With us now into 2016, it is officially the halfway point between the end of last season and the start of testing on 22 February. Therefore, it will soon be time to take the covers off the new cars again to unveil the liveries and car designs that will be seen in the new season.
2016 looks to be potentially prosperous for the Formula 1 fan. After a year of domination of a grey and black theme from the likes of Mercedes, McLaren, Force India and Lotus throughout the grid, new liveries could be seen through the reintroduction of Renault to the sport as a team after a six-season absence and through Haas joining the sport as the eleventh team.
But what could the teams actually appear in by the time pre-season testing begins?
For most of the established grid, you would expect the status quo with Mercedes, Ferrari and Williams being surely expected to stay with their silver, red and white pallets with solid amounts of sponsors. Red Bull could slightly change their look although you would expect the same blue with their logo although with the knowledge that they are basically still openly looking for a new engine partner for 2017 it would probably be better if they had a brown noticeboard with an application form hanging from the rear wing.
Toro Rosso are probably expected to remain in their own blue colours, but Force India, McLaren and Sauber, who have all been prone to changing their designs over the last couple of years, may throw in an unexpected surprise into the mix.
However, the most exciting changes could be seen in the teams that are in some way new for this season.
Renault would be expected to have some form of yellow on their cars, a continuation from where they last left off in 2010, possibly alongside black. As long as it isn’t too bright so that it doesn’t distract Pastor Maldonado, the man who is now their lead driver, from racing efficiently, it should be a fine choice.
Meanwhile, with Haas being described as the ‘Ferrari B team’ you would expect some sort of red may appear on the car alongside the Mexican sponsorships. It would be potentially coloured in that fashion as both drivers, Romain Grosjean and Esteban Gutierrez, are smelling blood from Kimi Raikkonen’s seat to potentially remove the Finn for the following season.
The final glimmer of hope for those bored of the same old is Manor. This will be the first season since the team joined F1 in 2010 that they are actually free to be totally Manor if they wish after spells as Virgin Racing, Marussia Virgin Racing, Marussia and Manor Marussia. With changes already seen in the team through John Booth and Graeme Lowdon leaving, there may be a chance that their livery could be changed, alongside their new Mercedes engine, with this hopefully involving more sponsors than they had when we left the sport in Abu Dhabi last November.
What we can say for now is that with these possibilities in mind, the next few weeks could be an interesting wait to see the first photos of the new challengers.
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