Top 10 F1 Liveries

    F1 cars are amazing machines that look like beautiful rockets, and a great livery will enhance that even more. There has been some great, and not so great, liveries throughout the years. It was hard to narroe it down to just 10 but here is my list for the Top 10 FF1 liveries of all time.

10. Williams FW19 

    I had to have this one on the list because of Jacques Villeneuve. I was 9 when he won the drivers title in 1997 and that Rothman's livery on the Williams is one of my earliest memories. Sure, the FW18 the previous year was more dominate with Damon Hill at thew hell, but the FW19 is part of the reason why I am such an F1 fan.

9. Brabham BT52

    I have always loved the look of this car. I was never really a fan of the heavy downforce, boxy looking F! cars. This car was slick and angular and the beautiful blue and white Parmalat livery is a car that pops into my head when I think of a great livery and I never even watched it race. This was the car that Nelson Piquet drove to win the second of his 3 drivers championships. Of course Parmalat is the main sponsor you think of with this car, but I love the Fila sponsor on the outside of the back wing, definitely not a brand I would associate with motorsports.

8. Lotus 98T

    This livery mad me like one of those boxy cars that I just said I wasn't a fan of in the previous ranking. The contrast of the gold writing on the black paint in iconic and beautiful. Again, a little before my time but I think the fact that it was a car driven by Ayrton Senna makes it a livery that has made its way in the public consciousness as a beloved livery. Plus, I miss the cigarette ads on cars.

7. McLaren MP4-23

    This is an iconic livery that was driven by two legends of the sport, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso. to be honest, I am not a big fan of the physical car. I know, that may not be a popular opinion, but I found that I didn't have too many liveries from the era made it in my top 10, so it shows just how much I like this one that it made it to the seventh spot. the silver/grey base with red and the Vodafone sponsorship splashed on the side and across the rear wing. I have a die cast version of this car kicking around in my basement somewhere, but the paint that has no doubt been chipped of in places may put me in a bad mood.

6. Benetton B188-01

    HOW CAN YOU NOT LOVE THIS CAR!!! it reminds me of that rainbow gum I use to have as a kid. Ok, I will admit, I can definitely understand if you don't like this car. If you enjoy a more understated look with a few colours, like Brabham BT52 I discussed, then this livery is probably too much for you. It's just a fun looking car that really stood out on track. I limited my Benetton Entires to just one on the list because they had 2-3 more liveries that could have easily cracked this list but I decided to go with only one, there are other constructors on the list twice so I wanted to make sure I had a bit of variety.

5. Lotus 101

    Getting into the top 5 is a livery that I believe was enhanced by the car it is on. This another car driven by Nelson Piquet and this bright yellow base with blue lettering on this absolute beast of a care design is one of the most beautiful cars in F1 history. Falling into some nostalgia with the Camel Cigarette ad and also Epson taking up prime real estate on the car, I also like the angled listing of sponsors on the side of the car. This is a undoubtedly an iconic car, but it could have benefited from a third colour scheme on the car to go along with the full body yellow and blue letters.

4. Williams FW14B

    This is the kind of look I wish that the Lotus 101 had when I said I wish it had another colour to go with the yellow. I love that this car has layers of yellow, blue and white. The Camal, Canon and Elf sponsorships have been seen on many F1 cars throughout history, but they way the blended them all together, with their own distinct real estate on the car AND added in Labatt's for a little bit of Canadian content makes this car one of my favourites. This is a car that is mentioned a lot in the history of the sport, this is the car that Nigel Mansell dominated the 1992 season with while taking home the drivers championship. It is awesome that such a dominate car in the history of the sport has such a memorable livery to go with it.

3. Jordan 191

    This is the car I would get if I were to ever have enough money to buy an F1 car. Before even getting to the livery, look at the design of this car. I love the big rounded body of the car, I love the wavy look lof the front wing, the rear wing looks massive and the car looks like its glued to the ground. Now add on the awesome 7up livery and you have one of the best F1 cars of all time. The combo of the green and the blue are a perfect combo. Un like a lot of alcohol, cigarettes and oils companies, as a kid it was cool to see 7up and TicTac plastered all over a car driven by Michael Schumacher. 

2. McLaren MP4-4

    This was my favourite livery of all time for a very long time. Marlboro has been a sponsor an a few F1 cars throughout the year but it just hit differently on this beast driven by Aryton Senna. It is a very basic, bare bones design and colour scheme but it is beautiful. Whenever I see a car that had the Marlboro sponsor ship and now adays its just blank is a crime. taking that iconic ad off of the Schumacher Ferrari cars in the early 2000s, and of course the MP4-4, lessens the impact of these great liveries. I didn't think that this livery would ever be supplanted at number one, but there was a special one off livery a few years ago that claimed the top spot.

1. McLaren MCL35M (Monaco Gulf Livery)

    The third McLaren to make its way on the list, and the top spot, is the beautiful Gulf Racing one off livery that McLaren rolled out for the 2021 Monaco Grand Prix. This was the most exciting thing to happen in that snorefest of a race. I like that McLaren has incorporated more of the blue into their regular car livery, but I think that this Monaco edition should have been their permanent livery. The Gulf Racing colours is incorporates my favourite colour, orange, with a nice light blue. It's just a classic look that gives me a 70s vibe. I think that is because the first car I remember seeing in the Guld Raving livery was the Porsche 917. That is the car I drive the most in Gran Turismo 7. It isn't limited to that car, every single car that uses this livery is boosted 20% in my eyes, i swear these colours ACTUALLY make the car go faster...prove me wrong. Lando Norris was able to drive this car to a podium finish at Monaco, taking home 3rd. It would soften the blow watching the 2023 McLaren limping around the track if they were able to rock this awesome livery every week.

    And that is my list, it took some time to narrow down the choices and get them in order, but I don't think i left out any iconic liveries. let me know in the comments what your top 10 list is.