Data & Insights

A Show On Social: 2023 Formula 1 Livery Launches

February 27, 2023 | by

With the start of the jam-packed 24-race Formula 1 season a few weeks away, and the premiere of the 5th season of “Drive to Survive” even sooner, all ten Formula 1 teams have now debuted their new liveries. 

These flashy reveals are largely social media events, sometimes accompanied by livestreams. They’re also massive sponsorship events, with new brand partner logos often making their first appearance on the official designs. 

By far these are the biggest days of the offseason for F1 team socials. Prior to this year’s first launch, an F1 team averaged $116K a day in social value during this offseason. These launch days generated 11.6x that, with the average social value per team coming in at over $1.35M for the day.

Here’s an overview of the social numbers from this year’s launches.

Seven of the ten teams also streamed launch events on YouTube.

Front Of The Grid

This year, the most popular teams with the largest followings once again dominated with larger overall social numbers on launch day.

Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team

Based on numbers alone, Mercedes was the clear winner, changing up the look of their car by going back to black for the W14 livery. Beyond the above social stats, their team social media likely benefited from extra promotion of the launch via their drivers, with superstar Lewis Hamilton’s socials earning 18.4M impressions on the day of the reveal and George Russell adding on another 14.6M, the most of any driver pairing for launch day.

Scuderia Ferrari

In 2nd for impressions, engagements and social value, Ferrari didn’t deviate from the traditional Rossa Corsa car. Steeped in tradition, why would they? Outperforming last year’s social media launch, the success of the SF-23 reveal is likely more linked to excitement for the upcoming season as opposed to a ground-breaking design. Will this car start out as hot as last year’s? And more importantly, can it maintain success for the whole season?

Oracle Red Bull Racing

Red Bull similarly didn’t change much in their car or major sponsorships, which could explain why despite winning the Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championships last year they finished in 3rd for engagements and social value and 4th for impressions. However, Red Bull’s YouTube livestream of their New York event was the most successful, with the best viewership metrics across the board. As for the World Champion, Max Verstappen’s main post on launch day was a non-car related announcement of his new EA Sports partnership.

McLaren

Right on Red Bull’s tail, McLaren stuck with the popular papaya orange for the primary color on the MCL60. As for brand partners, Google Chrome takes up more space on this year’s design, featured largely on the side and front wing. They were 4th for engagements and social value, but actually beat Red Bull in impressions. Notably, they’re also the only “big” team on social that added a new driver for 2023. 

Social Media Midfield

Even though sheer numbers favor dominant teams with bigger followings, for the social media midfield these launches are still an important opportunity to reach Formula 1 fans and build hype for the new season.

Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team

Aston Martin boldly revealed their livery the same day as McLaren, but beat out teams with comparable followings in terms of social performance. Their car had fewer cosmetic changes, with the focus of Aston Martin’s event on increased on-track performance for F1 veteran Fernando Alonso and returning driver Lance Stroll.

MoneyGram Haas F1 Team

Haas had the first livery reveal of 2023, which was also the first major display with new title sponsor, MoneyGram, who appears prominently on the black, white and red car. Adding a title sponsor validates the budding American teams recent growth, as did the success of their launch. Per usual, Haas outperformed several teams on social media despite having the fewest followers, evidence of their value to new sponsors like Chipotle and MoneyGram, who’s logo earned 11.7M impressions and $54K in brand value from images of the livery on launch day. Last year, Haas had the lowest social metrics of any team on launch day, so moving up to 6th and doubling engagement clearly shows a team on the rise.

Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake

Alfa Romeo similarly debuted a new title sponsor this year – Stake. The crypto casino and sports betting platform logo was prominent on Alfa Romeo’s sleek new red and black livery, earning Stake 12M logo impressions and $74K in brand value from Alfa Romeo’s social posts of the car. Their fresh look was well-received, finishing 3rd in F1’s official fan vote for the best livery. With the added offseason news of Audi’s impending 2026 F1 entry, Alfa Romeo’s busy winter paid off with a relatively successful launch. They were one of just three teams with better social stats than their 2022 reveal.

Scuderia AlphaTauri

AlphaTauri was neck and neck with Alfa Romeo for engagements, impressions and social value. Launching in New York during Fashion Week, AlphaTauri put on a spectacle which earned them the highest cross-platform engagement rate, but otherwise put them behind teams with similar followings. The biggest cosmetic change was an added splash of red, prompted by new sponsor PTK Orlen. Potentially hurting the impact of their launch, neither of AlphaTauri’s drivers posted on the day of the reveal, including new driver Nyck de Vries.

Under-The-Radar Unveilings

Teams with social media reveals that didn’t make quite as much of a splash still joined the pre-season conversation with their livery launches, even with not-as-high numbers.

Williams racing

Williams had some fresh logos and fresh faces at their launch, including a new major American sponsor, Michelob Ultra, to go with their new American driver, Logan Sargeant. Williams also added Gulf Oil, Stephens and Pure Stream to their sponsor roster and livery and brought back the clever Duracell battery airbox from the 2022 Miami Grand Prix.

BWT Alpine F1 Team

Alpine were the last to go, revealing two liveries — one blue A523 livery with pink accents and a second predominantly pink BWT design set to run for the first two races. It’s possible F1 fans were less engaged by the time livery launch #10 rolled around, so despite their strong finish last year and exciting addition of Pierre Gasly, Alpine’s launch received slightly less love than the rest of the grid.

And now it's Time to Race!

Ultimately, looks don’t matter if the car doesn’t perform on-track. Still, with a full season of possibilities ahead, seeing the cars for the first time is a nice teaser for fans going into a new year.



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