery has finally had an overhaul! Gone is the darker matte-era design that was introduced in 2016. It was iconic but well-worn towards the end of its tenure. The new ‘Ford’ era sees the team change from the navy to a glossier racing blue with crisp white accents. This approach has a neat double purpose, signalling a new chapter under Ford-backed RB Powertrains and also harking to the team’s first chapter in F1. Utilising chunky white outlines on the bull and wordmark balance a retro tone without being pastiche and ties in with Ford’s own brand identity.
Across the body, a new pixel-glitch blue pattern features the Red Bull wordmark ghosting through, adding an extra layer of texture that’s been missing and an edge that is more aligned to Red Bull’s active and adventurous brand perception. It feels more joyful and in your face, as a thrill-seeking brand like Red Bull really should do.
I’d prefer to see more Ford blue than carbon on the lower body sections to really reinforce the partnership message home, but overall, it is a very cohesive and synergetic package from one of F1’s great disrupters.
1: Haas - GRrrrreat!
Historically, Haas liveries never steal the spotlight, but in recent years, the designer has consistently delivered nose-to-tail concepts that feel well considered and balanced.
In its 11th year, Haas has taken a step forward to create an elegant modern classic that reminds me of what BAR Honda did so brilliantly in the mid-2000s. Haas have played to the strengths of the new body shapes and everything works in blissful harmony. It's minimal without being undercooked and dynamic enough without being over designed, laced with select swooping and diving graphic elements that are characterful and sponsor-friendly.
The most notable brand placement comes in the form of Toyota’s motorsport division Gazoo Racing’s GR, which utilises the shark fin and works with the flow of the car, rather than being at odds with it like other title sponsors. The negative tracking of the GR typography see the letters overlap, but it is still recognisable from its extracted source. It shows the power of a brand willing to be flexible enough with the representation of its identity to complement the livery.
If I had one tiny tweak I’d like to explore it would be to give some of the red elements a little frayed edging in line with Toyota’s other race liveries across Le Mans, WRC and their previous time in F1, but that isn’t anything to take away from the great job Haas has done this year.
It feels like a genuine partnership, not a contractual obligation and many other sponsors could learn from this flexible approach to brand representation to create a more positive sentiment for fans.
