2024 Grid livery Ranking
Ranking the 2024 car liveries from one to ten is extremely difficult this season; every car is beautiful. There is a nice mixture of entirely new liveries, some with slight variations from last season and some with no changes. You're seeing a theme with more teams having more black in the car because paint adds weight, making it a heavier, slower car. I have ranked them from one to ten. Please understand I'm looking at 10 of the most beautiful cars in auto racing; ranking all these gorgeous cars is tough. So, I have to pick specific attributes I like about them.
At Number One, I went with the Visa Cash App Racing Bulls. With a significant improvement from last year, VCARB hit with the nostalgia of the old Toro Rosso cars, a fan favorite. Many beloved drivers raced in those Toro Rosso colors, and all F1 fans have a sweet spot for Toro Rosso as a team; it was an all-time great livery. It is a much more captivating livery, from the simple Navy blue and white last year to this bright blue, white, red, and even a few bright spots of green with the cash app logo. It's a fantastic rebrand. Nostalgia always wins in the hearts of F1 fans, so Danny in one of the great liveries of recent F1 is a win for me. This will be one of the most exciting teams on the grid this season, and the rebranded livery absolutely delivered.
Number Two, making a bold claim, I have the Stake Sauber F1 C44. This is a complete Overhaul from last year, with an entirely new black and neon green look. It was a very bold move by the Stake Sauber team. I put it at two because they went bold, and you should be rewarded when you go bold, and it turns out good. I hope this car grows on fans over the season. Sauber leaned heavily into the neon stake sponsorship. If this car is fast, it will be very distinguishable amongst the other cars on the grid. I hope it will become a fan favorite over the season. I can’t recall the last time a team used a majority neon livery. I am a fan!
Number Three, I have Scuderia Ferrari. Ferrari has always had a great livery and a great brand identity. It's the oldest team on the grid and has been the most consistent; sometimes, it can get a little bland, but adding the yellow and white stripes on the car livened up the beautiful Rosso Corsa (Ferrari Red) base. It's not too overpowering, which is excellent and gives me an early 2000s Ferrari vibe when they were a dominant team.
Number Four, I have the McLaren MCL38. The most notable change is dropping the blue coloring on the car from the past few seasons and going with a strictly papaya and black, a great move, in my opinion. It simplifies the car, but it makes it a little bit meaner. In my opinion, That blue softened the car slightly, making it look slow at times. I love the simple papaya orange and black. It also has a throwback stripe pattern similar to the famous Marlboro McLaren cars of the 80s & 90s with the red and white stripes. This is a beautiful car by McLaren.
Number Five is the AMG Mercedes Petronas W15, bringing back some silver this season. Famously the "silver arrows," for which they've been known, Mercedes transitioned into the darker black livery in the last few seasons, a beautiful car. Still, I was delighted that they brought back the silver. The bright silver on the nose, a teal pinstripe, mixing with the black carbon fiber, is a nice touch. It's beautiful. They did a great job of not making it overpowering. It's still a primarily black car, but adding these lighter and brighter attributes gives it a throwback vibe. Also highlighted is the red air intake above the driver's head, which is becoming their signature, giving the nod of red for Niki Lauda. It's a great combination of the past decade for Lewis's last year with Mercedes.
Number Six, I have the Williams FW46. It's a basic livery; They kept it similar to last season with a few changes. It's a pretty car, straightforward, with lovely shades of blue. The Duracell battery placement at the air intake on top of the car is among the best product placements in sports marketing. This really boosts it up the rankings for me; it is a brilliant marketing move. It's simple. It's elegant; It reminds me of a traditional Williams vibe.
Number Seven. I've got the BWT Alpine A524. It's a heavily black/carbon fiber-based car with a pink and French blue mixture. I love this car. It's not overpowering with too much of one color. They did an excellent job balancing the blue, the pink, and the black. It's a beautiful car and will be very pretty on the grid.
Number Eight, I have the Red Bull RB20. A traditional Red Bull livery, it's beautiful and iconic. It's very easy to recognize this brand, and that's important when you are a company like Red Bull, and it's all about identifying a product. It's a beautiful car, traditional dark blue with pops of yellow and red throughout it. It's a lovely car, and I do like it. I expect the one-off liveries throughout this season that will enhance this base livery, and those are always very cool. I get it; if it isn't broken, don't fix it, but I would like to see more change, a flip-flop of the color palette throughout the car. A heavier yellow-based or even white car could shake up the classic RB livery. Again, it's beautiful, but ranking it at eight majorly comes from the lack of variation over the last few seasons.
Number Nine, I have the Aston Martin AMR 24. Nine sounds disrespectful to this beautiful car, but changes and progressions to liveries weighed heavily in ranking this season's cars. Aston Martin is very similar to last year's car. I love the slight change in the green; it's more of a metallic British racing green with little pops of neon yellow. Blending in nicely, the car has a black base with the Aston Martin green and a few neon yellow pops. I want more variation, maybe a little more neon. Neon is fast, bright, and looks great on a race car. I've gotten a sluggish Vibe from the Aston Martin livery in the past few seasons. The change in color to the more traditional British Racing green is a step in the right direction 100%. I may regret putting this car at nine as the season continues, but I could see this growing on me quickly.
Number 10. I have the Haas VF24. There is little change from the traditional Haas livery, black, white, and red. You could look at it and know that it's a Haas car without the Haas logo on it. It is still a beautiful car, But I would have liked to see some variation from last season. We've seen different variations of Haas over the previous few seasons, but it's traditional. The team is trying to cut costs and run very lean this year, so significant changes to the livery were not expected. On a side note, I would have enjoyed a completely stripped-down livery (Brawn GP) making a statement as a sign of starting over or a rebirth.
I have to judge these things because I'm picking a top 10, but they're all beautiful cars; this is one of the prettiest grids I've seen in a long time. Bold moves and personal touches swayed the rankings heavily for me.
Let me know what you think and how you would rank the liveries of 2024.
