2025AlpineF1 Unlocked

INSIGHT: Meticulous precision and show-stopping designs – How do you paint a Formula 1 car?

Special ContributorPhillip Horton
Paint shop, Alpine F1 factory, Enstone, United Kingdom on October 10th 2021: Photo Alpine F1 TeamFormula 1 header templates (7).png

The two cars of every Formula 1 team carry a distinctive livery, the design turning them into mobile billboards that zip around the world’s racing circuits. As you might expect in F1, achieving that paint job is a meticulously precise and co-ordinated process that continues non-stop throughout each season. So how does it work?

In a building on Alpine’s campus in rural Oxfordshire is the team’s Paint Shop, complete with a couple of old-spec full-carbon cars and components, and rolls of wrapped cylindrical vinyl sheets and sponsor decals dotted around.