Which team has the best-looking F1 car for 2015?

2015 F1 season preview

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Unusually it’s taken until round two of the championship for us to get a proper look at the full grid for the new season.

The aesthetics of the cars was a major talking point during the off-season following further rules changes aimed at eliminating the unsightly noses which spoiled the look of last year’s cars.

How successful have they been? And whose car do you like the best? Compare all ten below and vote for your favourite.

Mercedes W06

Everything about the Mercedes W06 from the outside looks like a clear development of last year’s crushingly dominant W05.

Red Bull RB11

Red Bull are back in their familiar but slightly updated livery having run a black-and-white ‘camouflage’ design during pre-season testing.

Williams FW37

The successor to your favourite from last year, still sporting that iconic livery and now with a stubby little nose.

Ferrari SF-15T

Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene said the team’s latest car is at least a step forward from its predecessor in terms of aesthetics, and it’s hard to argue with that.

McLaren MP4-30

Some were hoping for a more retro look from McLaren following their reunion with Honda. CEO Ron Dennis has said the team’s livery could change if a major new sponsor comes on board.

Force India VJM08

Looking not a little similar to the McLaren from some angles, Force India have taken their dark livery a stage further for 2015, replacing much of the white with silver.

Toro Rosso STR10

No surprises in Toro Rosso’s livery design for their tenth Formula One car.

Lotus E23

Last year’s Lotus was an instantly recognisable design in any colour thanks to its bizarre twin-tusked nose. That’s gone now, and the split from Renault means no more Total red either.

Sauber C34

There is no mistaking the Sauber this year thanks to the team’s bold, if basic, new blue-and-yellow livery.

Manor MR04

It took until the second race weekend of the season for Manor’s car to turn a wheel. The chassis is an adapted version of its 2014 design and its livery is almost entirely blank.

Vote for the best-looking car of 2015

Which is the best-looking F1 car of 2015?

  • Manor MR04 (4%)
  • Sauber C34 (9%)
  • Lotus E23 (6%)
  • Toro Rosso STR10 (3%)
  • Force India VJM08 (7%)
  • McLaren MP4-30 (15%)
  • Ferrari SF-15T (24%)
  • Williams FW37 (15%)
  • Red Bull RB11 (2%)
  • Mercedes W06 (15%)

Total Voters: 662

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Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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100 comments on “Which team has the best-looking F1 car for 2015?”

  1. Sauber, just for the colour scheme. In the end none of them will be remembered for their beauty. Hardly postermaterial. Those three Porsche LMP1s though.

    1. Renaults Are New
      27th March 2015, 20:26

      In fact, the Sauber is jointly (with Manor) the least attractive car because of the colour scheme. The blue is good, but the yellow is a mistake, not only in its tonal contrast but in the design on the sidepod and the nose stripe. It’s only nice in that it isn’t overly contrived or at all pretentious; but that’s a philosophical facet, not an aesthetic one.

      Up until the end of testing, Red Bull had by far the most gorgeous thing ever to grace a race track in years, but it went and spoiled it all with this trite purpley-blue and yellowy mishmash, not much different from its previous design. An allegory for its tame agenda, so, in that much, it is appropriate.

      Assuming Red Bull doesn’t reintroduce its beautifully striking monochrome-camouflage design this season, then, clearly, the Williams is the most beautiful car on the grid. This is followed by the Lotus, which only scores an 8-out-of-10 because of its poor use of the beige stripe along the side of the car, and the fact that it is beige instead of glistering gold.

      Next, the Toro Rosso is sweetest.

      So, here’s the list of good-looking/acceptable cars in order of good-lookingness/acceptability:

      1. Williams
      2. Lotus
      3. Mercedes
      4. Toro Rosso/Red Bull
      5. McLaren
      6. Force India
      7. Ferrari (just shades it, despite the nasty white dividing line to the black underbelly)

      Here are the plugs:

      8. Sauber
      9. Manor

      I don’t know all the names of those who penned cars like the heart-stopping Jordan 191, the Ferrari 641, the McLaren MP4/5, the Alfa Romeo 184TB and the R25 and R26 Renaults, but, whoever they were, please, Arrivabene, Lauda, Tost et al, bring them all out of retirement, give them a sketchpad and build whatever they draw.

      1. @xtwl What? The Williams is just a white car with a stripe on it. White is the most boring, ugly color. Add to this the second ugliest finger nose on the grid(may become the ugliest after Marussia introduce their 2015 car) and what we have is the ugliest overall(shape+livery) 2015 car

      2. What a waste of time trying to claim ‘looks’ is determined by fact. Waste of time indeed.

        1. Renaults Are New
          28th March 2015, 13:09

          As a science-fan, I can assure you these are empirical lists.

          Below I have listed the order of beauty in relation to the cars’ shapes, regardless of livery:

          1. Red Bull
          2. Toro Rosso
          3. Lotus
          4. Mercedes
          5. McLaren
          6. Ferrari
          7. Williams
          8. Force India
          9. Manor
          10. Sauber

          Notice how low the Williams scores when the gorgeous Martini paint job is removed from the equation and the cars are judged as blank canvasses.

          I hope you have found this helpful.

    2. Interesting — I’m apparently a bellwether for what looks good. I chose Ferrari with McLaren in second place, before looking at the poll results, and sure enough, that’s the current state of play.

    3. I agree with Sauber. Photos doesn’t make it a justice. whenever I watch this car on the track the paint scheme on it looks just great. It’s more classic design I guess but for some reason it works for me a lot.

  2. Hands Down its SF15T for me

    1. +2 So much better looking than last year’s car.

    2. I really dislike noses which extend beyond the front wing, especially when they’re as flat and wide as the Ferrari.

    3. +1
      and Williams in second from my eyes

    4. So many votes for the Ferrari I’m stunned. F1F sensibly opened this poll by race 2 after we have the chance to see the whole field however this may not be the 2015 Manor not to mention as we all know these cars change quite a bit by Barcelona, especially this year as is believed that all teams will sometime convert to shorter nose tips, one of these teams has already changed their nose, from what is showned above, STR’s Melbourne spec car is quite different to launch and in some ways quite unique, if only it had a more creative livery. Also RBR have admitted to have designed the car with another nose in mind. My personal fav STR but notable mentions to RBR and Williams.

  3. Mercedes. Because I couldn’t give two hoots what colour they are, but fast is beautiful.

    1. Although I have to admit, it would look even better if they went for a polished aluminium look.

      1. @fluxsource I agree, grey’s a tough colour to shine, they failed on this. They didn’t fail on the car however, far more polished than any of their competitors, very slick balanced, it’s pretty much perfect but because of this, it lacks personality, there’s no odd shape or livery or anything.

    2. I loved behind the driver area. Black grey with shark gills. Looks mean.

      1. Absolutely. It doesn’t hurt that they once again have the best nose design too

    3. I find the turquoise and silver to be clean and elegant.

      Beatiful car!

  4. STR10. Looks so effortlessly elegant, especially in side profile. I’ve always loved their livery too

    1. +1

      There are more candidates for me, but the STR10 is exactly as you say.

    2. I think it might be my favourite this year as well, but it’s basically by default. They’ve seem to have managed to refine their livery and design while other cars have got uglier.

      I like the Williams but I preferred their 2014 car, for example.

  5. Merc front wing is too narrow compared to the rest of the body. Definitely Ferrari has the best nose out there.

    1. The front wing can’t be ‘too narrow’, if it was it would be illegal given that there are set dimensions in the regulations.

      1. Proportionally it can be. This is about aesthetics, not rules and regulations.

    2. If it’s too narrow compared to the body, are you suggesting the body looks wider than on other cars?

      1. @matt90 That’s not at all what he’s suggesting. What he’s suggesting is that the nose looks too small, not the entire front monocoque.

        1. But he clearly writes ‘front wing’ !!

        2. @mashiat2 As John says, he didn’t say that at all.

    3. It’s angle of the picture and the colour of the end-plates. Black is slimming ;)

      Similar effect going on with the Manor car.

  6. For be it’s between Ferrari, Williams and Redbull. Hard to decide..

  7. The Ferrari, with a sexy nose, the brighter red, the black with the subtle Italian flag and the raised camera pods on the nose, a winner for me.

    If the Williams or Sauber had a Ferrari nose, they’d edge ahead

  8. I like the shape of the cars this year. They are spot on. Pretty much like the early 90’s cars, appart from the slim and tall rear wing. Well done FIA on that.

    The liveries department leaves a lot to be desired. I like the Sauber colours, but they better sign a proper designer, because that scheme is quite dull. Only Williams looks the part, the others are a mess.

  9. The W06 probably has the most beautiful shape but I am voting for Sauber because the colours are bright, refreshing and not any of the 50 shades of grey.

    1. Haha awesome

    2. And it makes you think of Ikea

  10. Ferrari may be the prettiest car, but they went back to the light red of early 2007 and it makes her look silly.

    McLaren livery is kinda nostalgic of the Finnish years and I love it just for that.

    1. I am also nostalgic of the years when McLaren reached the finnish line

      1. Ba da boom, ching! :D

  11. OmarR-Pepper (@)
    27th March 2015, 12:32

    Ferrari has finally returned to a slim ans sexy design!

  12. Ignoring the colours, Mercedes and Lotus have the best looking noses, the rest of each car looks pretty much the same.

    1. I’ve been thinking exactly the same thing.

  13. I love the Merc’s lines, but I adore the color scheme of Manor. Ever since they were Virgin I have thought it was the prettiest car on track. My third place would go to Force India, and last would be Ferrari. Last year’s nose looked far better IMHO. This year just makes me think of Seb sticking his tongue out at Red Bull. Amusing, but not appealing.

  14. Ferrari looks best with higher angle.

  15. Only amazing looking ones are Williams and McLaren, maybe with an honorable mention to Sauber.

    “Most boring car award” goes to Ferrari.

  16. Don’t really have a favourite, they all look kind of meh. Apart from the liveries, the cars’ proportions still look odd to me (for instance height to width). I wonder whether it will improve when they remove the FIA mandated cameras on the nose cone and roll hoop.

    Nonetheless, the Red Bull and McLaren liveries are by far the ugliest. Red Bull’s is too busy and the purple and blue just don’t go together, while McLaren’s looks like a dull sketch concept that hasn’t been worked out in full yet.

  17. @keithcollatine Don’t you have a picture of the STR with their new nose?

  18. The best IMO are the Lotus & Mercedes – they have the best nose package (aesthetically) and that sets up the cars as looking fast, not compromised. Mercedes edges Lotus because they haven’t fired their sponsorship scatter gun at the chassis!

    The Ferrari and McLaren ‘looks’ are ruined for me by their long, flat, silly-looking noses. I wasn’t a fan of the Williams livery last year and whilst the slightly larger Martini stripes do look ‘better’, it’s still too white for me – Williams liveries have always meant ‘lots of blue’ to me and I whenever they run their deep-blue testing livery, I keep hoping it’s how the final car turns out.

    1. I 100% agree with this.

      I don’t get why so many people like the Ferrari nose. To me, it looks like the designer slipped while trying to extend the nose slightly and forgot to press “undo”.

      The Lotus and Mercedes nose are the best interpretation in my mind, but Lotus ruined the rest of the visual aspect by having PDVSA in red everywhere.

    2. Totally agree to the above comments

  19. I voted for the Manor car. It reminds me of the ART cars that won Hamilton and others many GP2 victories in great races as well as the iconic Penske and McLaren cars we used to watch in the 1990s :-)

    1. Seconded, also that Manor looks simple & elegant.

  20. I’m a Ferrari fan, but went for Mercedes, although I agree the nose is a little too narrow (same goes for Lotus). For me, the “fight” was only between the cars that dropped from their design that fallic nose. The nose chosen by Ferrari, McLaren and Toro Rosso is not bad, but a great looking nose anyway.

    1. …but NOT a great looking nose anyway!!!!!

  21. Between Ferrari, Mercedes and Lotus for me.
    Mclaren could have been in it if they changed the livery, but went for the SF-15T.

    So glad they’ve made something relatively pretty again, perhaps a darker red might be more appropriate. But perhaps the best is that I drive an Alfa! So the sticker makes me feel special haha.

    But good to see it’s going to be drive competitive this year

    1. decently competitive*

  22. Don’t get why the Ferrari is so popular, to me it looks absolutely horrible, the nose is not much better than last year’s at all. It’s too long, too wide, too plain and the hump around the 7 makes it even worse. Some say the McLaren’s nose is similar, but it isn’t, the McLaren is to me the best looking car out there, perhaps the red around the nose makes most of the difference.

    1. Not to mention the weird camera horns on the Ferrari, they make it look even more weird.

  23. That Manor-McLaren Honda!

  24. The Blade Runner (@)
    27th March 2015, 13:58

    Car = McLaren

    Livery = Williams

    1. exactly my thoughts

  25. It was a close call between the Manor and the Sauber for me. Both look on the verge of pretty in my eyes, although none of the cars are really eye candy.

    I gave it to Manor for sentimental reasons, I think. I’m so happy to see them out there that I had to.

  26. Redbull would probably win the vote for me if not for that nose.

  27. Still, the most dominant car is the most beautiful looking car.

  28. McHonda for me. It sort of reminds me of the McLaren of 2012. I remember it looked beautiful, not such a good car, but it looked great. The only thing is that they seriously need to do something about the livery. It is looking waaaaaaaay dull.

    1. @karter22 It was a good car. McLaren’s last race-winning one to date.

      1. @davidnotcoulthard
        true, but it was terribly unreliable! That makes it not such a good car in my book. Still looked beautiful before the nose lift!

        1. @karter22 I remember the car to be OK reliability wise.

          The problem was with the tyre changes. Not a problem with the car in my opinion.

          1. @davidnotcoulthard
            was it Lewis or Jenson that had a failure in Monza just before the parabolica curve?? that is one that comes to mind.

            Sure the pitstops were terrible but it did have issues.

  29. The Mercedes wins easily, mostly because you can see the shape of the car. It is clean, uncluttered and businesslike – the only one that looks as fast as it is. Lotus isn’t bad, although the colours make it difficult to see the actual car. The rest are either ruined by messy, garish colour schemes (Red Bull, Toro Rosso) or have long, drooping noses as if their tongues are hanging out. The less said about Williams’ obscene-looking nose extension, the better. And the Sauber and Manor look as unfinished as they probably are.

  30. No matter what the BBC says it is not the McLaren!!, Its the Mercedes for me, they and the Lotus have the best nose

  31. Shared first place for me are Williams and Force India. But I voted for Force India

  32. It is easy to answer
    1. Ferrari
    2. Toro Rosso
    3. Williams
    4. Red Bull … and so on

  33. ILuvSoundtracks (@)
    27th March 2015, 16:20

    Sauber in terms of livery/colour scheme and McLaren in terms of car design.

  34. Mercedes. Simply magnificent!

  35. For me the Mercedes is the best looking car, because it has a clean, slim and pretty nose and the rest of the car looks extremely detailed in an elegant sort of way. In my opinion, the Ferrari is overrated and the nose is EXTREMELY UGLY. It’s too fat and thick and those unusual camera mounts look really bad. Also, they have used a REVOLTING AND DISGUSTING shade of red! Also, why is the engine cover black? They did this last year too and it makes the car livery look messy.

  36. Williams for me. Perhaps I’m biased, but I feel that it’s the only car to have not been afforded a flattering photograph in this article. Those black rims and wings contrasted to the white body make for a magnificent livery. Shame about the small nose protrusion, but it’s an otherwise fantastic looking car.

  37. Williams by a mile, the shape of the car and the livery go so well together.
    The Ferrari is spoilt by the ‘hump’ in the body behind the front suspension.
    Red Bull and Toro Rosso are boringly the same as previously, only Sauber stand out for doing something new this year.

  38. Easily between the Lotus and Merc for me. Ferrari and McLaren lose out for having noses which are too long (and McLaren’s starts sloping down with such a sudden angle), most of the others for the nubbins (more like a growth on the Sauber). I’ve lost track which nose Toro Rosso is running, but it’s either too long or has the nubbin.

  39. Sauber purely because of its kickass colour scheme; totally retro.

  40. A big improvement over the gomping or amusingly-shaped cars of the last few years. But they’re still a bit awkward. Williams have the best colour scheme but it’s lipstick on a pig. The Ferrari, from a distance, reminds me of the lovely 1989-90 cars. But the livery is a mess with nasty white and black bits.
    Love the sculpted shape of the Toro Rosso, but I preferred its original nose, even if it’s faster now.
    So I voted for the Lotus. The livery is “how big can we make these logos?” but it’s a pleasing shape and colour scheme.

  41. I voted for Ferrari, because STR changed their nose…When I first saw the STRs in February, I told myself I ‘ll vote for them when time for voting comes, but since the redesigning of the nose I chose Ferrari…

  42. Went with Ferrari.

    McLaren is in second place for me .

    I am slightly disappointed with Mercedes since I believe they might look better in their brushed aluminum color silver used in the pace car. Also that Cyan color of Petronas and the steel color does not seem to gel well. I was looking for a change in livery from Merc this year.

  43. My Ferrari bias made me vote for them, but I gotta admit the W06 is pretty sexy.

  44. It’s a tie between the Mercedes W06 and the Lotus E23 for me :)

  45. I Lotus at best with nose design. They got right and that’s how the front noses should look like in formula one. The least favorite is probably Mclaren Honda. Their wing looks like a tongue and ready to lick someone.
    For the livery Sauber looks best and the worst is Manor.
    Hopefuly Haas F1 will have a good design and colour scheme next year. Lucky they are not rushing to get into f1 or they could have ended up like Manor. Those guys ruined the first race.

  46. I like Force India’s gray-black combination, far more better than the hiddeous white-orange-green of 2 or 3 years ago.

  47. Two cars stand out for me, one is the McLaren, its kind of simplicity makes it really click for me, plus from head on shots it seriously looks like the Brawn GP car with the same sort of livery, just different colors. Which is my second favorite modern F1 car in terms of looks, so I obviously went with the McLaren in the vote.
    The other is the Toro Rosso, which has one big flaw, the giant airbox on the top, but otherwise even with the shortened nosecone used from Melbourne it has such sweet lines all around the car.

    At the other end of the scale is probably the car of Red Bull, who had probably the best looking one last year on the grid, but I barely find anything nice on this one, even the new framed purple area Infiniti parts are now annoying. And the other one is the Sauber – which is quite weird, that car has some really ugly parts, and the color scheme is amazingly simple (not in a good way), but somehow the main picture isn’t that bad. Maybe ugly+ugly=acceptable? Anyway, the Red Bull is the bottom one for me.

  48. I think that the best shape of the car in 2015 is the Toro Rosso. Even after they’d introduced their aero update with the ugly nosetip. Mercedes and Lotus are close behind.
    Worst shape-Marussia(though it’s the 2014 car so that’s understandable). Williams(ugly nose) and Sauber(boxy) are close behind

    The best livery is for me the Lotus. Black and gold just works for me. Force India and Sauber are close behind for good combination of colors and the bold choice of blue and green to break up the overall blandness of the grid respectively.
    Worst livery-Williams. It’s just a white car with a stripe on it. Extremely boring. Marussia isn’t good either, lack of sponsors notwithstanding. If it had a darker shade of red to contrast with the white, it would be much better. Mclaren with that hideous red contour doesn’t look great either

    To sum up, the ranking of the cars aesthetics (shape+livery) IMO:

    1) Lotus
    2) Toro Rosso
    3) Force India
    4) Mercedes
    5) Ferrari
    6) Sauber
    7) Red Bull
    8) Mclaren
    9) Williams
    10) Marussia

  49. I honestly don’t get the mclaren livery. Didn’t like it the first time I saw it. White and orange would have been a cool change for them. Williams I like. Simple and clean with the martini accent colors adding a nice touch. Red bull and toro roso too busy in my opinion. Force India had a better livery when Giancarlo drove for them. I actually like the sauber. No, it’s not my favorite or anything, but I think the blue and yellow DO work well together. It’s refreshing to see a different color scheme for a change. The Ferrari is quite nice also. Great color.

    1. @340super

      Force India had a better livery when Giancarlo drove for them.

      As Jordan?

      If not as Jordan, for a full season or not?

      1. @davidnotcoulthard – He drove for Force India in 2008 & 2009.

        1. @david-a For only 1 full season.

  50. I like the Lotus best, but I wish they would stand up to PDVSA and display their logo in black & gold like the rest of the car. The red ruins the whole look!

  51. Is this vote for best looking car or best looking livery?

    btw. It’s the McLaren.

  52. I don’t get how the McLaren is beautiful. It looks as if KNVB stroke a late sponsorship deal with them!

  53. I vote Mercedes W06 for the best looking f1 car. But i think it looks cooler when painted with red.

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