Teams Reveal 2021 Formula 1 Cars and Liveries Ahead of March 28 Opener

It may have only been a few months (less than three, in fact) since the final chequered flag of 2020 dropped, but most teams have already revealed their 2021 Formula 1 car. We are only waiting for Ferrari and Williams to reveal there’s, which will come on March 10 and March 5 respectively.

Haas is the latest to reveal its 2021 car, albeit in a less exciting launch than what we saw from Aston Martin last night.

They follow Mercedes, Red Bull, Alfa Romeo, AlphaTauri, Alpine and McLaren who have all revealed their liveries in recent weeks. Some with only minor changes and some with complete rebrands that look quite magnificent.

Of course, despite ‘revealing’ their 2021 cars, most teams have used clever camera trickery and shadows to hide the most important parts and stop competitors from getting a sneaky look ahead of the season’s first race in Bahrain on March 28.

So, let’s take a look at the freshly revealed 2021 Formula 1 cars and liveries as anticipation builds for the world’s most thrilling motorsport.

McLaren

Revealing their car mid last month, McLaren was the first to share its 2021 car as it heads into the next season with Mercedes power for the first time since 2014.

As they have swapped from Renault to Mercedes this year, the team was granted special dispensation to fit the new Mercedes power unit into the car. This wouldn’t have been possible otherwise with the new budgets that have been introduced for the 2021 season.

The livery has largely remained unchanged but having seen what Lando Norris was able to achieve in the Renault-powered car, it will be exciting to see what the team can do with the same power unit as last year’s winning team.

Also, Daniel Riccardo will make his debut for the team following a spell at Renault, so it will interesting to see if the new car can make a difference to his results.

AlphaTauri

AlphaTauri was one of the only teams to reveal its car with a track shakedown, their circuit of choice was Imola. We saw that it featured the new cutaway floor and a redesigned nose cone.

Last year, the team achieved a surprise victory with Pierre Gasly taking first place at Monza and they’ll surely be wanting to achieve more results like that in the coming season.

The biggest design change in the team’s livery comes in the form of the matte blue accents on last year’s car seemingly becoming the more dominant colour on their 2021 car.

Gasly in joined by Yuki Tsunoda this season in place of his previous teammate Daniil Kyvat following a disappointing 2020 performance.

Alfa Romeo

Alfa Romeo is another team whose livery remains largely unchanged for this season, as does its driver line-up which will continue to be Kimi Räikkönen and Antonio Giovanazzi for the coming season.

They managed to pull some decent finishes out of the bag last season topping out the bottom of the pack and finishing with some points. However, they will be looking to build on this and want to join the midfield pack in the upcoming season.

The 2021 Alfa Romeo C41 was revealed with a theatric display in Warsaw, Poland ahead of winter testing and it will be fun to see if they can make a difference this season.

Red Bull

Red Bull thought it had a championship winner on its hands with the RB16 last year, but unfortunately, it only managed to win two races in the 2020 season.

In 2021, the team will look to build on the momentum it had growing towards the end of the 2020 season with their car outpacing Mercedes in the final race at Abu Dhabi. Only time will tell if they have been able to draw some extra performance out of the RB16B or if Mercedes has lost ita advantage.

Red Bull revealed its 2021 car, the RB16B late last month and from the livery alone it looks barely unchanged from last season, so it will be exciting to see if they have made any gains in the last few months.

Sergio Pérez also joins the team after he impressed last season in the Racing Point car and was unceremoniously removed from that team.

Mercedes

As we all know, Mercedes were pretty much unbeatable last season and left a rather sour taste on the tongue of many fans. The W11 was perhaps the fastest F1 car of all time but it’s hoped that it won’t be as dominating this year as the W12 is revealed.

However, this is Mercedes we’re talking about and they’re not about to lose their seven championship streak. It’s likely that they have built on the performance of last years car and could be set to win their eighth straight championship in a row.

This year, they will retain the striking black livery that was introduced midway through last season in response to the Black Lives Matter protests as it continues to take action on equality.

While more silver has been introduced towards the rear and Ineos retains its bright red branding throughout the car. However, AMG badges have been added in place of the Mercedes three-pointed stars we saw on last year’s design.

Alpine

What’s this a new starter on the grid? No, Renault has rebranded itself as Alpine this year after its performance car segment which it is trying to push this season.

The 2021 Alpine A521 features a striking blue paint job with red, white and black accents which help it stand out from the rest of the grid. Unsurprisingly, it looks much better without the bright yellow paintwork we are used to.

Fernando Alonso will return to the team this season and he will be looking to add a third world championship to his name. However, he will have to hope the team has made some major improvements if he has any chance of achieving that goal.

Aston Martin

At long last, Aston Martin is returning to Formula One after a 60-year absence from the sport in a rebranded Racing Point. In its ‘pink Mercedes’ guise, the car performed admirably last year so hopefully, it can continue to so this year.

Some may say its simply now a ‘green Mercedes’ but the similarities mostly come from the modifications that have been made to accommodate the new engine in both cars. While the AMR21 takes its suspension from last year’s Mercedes, saving itself precious development tokens.

Sebastien Vettel will make his debut for the team this year and help underline a new era for the team. He will be hoping he can perform better at Aston Martin than he has in recent years for his previous team Ferrari.

Haas

Haas is the latest to reveal its 2021 car and it comes with quite the difference in design with blue adding a strong accent to its livery. This comes after it partnered with Uralkali for the coming season.

Their line-up has also had a shake-up with two rookies joining the team for their first season in Formula 1. Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin join the paddock for the forthcoming season but it could make for a difficult team in 2021.

After promising form in 2018, the team has slowly but surely slipped down the grid with last year being their worst season to date. Hopefully introducing some new blood to the team will help but if Mazepin’s performance in place of Romain Grosjean is anything to go by, we won’t be keeping our fingers crossed.

Williams

Williams didn’t have the best of seasons last year, but 2021 will be its first season without a Williams family member in control as Dorilton Captial took over the team late last year.

It is hoped that this will give the team a new lease of life but we won’t see the fruits of that until 2022 when new regulations come in and provide it with a clean slate.

Williams hasn’t revealed its 2021 car or livery yet but it is set to be revealed on March 5, so this article will be updated once we know more information.

Ferrari

It’s fair to say that Ferrari had a shocking season last year with it performing well below the top three. The once legendary team has been saddled with a midfield standing and it will be looking to become more competitive in the coming season.

Carlos Sainz will be joining the team in place of Sebastien Vettel and he and Charles Leclerc will be looking to capitalise on the promising seasons they had in 2020.

Ferrari will be revealing their 2021 car on March 10, so the article will be updated then when we have more information. However, as with Williams. they will be looking to the 2022 season to see some real changes in the team when new engines and regulations come into play.