Okay. So here’s the thing. This is a good-looking car. In fact, it’s not entirely dissimilar to how I wanted the McLaren to look twelve months ago, albeit with a light grey rather than white. It’s smart, and it’s simple, and the colours work well together, and I’m sure it’ll look good on track. But it is so, so not the car we wanted or needed right now.
Is it unreasonable to expect a new team to come into the sport with something exciting and interesting? Maybe, but back in 2010 we had Lotus and Virgin with some pretty fantastic liveries (and yes, the Virgin was red/black/white, but that was at a time when there weren’t as many cars that looked like that) – statements of intent that instantly fostered goodwill for the new guys. The problem with this one is that you can instantly name at least three or four previous cars it reminds you of (the 2011 HRT, the 2006 Midland, the early 2010s Saubers…), so it doesn’t really give the team much of an immediate identity.
It doesn’t help, either, that it’s completely lacking in sponsors, with the exception of Richard Mille (who also feature in similarly small fashion on the McLaren, as it happens). It looks instantly backmarker-ish, and that nifty stars and stripes on the flank can only really go so far.
But judged entirely on its own merits, it is probably one of the nicer cars on the grid. It’s just so spectacularly uninteresting that it’s hard to want to approve of it too much.
And so we wait to see if Manor can perhaps come up with something vaguely inspiring instead. At the moment, though, I’m not holding out a huge amount of hope.
12 Comments
Caleb Rhodes
The rear of the car (from cockpit backwards) is tolerable if very uninteresting and uninduvidual. But the nose completely ruins it with in my opinion a garish shade of red slapped on with little thought. The overlap onto the front wing is the worst feature of a livery that would look disappointing on a GP2 car. What annoys me is that its not like they had no budget for a livery like manor last year, and could have easily hired a decent designer to give the team an identity to stand out from the crowd in an otherwise monotonous field of liveries.
#JB17
Disappointing overall, unless they should slap on a big yellow “8” or “21”
Rhys Quinnjones
Reminds me of the early 90s Footwork. Quite nice though, hope Manor can give us a good livery.
Errick Braggs
I thought America’s racing colors are blue and white. I realize this color scheme reflects the colors of the Haas company but I was hoping for an American car, not a company car.
K. Spatharas
Funnily enough, Manor gave us a more American car than the Americans themselves XD
Jeff
Very disappointing. Overall the grid this year will be hard to distinguish in long-range TV shots. Force India, McLaren, Mercedes, Renault [possibly] and now this, all mixing together in a neutral tone. A bold statement is what was needed, not a repeat of visual mediocrity that does scream backmarker.
nonames
yawn
OllieJ
It’s very pretty from the front though
Luiz Gabriel Sandes
Yeah, that’s beautiful. It is good like a profile photo or something like this.
Luiz Gabriel Sandes
Why is there a camel in the image on the top of the page? Good article, but I don’t agree of the livery loking like the 2010’s Sauber livery.
fourpoint9
Add some of the circle logos and a stripe and it looks better
http://i.imgur.com/Cn2xqtt.jpg
bert van marenswoud
Given that they spend millions on just the motorhome, why not on a striking design. We all still know the first season of jordan. That’s how it;s done. On the other hand, they are the HAAS colours. But still they could have done better.