With the recent signing of Oscar Piastri to the McLaren F1 team, the iconic racing team found themselves in the spotlight once more. Dropping fan favorite driver Daniel Riccardo, the McLaren F1 team takes the opportunity to trot out the Australian driver at least once more before he loses one of the most lucrative seats in the F1 Paddock.
Alongside British young gun driver Lando Norris, the two drivers take on the task of creating and spraying the team’s primary livery color, papaya orange. Adorning the exterior of the team’s current cars papaya orange is instantly recognizable, distinct from the rest of the paddock. Criticized for being garish by some fans, papaya orange isn’t going anywhere, anytime soon. Although last season, many fans rejoiced at the special Gulf livery for the 2021 Monaco Grand Prix, which saw Lando Norris score a podium. This marked a change in power in the F1 grid with Mercedes not making an appearance on the winner’s podium.
Find out if Lando Norris and Daniel Riccardo can paint their legendary F1 color.
What Is McLaren’s Papaya Paint?
According to Mclaren, the team has a special relationship with papaya orange. The color very nearly returned in 2017. A darker shade called Tarocco appeared on the car alongside black and white highlights. The true papaya orange color returned to McLaren’s cars in 2018.
This came after a few decades of McLaren’s liveries being somewhat forgettable. As McLaren Mercedes, the orange was more fluorescent and only highlighted certain pieces of aero, and more importantly certain sponsors. With Mika Hakkinen and Kimi Raikkonen at the helm the team used more gray and silvers in its liveries. A far cry from the team’s iconic Marlboro livery which partnered the orange and cream. The orange made its first appearance back in 1968. This was distinct from what Bruce McLaren had previously opted for silver, his native New Zealand’s racing color. Then after a tumultuous debut season for the McLaren team, he switched to red in 1967.
McLaren continues to claim that the team made the leap to orange after Teddy Mayer, a partner in McLaren, saw an orange car racing in Britain. With nothing else racing using paint like it, the team applied a similar paint to the M6A in the 1967 Can-Am season. After experiencing some success, the paint then came to the F1 car for 1968.
How Do You Make McLaren’s Papaya Paint?
Riccardo, unfortunately, assured the staff at Akzonobel Sikkens of “quality you can count on”, if only this applied on the track as well. After donning their overalls and protective gloves Norris and Riccardo are able to get to work. Presented with the coveted recipe, we learn the toners are 361, 254. 00 and 355. A language that only painters speak. In plain English, the drivers have to get to 134.9 grams exactly of whatever the mixture is. Then after this another 20 grams of a mysterious liquid.
Riccardo proclaims that it’s “easy”, although replicating at home from Mclaren’s video would be somewhat difficult, with the exact quantities missing you can’t paint your car this color. Unless of course, you own one of Mclaren’s supercars that come in this bright color such as the 570s or the legendary McLaren P1.
How Does McLaren’s Papaya Paint Spray?
Handing the spray gun over to Lando Norris, Akzonobel-Sikkens lets him know that the harder you hold down the trigger the more it sprays. A similar concept to the throttle, which the F1 driver surely has his head around by now. To protect themselves from the spray paint’s fumes the drivers don their painting helmets that seal with a hood. These have their own breathing apparatus.
Instructed to hold their spray gun only a hands width away from the panel their spraying they get to work. As per usual the two McLaren drivers take this as an opportunity to showcase their distinct personalities. Riccardo sprays somewhat haphazardly giving a liberal coating. Norris takes a more methodical approach even calling his work a ‘masterpiece’.
Both drivers leave the painting studio with a certificate for mixing and spraying papaya orange. An achievement many an F1 fans would love to have framed on their walls. Interestingly, McLaren showcase their driver’s work. Both Norris’ and Riccardo’s work seem somewhat identical, after all with the same machinery and recipe how can they achieve different results? For those following the past few seasons of the sport, hopefully, the irony isn’t lost. A glossy shade of McLaren’s famous Payapa orange, it isn’t quite what appears on the current season’s car, this has a more matte finish to it. But the drivers successfully match the hue.
Only spraying a small swatch, they’ll need much more practice before the team can let them lose on any cars. So by no means should you expect to see drivers painting their own cars anytime soon. Although with budget cap decreases, nothing is entirely off the table.
