All ten Formula 1 teams have completed their presentations. In addition to clear technology trends, there are also many similarities in the design of the new cars. At every corner and end is saved on the paintwork. We show you in the gallery where the bare carbon shines through.
This year the premier class is showing its dark side. The trend from the previous year towards more and more unpainted carbon surfaces is now being continued in an even more radical form on many new cars. It still seems difficult for the engineers to reach the weight limit of 798 kilograms. The technicians would of course like to save the five to six kilograms for a complete paint job.
When looking at the 2023 starting grid, the Mercedes catches the eye. The factory team will almost completely dispense with paint on the outer skin this year. The carbon structure was only painted black in a few places to increase the contrast for the sponsor logos and to make a few gray stars visible on the hood.
Eight unpainted front wings
Luckily, the diet was not carried out on all cars as consistently as on the Silver Arrow, which is no longer silver. After all, it would be boring if all racing cars ended up competing in a completely black look. Most teams tried to find a good compromise in design. Sometimes the marketing department prevailed, sometimes the engineers.
If you look at the pictures of the ten new cars, you can clearly see where color can be avoided without disturbing the overall picture. A lot of carbon can be seen in the current generation of racing cars, especially at the front and rear. With Haas and Alpine, only two teams show colored surfaces on the front wing.
As far as the tail unit is concerned, the Alpha Tauri and McLaren are not the same as Haas and Alpine. At McLaren it was the other way around last year - color on the front, unpainted on the back. Now the rear wing shines, almost surprisingly, in the traditional papaya orange. On the other hand, the carbon fiber structure now shines through even more extensively on the bonnet and on the edge of the cockpit.
Black holes in the red Ferrari
Some teams try to hide the black holes as best as possible. At first glance, the Ferrari still seems to shine completely in the traditional red. But on closer inspection, the signal color was omitted in several places: at the rear of the bonnet fin, at the bottom of the side box, on the side of the cockpit edge and even in a narrow stripe at the top of the front section.
Some teams are also using the trend towards a deep groove in the surface of the sidepods to save a few grams of paint almost unnoticed. Only from a bird's eye view can Alpine, Aston Martin and Haas see that the troughs remain completely unpainted.
With the Alpine, it is all the more striking that the lateral bulge further up on the bonnet did not get any paint. At first glance, the dark carbon curvature is reminiscent of a black stovepipe.
In the gallery, we will show you again exactly where the ten cars are saving on color this year and who has most elegantly integrated the visible carbon into the design scheme.
