“When we changed the livery in 2020, the main factor was to support the diversity and equality causes, which are always close to our heart. The colour black became part of our DNA at that point, so we are pleased to return to it.”
The signs for 2023 are encouraging, says technical director Mike Elliott. “Last year, once we had figured out what we needed to do, it took a huge amount of work to get ourselves moving forward,” he said.
“Towards the end of the season, you could see the performance improving, and the winter has been a reset. We have now done all the things that we wanted to do with the W13 last year, but weren’t able to because of resource constraints or because our focus was elsewhere fixing other issues.
“We had the famous ‘bouncing’ at some circuits and the car never gave the drivers good feedback, which limited them in being able to really push. With W14, we have tried to keep all the goodness of the W13, and address its weaknesses.
“With this generation of cars, the performance is all in the detail. When you look at the W14, you will see the DNA of the W13, but also a lot of evolution and detail improvement.”
The bold new livery also gets the stamp of approval from the most important component of all – the drivers. “Aesthetically it looks great! It’s bold, aggressive and stands out,” Russell said.
Hamilton added: “I love the new livery. It says, ‘we mean business!’. To see the evolution of the car and the changes that have been made is fascinating. We’ve redesigned, optimised, and innovated so many parts of the car, and that is impressive.”
By Steve Colquhoun