Best Dressed on the Grid
My wallet has spoken -- The 2026 F1 livery tournament, from first look to final swag order
Every year I do a personal tournament to decide which F1 team gets my money. Not based on who’s fastest — based on who looks the best. New car, new livery, new swag for my closet. I score the cars when they launch, seed them in a bracket, and then watch pre-season testing to knock them out one by one until a winner emerges. (If you want the full breakdown of the scoring system and initial reactions, that’s all here.)
This year’s field was the most competitive I’ve seen in five years of doing this. A brand new team, a couple of genuine reinventions, and one car that refused to change at all. Let’s get into it.
The first review and ranking
Cadillac - it’s so different than what I’m used to seeing with F1 cars. As my wife puts it, “it’s giving a real Cruella de Vil vibe” and it feels like the car could be a villain this year. And with Sergio Perez and his aggressive driving style behind the wheel, I’ll bet you’ll see just that.
Audi - Bold. Clean. Striking. It photographs so well. I love the “lava red” and their use of it as an accent throughout the car. Very few notes for me here. Clearly a car marketed toward men with dark colors and sharp lines, and I’m happy to play into that bias on this one.
Ferrari - This is a race car. I didn’t realize at first how much it was a throwback to their older cars, which I’m always a sucker for. I understand they’re in a tricky spot with HP as a sponsor (that blue and the Ferrari red don’t exactly go together), and I think their commitment to using more white from their older car styles has really paid off.
Haas - A definite upgrade. It has some real punch now. They’ve done well with their sponsor integration. It looks much less like something from NASCAR masquerading in Formula 1. I’m excited to see it move.
Red Bull - A master class in how subtle changes can make such a huge difference: the texture of the blue, the deepening of color, and the advancement of yellow and red to expand the logos. For the first time in a long time, I think the Red Bull looks genuinely good.
Mercedes - I’m intrigued, but not instantly in love. It looks like it has a lot of potential, but the photos have left me wanting more. It feels both similar and different than last year and I can’t quite put my finger on it, which is all reflected in its place in the rankings.
Williams - I initially liked the lighter blue, looks fast; but after watching it for a while my enjoyment wore off. The blues seem to clash just ever so slightly, which is what’s throwing me off.
Aston Martin - Can we please stop calling this “racing green” -- it’s teal. Racing green is deeper and richer. What AM have done here can only properly be called, “an interpretation.” In serious notes, I do like the new use of the neon yellow. It makes the car look much more dynamic and much less flat. We’ll have to see what it looks like on the track to tell for sure.
Alpine - I love the depth of the metallic blue, but for me, it makes the flat bubble gum pink just that much more disappointing. Make the pink more dynamic and I’d probably love it.
Racing Bulls (VCARB): Welp here we go. Someone needs to be second to last. I think it’s the same car as last year? Right? If not; ooof -- this isn’t very good. How is it that I feel like there’s nothing on this car, while at the same time there so much going on?
McLaren - Yep. Looks the same. I didn’t like it last year either.
The Battles on the track, Play by play
Round 1
Aston Martin v Alpine: I thought initially that the Alpine would take this one. It moves nicely on the track and the metallic blue has great depth that pulls my eye to it. But, the pink still takes me out of it. It’s just too flat. The Aston Martin looked rough in the garage. That teal blue doesn’t look great under the garage lights, but it popped on the track. The neon highlights add more intrigue as the car moves and the view changes through corners. Winner: Aston Martin
Williams v Racing Bulls: Yep. the Racing Bulls is a weird non-upgrade from last year. Winner: Williams
McLaren v Mercedes: No contest. Winner: Mercedes
Round 2
Haas v Red Bull: A match up between two teams who took a car and advanced its existing design. No major changes, just a deepening and enhancement. Haas’s new sponsor, color, slight asymmetry -- all lovely. The Red Bull’s subtle texture which adds to the richness of their color differences; chef’s kiss. Winner: Red Bull
Aston Martin v Cadillac: Pretty easy for me on this one. The Aston is greatly improved, but the Cadillac just might be the runaway for me. Winner: Cadillac
Williams v Audi: This one almost made me sad. Williams is my favorite team and seeing their improved car next to the dominant and clear look of the Audi was like seeing your hero get punched in the face. They’re still your hero, but who is that newcomer exactly?! Winner: Audi
Mercedes v Ferrari: A match up of titans. Classic throw back versus advancing modernism. In a way, they both played to their history. Ferrari provided a more literal interpretation, Mercedes played with a more figurative use of silver to hint at “the silver arrows.” Both paths can be fraught with peril and in bad news for me, each team executed their vision at the highest level. While a love a good throwback, the subtle nod to the silver arrows got me in the end. Winner: Mercedes
Round 3 - Losers Bracket
Yes; it’s double elimination
Racing Bulls v Red Bull: The match up these two cars put such an amazing spotlight on the fact that Racing Bulls is “Red Bull Lite” and is not to be taken seriously as a competitor. It’s a B Team, the G League, or a AAA Baseball farm team -- I’m baffled as to how Red Bull is still allowed to have 2 teams on the grid. Winner: Red Bull
McLaren v Aston Martin: Yep. It’s still the same McLaren. Winner: Aston Martin
Alpine v Ferrari: Surprisingly harder to decide than I initially thought. The Alpine has really grown on me. The blue is something else. But, the pink. The pink just looks lazy next to it. The Ferrari on the other hand, designed to match energy from stem to stern. Winner: Ferrari
Round 4
Haas v Cadillac: Two predominantly black and white cars. What a fun match up. The Cadillac seems settled into its villain era (in my mind at least) and the upgraded look of the Haas in comparison just looks a little under-designed to me. Almost as though they’re still searching for their true identity. Winner: Cadillac
Audi v Mercedes: Oooof. This is gonna be rough, but we have a long ways to go, so I pulled the trigger quickly. Audi’s clean lines and powerful use of color won it quickly for me. Winner: Audi
Round 5a - Back to the Losers
Red Bull v Aston Martin: After looking at it for a while, it’s clear the Aston Martin team put in a good amount of work on the livery design for this year’s car, but the subtle perfection of the Red Bull just smothered the efforts of AM for me. Winner: Red Bull
Williams v Ferrari: This one really highlighted the difference between classic and new. For me on this one, classic wins out. Perhaps it’s a bias I should fight more; but not today. Winner: Ferrari
Round 5b - More Losers
Mercedes v Red Bull: A classic F1 matchup from the last decade on track. This felt fun just to think about. Surprisingly enough, I found a moment where they were next to each other on track. They’re super close to me, but Mercedes is just a little more dynamic and interesting. Just slightly. Winner: Mercedes
Haas v Ferrari: Harder to decide than I thought it would be. The Haas really does look fast and fun this year, but in the end the neatly appointed Ferrari just plays to my love for the classics. Winner: Ferrari
Round 6
Cadillac v Audi: This matchup brought something into light for me. I love the Cadillac, but mainly in photos. The stark contrast to the Audi’s strong, simple, and clean design just made the Caddy look a little messy to me and I’m not sure I can unsee it. Winner: Audi
Round 7a - So close, losers
Mercedes v Ferrari: Here we are again. A rematch to be back into the final. And sadly for Ferrari my feelings haven’t changed; they’ve deepened. Seeing the Mercedes move around that track has done something to my mind. Winner: Mercedes
Round 7b - The last loser challenge, can they redeem themselves?!
Cadillac v Mercedes: A tough one for me. While I loved the Cadillac at the start of all this, I can’t unsee the “messiness” of the design on the track. If you catch it in the right light, it almost looks like the wing is broken. Matching that against the Mercedes was no contest for me. Winner: Mercedes
The Final - Audi v Mercedes
Another rematch. I had to go deep on this one.
Most of testing is in the light of day, so I went deep to find night time footage to break the tie. It was made clear when I saw them moving through the corners under the lights.
The Audi with flashes of color and a deep, dark matte body looked quick, dynamic, and powerful. The Mercedes looked like it was dancing across the track. The shine of the light played off the texture of the car almost as though they’d designed each Mercedes logo splash, the silver arrow fletching, and sponsor mark to specifically play into the lights on track at Bahrain.
It took me a full 30 minutes walking around the house to decide on this one.
Winner: Mercedes
Mercedes wasn’t my pick going in. They were sixth in my initial rankings — intriguing but unproven. But that’s what the tournament is for. Photos lie. Garage lighting lies. The track tells the truth, and the Mercedes told a story I couldn’t stop watching. Five years of this game and I’ve never had a winner climb from that far back in the seedings.
My new swag gets here tomorrow, just in time for the season opener. Year five, fourth different winner. The system works.
Go check them out for yourself! Here are all F1 Cars on Track made by the lovely people at Formula 1.
What car was your favorite?