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It's weirdly heartening to see that, as F1 and Liberty Media try to push flashy but empty spectacles like the Miami and Las Vegas Grands Prix as their flagship events, half the grid is actually going in on COTA for some snazzy one-off liveries.
There's no clear rhyme or reason as to who's bringing a new look (apart from Cadillac – we get it, you're American, now find a new gimmick like 'scoring points'), but we've got five confirmed one-off paint schemes this weekend, and that seems like the kind of thing that an F1 website would mention.
Mercedes, Ferrari, Haas, Aston Martin and Cadillac will all look a little different on track this weekend – some more than others – so we decided to rank the new looks. We'll start on the low end with...
If an honest to god full-time F1 writer has to look for the press release to figure out how your car is supposed to look different, you have done a bad job of making your car look different.
Apparently this is a link with their 'cross-brand car customisation programme' MANUFAKTUR. The car looks exactly the same, except that some of the silver bits have been slightly tinted blue. Maybe it looks clearer on track, but in the promo images it just looks like a Mercedes under some studio lights. Also, 'MANUFAKTUR' is a terrible name.
One large motorsport website called this a 'dramatic new look' in their headline. There used to be a thing called shame.
The nose of the car fades from green into blue, with a slightly sci-fi looking pattern underlying it. That's about it? [Edit: prior to publication, it was pointed out there there's actually a little bit of the same blue on the engine cover fin and on a little bit of the side of the car as accents. We regret very slightly understating the amount of this car that is blue]
We'd love to expand on how Aston described the look in their own press release, but they...didn't. It is referred to as a 'special livery' four times in five paragraphs (and again in a quote from Lawrence Stroll), but that is the only description you're getting of it.
Boring livery addition, didn't try to sell it as looking cool or thematic at all, the only positives here are that 1) you can actually see it, and 2) they focused the redesign on the only bit of the car that other teams will see from their mirrors.
Very cool. The whole engine cover section has been whited out and replaced with technical drawings, in intricate high detail. This looks absolutely wicked, regardless of whether it actually maps onto what's going on inside it (it doesn't).
This might be a case of getting a bit too cute, though. The big blue HP logo in the middle of an otherwise black and white design might hint gently at who had the biggest hand in the creation process, and they've also decided to show off a bit by making a 'dedicated display car' with extra details which 'fluoresce blue under ultraviolet light'.
Sick little school project, guys. But if you're making a livery for an F1 car, we want to be able to see the cool details on an F1 track. That's kind of the whole point, actually. Not too bothered by a museum piece that looks cool under UV light, but thanks anyway.
Oh, and remember the Aston Martin issue where there was just no detail at all in the press release? Ferrari's two and a half pager (not counting images) might, if anything, be over-detailed.
"HP print technology and race-proven vehicle wrapping expertise helped translate Ferrari’s intricate graphics onto the Formula 1 car, enabling the design to flow seamlessly across its complex bodywork while withstanding the heat, handling and maintenance procedures scheduled throughout the race weekend."
You mean like...every livery on every F1 car does? You made a cool-looking engine cover, guys. Just tell us about that. You don't have to tell us that it isn't going to catch fire or tear, even the paralytically stupid among us had figured that much out.
In terms of pure theming and effort, this is up there with the very best of the bunch. It fits the Wild West theme perfectly – if this car wore a hat, that thing would have a high crown and a wiiiiide brim.
Cadillac's livery looks hand-stitched on, with an incredibly intricate design all over the body of the car, with all of the black sections 'stitched onto' the white base.
It's an absolutely delightful little work of art, and makes it over the Ferrari effort because of how well it fits this race in particular.
Godzilla is wicked.
Haas' Godzilla livery was fantastic when they did it in the traditional black, white and red colour scheme for the Japanese Grand Prix earlier in the year, but this fresh one – electric blue on white, with lightning crackling around it – absolutely takes the cake.
Does it have anything to do with the race being in Texas? Absolutely not! This is to promote the release of Godzilla Minus Zero, the sequel to 2023's Godzilla Minus One, which comes out at the start of next month.
It's one thing to stick a different coloured nose on your car, or have an engine cover with some nice sketches on it, but any time you completely change your colour scheme and stick the King of the Monsters over your driver's shoulder, you've already won us over.
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