With all of the cars finally released, with the exception of the Sauber and Toro Rosso’s livery, fans can now get a good picture of the cars that they will be watching for the season. Many of the liveries and car designs have improved greatly from last season, in terms of appearance. Out of all of this season’s cars, one really stood out to me as my favourite.
Of course, since the season hasn’t started yet, you can’t really judge the performance of these cars just yet. Although we have pre-season testing, many of the teams sandbag their way through the tests because their primary focus is on reliability, not necessarily raw speed. So for right now, my opinion of the best car is in terms of appearance only.
In my mind, Manor’s MRT05 is the clear winner. This might seem like an odd choice, given their rather poor performance in recent seasons, but as I say, this article isn’t about the best performance. So why is the MRT05 the most beautiful car of 2016?
First off, the livery is simple, but still appealing. It isn’t overly complex with a ton of shapes and patterns that distract you from design of the car. Instead, the livery compliments the shape of the car. The livery isn’t covered in sponsorship logos, which isn’t necessarily a good thing if you are the team owner, but having only a handful of small logos doesn’t ruin the appearance of the car. The team has stuck with the same colours as last season, but they have slightly modified the blue to make it more pleasing to the eye. The white lines on the livery give the car an appearance of speed and perfectly outline the nose of the car.
The car design is also beautiful, particularly the nose. Unlike the current cars on the grid, Manor has opted not to take that ugly nose design that we have become accustomed to in the recent seasons. Instead they’ve opted to use a nose that is somewhat reminiscent of the noses that were used in 2013 and were much more visually appealing. The MRT05’s nose is relatively simple. It’s mostly flat and it’s just rounded at the end. The nose is considerably longer than the others on the grid and is one of the only ones that extends past the front wing. Although the nose is low, like the regulations require, it doesn’t point down at as much of a steep angle like the other teams. Because their nose is longer, they can use a gentle angle to reach the desired height.
Although it’s probably not going to be the highest performing car on the track, it’s definitely the best looking one. Although I really do love the Haas F1 Team’s first Formula One car, the Manor MRT05 narrowly beats their car and earns their reputation as my favourite looking Formula One car this season.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organization, employer or company. Assumptions made in any analysis contained within this article are not reflective of the position of any entity other than the author.
