Looking back at the lost art of special testing liveries · RaceFans

Over recent years, pre-season testing in Formula 1 has been limited to just a single multi-day event held a week before the opening round of the championship.

Only in 2022 were teams and drivers gifted a second three-day test before the first race of the year – only due to the major technical regulation changes for that season.

As teams have lost track time over the pre-season, they also appear to have lost their appetite to run in special testing-only liveries too. Whether it’s a ploy to help advertise that they have plenty of space for sponsors on their new cars or a clever way of doubling their exposure by launching their new car and then unveil their livery at a later date for a second bite of the cherry, special testing liveries were a welcome novelty to brighten up the part of the year where there was no racing action to enjoy.

So ahead of the upcoming period of car reveals before the sole pre-season test in Bahrain, it seems a good time too look back at the seemingly lost art of pre-season liveries from the 21st Century.

Jordan 2002 – Full fluoro

Jordan became famous for their bright yellow liveries after moving to the distinctive colour for the 1997 season in honour of their title sponsor. When their partnership with that particular tobacco company expired at the end of 2001, Jordan signed a sponsorship deal with DHL – another famously bright yellow brand. But before that was officially announced, they prepared for the 2002 season with this simple, all-yellow livery.

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BAR 2004 – Black attack

The 2004 season would end up being BAR’s most successful before the team evolved into Honda, Brawn and then later Mercedes, taking second place in the constructors’ championship thanks to 11 podiums. Their all-black testing livery at the end of the season reflected an aggressive change in identity for the team after their successful season.

Red Bull 2004 – Can opener

Red Bull became one of the stories of the 2004 season when the energy drinks giant announced it would purchase the then-Jaguar team from Ford and transform it into their own team. At the end of 2004 and early 2005, the team tested with a livery that, fittingly enough, looked a lot like one of their cans of drink.