McLaren has given the first glimpse of what Formula One will look like in 2024 by unveiling its livery for the coming season, sticking true to its look of recent years.
The British team has added more of the papaya shade of orange, synonymous with founder Bruce McLaren’s early racing cars, around the engine cover.
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Company CEO Zak Brown, who reverted McLaren back to the papaya colours after taking over the company in 2016, said fan feedback on last year’s car had been important.
“I think the car looks spectacular, it’s in response to the feedback that we get from our fans, obviously papaya is very important to us so we want to make sure we’re distinctive, so when you see our car you know it’s a McLaren,” he said.
McLaren’s new look was revealed without any fanfare on Tuesday, dropping in a simple announcement on social media, and featured the colour scheme on an old car — finalised 2024 cars are unlikely to be seen until preseason testing in Bahrain at the end of February.
Most of McLaren’s rivals are set to launch their own liveries and cars in the first two weeks of February. McLaren will hope the 2024 livery is on a car which continues the upward trajectory of its predecessor.
After a sluggish start, a big mid-season upgrade propelled McLaren up the order and saw it emerge as the second or third quickest team behind Red Bull for much of the remaining races.
Drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, both widely tipped to be future world champions, are teammates for a second straight year.
Norris will be competing in his sixth season with the team and is searching for an elusive first race victory.
Piastri impressed as a rookie last year, winning the sprint at the Qatar Grand Prix, and will be looking to make further steps forward as an F1 sophomore.
The images released on Tuesday are of the new colour scheme on an old car – most teams will not reveal their actual 2024 challengers until preseason testing in Bahrain at the end of February.
McLaren’s livery has unofficially kicked off F1’s ‘launch season’, where teams unveil the new looks they will carry into the new year.
Two rival launches of note stand out this year – Sauber will be officially launching its new era with Stake, after four years racing as Alfa Romeo, while Red Bull junior team AlphaTauri is set to be renamed ahead of the new season.
Source: www.espn.com