2026 Formula 1 Livery Madness

No one: Hey Will, how much do you like Formula 1? Will: Enough that I made up my own game for it

At the start of every Formula 1 season, I play a little game. It’s a single elimination tournament where the stakes are simple. I buy some swag (a hat, a sweatshirt, maybe some shorts) for whichever team has the best looking car.

For those not familiar, each F1 team launches a new car every year in the months of January and February in the lead up to pre-season testing.

The important things to know:

• This ain’t like Nascar, y’all. Within regulations, each team fully engineers a new car, inside and out. New engine, new body style, everything.

• They update all the branding. That means a new paint job and style changes to the team kit.

• I use the release of the new cars as an excuse to buy new F1 swag every year.

This year will be the 5th anniversary for my game, even though I’ve been regularly watching F1 since Lewis Hamilton was a new driver at McLaren (2007). Past winners include Mercedes, Ferrari, and Williams twice. If there’s enough demand I’ll do a try-on haul for all the previous winners and include this year.

How does it work?

It’s 3 “simple” parts that amount to a miniature knock-out tournament:

1. I do an initial score when each team launches their car.

2. Once they’re all out, I rank them all based on score and seed them in a tournament bracket.

3. I watch the cars on track during pre-season testing and knock them out until 1 remains.

4. Then, I go looking for swag.

But of course, I have a detailed and highly engineered system:

Cars get a score in 7 categories:

1. Gut Reaction: Very simply, what’s my gut feeling when I see the car?

   1. Ex: the Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber looked like a toy car to me, my gut reaction was, “I hate it.”

2. Team Branding: How well does the car integrate the team’s overall brand?

   1. Ex: Red Bull always kills this category. You know instantly when you look at the car, it’s a Red Bull.

3. Sponsor Integration: How well are sponsor integrated into the design and team’s brand?

   1. Ex: The past couple years Williams cleverly integrated Duracell on the engine intake and it looked like a battery.

4. Freshness: Does it look new? Is it fresh compared to last year?

   1. Ex: Red Bull always fails this category, HARD. The car always looks pretty much the same.

5. Does it look fast? There will be no further explanation.

6. The Team Kit: Does the team’s racing suits look good?

   1. Ex. Ferrari had some killer racing suits the last 2 years.

7. Vibes (once I’ve settled down a bit) After I’ve had a chance to look, walk away and come back, has my point of view changed? It’s a little adjustment I added in just in case I initially overreacted.

Possible Scoring:

• “Lol Wut” - no points

• “Meh” - 1 point

• “Kinda, ok” - 2 points

• “Ohhhh-kay” - 3 points

• “Very Nice” - 5 points

• “Absolutely, yes” - 8 points

• “Perfection” - 13 points

Once all the scores are tallied, I rank all the teams in ascending order. Then I put them in a tournament bracket and wait patiently for pre-season testing.

What’s next?

All the cars will be launched by February 9th and I’ll be tuning in to watch the second test (since the first test in Barcelona is private) on February 11th - 13th. If I’m bored enough I might even stream it live.

Y’all let me know if you’d like to join in and if you have any early favorite cars.