Last month FIA director Charlie Whiting unveiled changes to driver names and numbers on F1 liveries, in order to make them more recognisable for fans.
Well, with the rule coming into force for this weekend’s Spanish GP, several F1 teams chose to unveil their minor livery updates on Wednesday and Thursday before the on-track action begins.
While it’s a small detail, making names and numbers stand out more is important and any way of helping the viewing experience for fans is a positive.
Mercedes was the first to show off the new driver names and numbers, which have larger required sizes to help fans to tell each car apart (as, at times, it can be tricky).
Larger driver numbers in bold colours on the front of the Mercedes W08 have been joined by abbreviated driver names and country flags on the shark fin, which is a nice touch.
Red Bull has increased the size of the numbers on the front wing and added them to a shark fin on the engine cover of the car, which tie in with the RB13’s current livery but are pretty eye-catching.
It’s a bit annoying the shark fins are going in the bin for the 2018 season as they’re the perfect spot for driver names and numbers, and it’d be nicer if the designs we’ve seen so far were a bit bigger too.
The Haas shark fin design was one of the better ones in terms of the livery itself, and they’ve added driver name abbreviations (the three letters you see on the timing tower).
It’s a more straight-forward way of doing it and the names are a little small, but it’s an improvement nevertheless.
Ferrari has gone a bit retro with their larger numbers, using white backgrounds (just like classic Ferrari F1 machines of the 70s) and there’s a red outline on the shark fin.
They’ve gone against going for the driver abbreviations on the shark fin, unlike rival F1 squads.
Sauber is the final team to showcase what they’ve done with the rule changes, going for larger numbers on the nose and the driver name abbreviations at the top of the shark fin.
Not quite as creative as other F1 teams, but nice and clear. We’re interested to see how the other teams have reacted to the rule tweaks when the cars hit the track for Friday practice.
Do you like the changes, or will they not make much difference? Let us know in the comments.
