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All 10 teams are getting geared up for the much-anticipated 2023 F1 season, set to kick off tomorrow with the first session of pre-season testing at the Bahrain International Circuit.
Over the past month, all teams have launched their liveries for the upcoming season with extravagant launch events, giving fans their first glimpse of what to expect going forward. However, it is worth noting that over the years there have been several liveries that have never made it past the testing phase thanks to different factors.
The build-up to the 2023 F1 season has been absolutely thrilling, with fans already actively making judgments and predictions on the basis of their first impressions of this season's challengers.
It will certainly be interesting to see which of the liveries stick past the pre-season testing and whether any team decides to ditch their existing look and switch it up for something different for the upcoming races.
Here are the top 5 F1 liveries that made a one-off appearance in pre-season testing
#5 Alfa Romeo 2022
Last season, Alfa Romeo was the last of the 10 teams to launch their 2022 F1 challenger and ran possibly one of the most iconic liveries during pre-season testing in Barcelona. The team ran a camouflage livery for the three-day long session and soon after launched their classic red and white livery for the C24 at the next session in Bahrain.
Alfa Romeo came in with quite a bang with a striking look but failed to make much of an impression for the rest of the season with some rather underwhelming performances.
Overall, the team finished the 2022 F1 season sixth in the constructors' standings with points equaled to Aston Martin. This year, the team was the first to reveal their 2023 challenger in Zurich, Switzerland. The team switched things up with a predominantly black and red livery.
#4 Red Bull 2004
Red Bull made their F1 debut as a racing team in November 2004 before officially making their way to the grid at the winter testing session in Barcelona. Red Bull bought Jaguar towards the end of the 2004 F1 season, transitioning from a title sponsor for Sauber to becoming an independently competing team on the grid.
To everyone's surprise, the team showed up on the grid with a car designed to look like an actual can of Red Bull rather than simply sporting the colors of the brand, displaying no sponsor names or logos.
As a marketing tactic for the parent company and an overall debut, Red Bull did what it does best - making a long-lasting first impression and getting people talking. The livery could also be seen as an indirect shot at those who suggested that the company has no place in racing and that it should merely stick to selling an energy drink. Ever since then, the Milton Keynes-based team has managed to secure five constructors' and six drivers' world championship titles.
#3 McLaren 1997
Back in 1997, McLaren caught all the attention for going back to their roots with their orange Papaya colors with the MP4-12 during pre-season testing, gaining quite a positive reaction from fans. While the orange McLaren seems rather normal to newer F1 fans, this was not always the case.
While fans were happy to see the return of orange, McLaren ditched this and revealed a silver and black livery during a lavish launch held in London. The new look itself was quite a switch-up from the predominantly white and red color scheme that the Woking-based team ran for the decade before this.
McLaren first sported orange, which would later become part of their DNA, back in 1968 but lasted only till 1971. It was only in 2017 when orange made a return with MCL32's car design. The trend has continued up to the current season with MCL60 sporting a black and orange color scheme.
#2 Williams 1999
With BMW coming in as the team's engine partner for the upcoming season, Williams ran a one-off livery during a pre-season test in Spielberg back in 1999, marking BMW's comeback to the pinnacle of motorsport.
It is safe to say that this design made quite the impression with dark blue and white stripes, which was a massive shift from their two-year-long lasting red and white color scheme coming to an end. This, however, was one of Williams' many interim liveries across the years, as the team eventually decided to ditch the design for a predominantly white color scheme during the 2000 F1 season. This year, the team launched an electric blue livery.
#1 Spyker 2007
Spyker acquired Midland F1 Racing in 2006 and debuted their new look during pre-season testing in 2007 where the team ran a neon orange car, making it rather hard to miss out on the track. The color represented the team's Dutch roots.
The team, however, decided to take a step back and added a hint of gray with a toned-down shade of striking orange ahead of the season opener, to prevent it from almost looking scarlet on television screens.
