Pre-season testing marks a milestone moment for the F1 teams and drivers, with it providing a first opportunity to gain significant mileage in their new machines. It is perhaps no surprise, then, that many choose to run a special livery for the occasion – as some teams have done during the 2026 Barcelona Shakedown.
There can be various reasons for doing so – perhaps the team want to obscure a new development, or maybe they are waiting for their official car launch to reveal their real look – but it has certainly given us some eye-catching designs to admire over the years.
Join us as we take a look back at just a few of the greatest testing liveries used in seasons gone by…
Red Bull, 2004
We start with Red Bull, a team that will appear more than once in this list. The Milton Keynes-based outfit have built up an impressive legacy in just over two decades since their arrival into the sport, notching up multiple championships and victories.
As such, it can be easy to forget that they were something of an unknown entity when the company acquired the former Jaguar squad ahead of the 2005 campaign; indeed, some onlookers may have questioned whether a drinks company could forge a successful sports team.
Perhaps in response to this, Red Bull chose to adorn their challenger with a drinks can-inspired livery when they participated in their maiden test at the end of 2004. The team would go on to adopt the darker blue colour scheme that has since become their trademark.
Force India, 2008
Like Red Bull, Force India chose to make an eye-catching entrance when they arrived in the sport prior to the 2008 season following businessman Vijay Mallya’s purchase of the Spyker team.
While Spyker had carried an orange livery (more on which later), the car was sporting a very different design under its new guise when it made its debut at a test towards the end of 2007; the Force India VJM01 showcased a striking mixture of burgundy, white and gold for its maiden appearance.
The outfit became known for their orange and green palette in the years that followed, before switching to pink as of 2017 – a hue the team continued to run for the remainder of their time in F1.
Renault, 2020
While some teams opt for colourful designs during testing, others choose to strip it back – as Renault did to very effective fashion back in 2020.
Following their return to the sport in 2016 after taking over the former Lotus team, Renault had stuck with a yellow and black design on their cars. However, the Enstone-based squad mixed things up during 2020 pre-season testing by using a completely black livery.
While the striking look was a popular one, the outfit ultimately returned to their usual colourway when the campaign began.
McLaren, 1997
McLaren are known for their papaya cars these days – the colour so entwined with the squad that it is even namechecked in the famous ‘papaya rules’ – but the team memorably ran a silver and black livery for many years during their partnership with Mercedes.
However, before the Silver Arrows era began in 1997, the Woking-based outfit used an interim livery during testing ahead of the season – and chose to return to the McLaren team’s historic papaya roots.
This would not be the last time that the squad resurrected the orange hue, with it making one-off returns for testing prior to 1998 and again in 2006. More recently, the team took the opposite approach for the 2026 Barcelona Shakedown by swapping their now-usual papaya for a black design.
Spyker, 2007
Papaya might be most associated with McLaren, but other shades of orange have appeared across various teams’ liveries over the years – perhaps none more dazzling than that used by Spyker at their sole pre-season testing.
The squad once known as Jordan had become Midland in 2006, before another buyout one year on saw the outfit evolve into Spyker for 2007. This would ultimately prove to be the team’s only season in F1, given that they later became the aforementioned Force India.
Fortunately the colour scheme that they brought to testing prior to 2007 would make Spyker’s brief stint in the sport hard to forget, with the car sporting a luminous orange design. And while the colour scheme remained for the season, the shade was toned down somewhat from that initial bright hue.
Williams, 2009
In contrast to those bold testing liveries, Williams went for a simple but effective choice when they headed to testing prior to the 2009 season.
While the Grove-based outfit had long been known for a blue and white design, the team took away the lighter shades during pre-season testing and decided on a deep blue colourway for the FW31 when it hit the track in Portimao.
The white and blue combination had returned when the campaign got underway – and blue has remained the base colour for Williams ever since.
Alfa Romeo, 2019
The Sauber team entered a new era in 2019 when they became known as Alfa Romeo – and for their challenger’s track debut on Valentine’s Day, the squad marked the occasion with a very fitting livery.
During a filming day at Fiorano in Italy prior to pre-season testing, Kimi Raikkonen took to the circuit in a black and red-themed car covered in clovers and hearts – perhaps even more appropriate for a team that kind of have ‘Romeo’ in their name.
While the Valentine’s look was a one-off, Alfa Romeo stuck with their classic red and white colour scheme throughout their subsequent five-year stint in the sport.
Red Bull, 2015
And finally, we arrive at one of the most famous testing liveries of recent times courtesy of Red Bull, who sparked something of a future trend by adorning their car with a camouflage design in 2015.
After their title-winning streak came to an end in 2014 following the success of Mercedes, the Milton Keynes-based outfit were certainly not shying away in defeat when pre-season testing got underway ahead of the next campaign.
Instead the squad sent their new challenger out on track in an impossible-to-miss black and white camouflage livery, with its complex design cleverly hiding any secrets on the car. While Red Bull returned to their traditional look for the season, they repeated variations of the camo-inspired design – albeit in blue – during later shakedowns held in 2018 and 2019.
