On the occasion of the last Monaco GP, McLaren surprised everyone by unveiling the splendid Gulf Oil livery with the orange and blue colors of the brand that have taken the place of the papaya adopted by the Woking cars for several years now.
On that occasion, the one-off livery also brought McLaren good results as Lando Norris managed to take the third step of the podium behind Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz.
Even during the last race of the season, which took place in Abu Dhabi, the English team decided to adopt a celebratory livery. In this case, however, the team designers chose not to touch the papaya color to instead change the blue of the sponsor Vuse by adopting a psychedelic color for the area of the bellies, the upper part of the hood and the endplates of the front wing.
Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren MCL35M
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Thanks to these strategies, McLaren has managed to attract attention to its sponsors and Zak Brown confirmed that even in 2022 they will be present on some occasions of the one-off liveries.
“I think we have found the right balance,” said the McLaren Racing CEO, unwilling to continually change the livery.
“We want to preserve our identity and if you propose changes of livery too frequently it loses its uniqueness. The one we adopted in Abu Dhabi was proposed by our sponsor and I think it sent a great message ”.
“It was a livery created by a female artist from that area and it was a great way to draw attention to a number of topics.”
“Our fans really enjoyed these experiments and we saw many of our supporters wearing Gulf caps and t-shirts around. I think it’s another way to increase their involvement. Everyone appreciated these liveries very much “.
“It is something we want to continue to propose, but sipping the liveries over the course of the year so as not to lose our identity and not diminish the uniqueness of the special livery”.
In addition to McLaren, Alfa Romeo and Red Bull also offered celebratory liveries over the course of last season.
The Swiss team changed the design of their cars for the Monza GP, while Red Bull showed up in a white livery at the Turkish GP to pay tribute to Honda on a date that should have seen the Formula circus. 1 face the away match from Suzuka.
#McLaren #special #liveries #future