With the 2026 Formula One season now less than two weeks away, fans have now had their first glimpses of all 11 teams’ cars, after testing in Barcelona and Bahrain.
Despite the sweeping regulation changes affecting how each team designs and builds their cars, the liveries themselves naturally also draw plenty of attention.
While the on-track form won’t really be known in full until qualifying in Melbourne, we can at the very least judge how the cars look. Here’s how the 2026 liveries stack up:
Enzo Ferrari famously once said: “Give a child a sheet of paper, some colours and ask him to draw a car, he will surely make it red.”
Thirty-eight years after his death, though, Ferrari’s 2026 showing makes a mockery of that.
While previous Ferrari offerings have been red and nothing but, this year’s livery features an unhealthy smearing of white, with the cynical suggestion being that it’s solely to ensure Hewlett-Packard’s logo stands out.
Try again next year.
Even hiring legendary car designer Adrian Newey couldn’t help Aston Martin this time around.
As well as being bogged down by problems with its new Honda power unit, Aston Martin’s 2026 livery makes sure the team’s woes extend off track too.
The colour scheme, which has never really worked, still looks bad.
At all levels, improvement cannot come soon enough for Aston Martin.
Similar to its 2025 car, you just can’t overlook the fact that Alpine’s Renault connection is completely gone.
While 2020 might have been horrible in giving us a pandemic, it was the last time we saw Renault’s yellow livery, which was always a personal favourite.
Understandably, after finishing last in 2025, Alpine’s focus has clearly been on performance, rather than looks.
Even when combined with the pink, the Alpine is just another blue-ish car on the 2026 grid. We have enough of those already.
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it?
With the 2025 constructors and drivers championship on the mantlepiece, McLaren’s new livery doesn’t look terrible at all.
However, it does seem as though very little thought or effort went into this year’s car.
Points for Lando Norris taking the No 1 from Max Verstappen, though.
This year, Williams have gone for a lighter shade of blue, and added a splash of white for good measure.
Another team to have so far struggled in adapting to the new regulations in testing, missing the Barcelona shakedown, Williams do at least look the part on the track.
Points lost, though, for appearing to be the team whose car is the most decked out in sponsors, with the addition of English bank Barclays taking up more room.
To be honest, any Haas livery is an upgrade from their 2021 effort, when the Mazepin family poured in enough money to turn the then only US Formula One team’s car into the Russian flag.
Haas have done well to avoid going for a red, white and blue to assert themselves as the best American offering now that Cadillac is on board.
While pre-season testing did see promising results for Haas, the team produced a pretty middle-of-the-pack effort in their livery.
“It looks fast” – Liam Lawson, 2026.
Racing Bulls have more or less kept the same design that worked for them last year, but consistency is key in Formula One.
Last year saw Racing Bulls move away from their blue-dominant livery to white, separating themselves from Red Bull.
This year’s entry isn’t too different, with the exception of a bit more blue – but after the success of 2025, you can’t blame them.
Excellently described by a colleague as “the Batmobile”.
As the newest team on the grid, Cadillac’s first design is simple and effective. While teams can, and do, tie themselves in knots with colour schemes and whatnot, Cadillac have gone for a simple black-and-white look for their first year in Formula One.
They might finish last in every race, but at least they’ll look good while doing it.
Mercedes have kept their black-and-silver hybrid colour scheme for another year, and you understand why.
Having moved on from the all-silver design in 2020, and spent five seasons with an all-black livery, this year sees them continue with a hybrid of both.
It might not be drastically different from last year’s design, but the simplicity just works for a team expected to be the ones to beat this year.
Nostalgia points for bringing back the glossy paint job, and memories of the Sebastian Vettel era with it.
While the past 10 years have seen Red Bull win titles with a darker, matte finish, it is a sign that the team are looking to start afresh after Christian Horner’s exit midway through 2025.
However, Horner was insistent that the glossy paint was slower, given the way air moves across the car. So the proof of the pudding will be in the eating as to how Red Bull perform this year.
But with the best driver in the world on their books, though, you’d be hard-pressed to bet against them.
After rebranding for 2026 onwards, Audi effectively had a free hit with their first livery in the big time.
And while the team’s time as Sauber saw a horrid fluorescent green, Audi have come to the party by effectively just revealing McLaren’s 2008 entry.
Reminiscent of the car that gave Lewis Hamilton his first title, Audi have instead changed its red portion to more defined segments.
Audi’s car won’t be the fastest on the grid by any means, but it does look the coolest.
Alex Powell is a sports journalist for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016.