These Are The Greatest F1 Liveries Of All Time

You have to admit, there is no other livery in the history of the sport that has made Alain Prost look like he has little Sonic the Hedgehog feet. The Camel/Canon combo was already a pretty compelling one, but add in the Sega tie-in for the Japanese Grand Prix, and you’ve got the makings of an all-timer.

It could be argued that Gold Leaf was the first true livery in motorsport, really bringing sponsors to the forefront. Money is way more important than the “national color” to denote which arbitrarily drawn border your car was built within. Money is what makes cars fast. Lotus understood that.

Papaya is just a good color.

This is a totally subjective pick, because I was living in Spain when Fernando Alonso was winning his first championship, and pictures of his race car were absolutely everywhere. Every Santander bank and Telefonica Movil store had a picture of the Renault R25 in the window.

I remember watching the first race of the 2009 season and wondering how the hell Ross Brawn picked up the broken pieces of the 2008 Honda departure and made it go fast. It was a hell of a car, and its simple eye-searing green on white livery with almost no sponsors is a true banger. This kind of thing will never happen again.

Red Bull Cola bangs, and I’m sad I can’t buy it anymore.

Simplicity is a winner here with the modern pre-Alpine Renault. It wasn’t particularly fast, and it probably has a bit too much black, but this is a solid simple livery.

Formula 1 is practically defined by Ferrari, and it’s impossible to make this list without including one, so it should be the best one. The Sharknose was a tremendous car, and slathering it in Rosso with a simple white number and a pair of Cavallino Rampantes is everything the doctor ordered.

I just love teal.

I simply have no notes here. This is truly an all-time great livery. An icon of the sport.

This is a perfect use of color and shape. This was another fabulous but fragile machine, as it suffered more retirements than points finishes. It looked good doing it, though.

You can’t deny that Martini is one of the greatest liveries of all time. Put that familiar dark blue-red-light blue stripe on anything and it’s instantly better. Put it on a red background, and you’ve got a true winner. This is miles better than a white background.

I don’t think anything needs to be said about this one.

Red Bull are cowards for never running this “dazzle” livery in competition.

Number one couldn’t really be anything else, could it?