McLaren rolled out an all-new livery for the Monaco Grand Prix race weekend, replacing its regular papaya with Gulf Oil’s orange and powder blue livery, which was run on Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo’s cars.
The team also chose to tweak their livery for the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi, working with main sponsor British American Tobacco’s Vuse brand to create a bespoke design featuring artwork by UAE artist Rabab Tantawy.
While one-off liveries are common in championships like IndyCar due to sponsorship commitments, most teams in F1 tend to stick with the same design throughout the season.
McLaren Racing CEO Brown felt there was significant value in racing the one-off liveries from time to time. But he felt it was important to keep them limited to ensure they remain special, having noticed a “great” fan reaction through 2021.
“I think it’s the right balance to do it on a very limited basis, like we’ve done,” Brown said when asked by Autosport about plans for future one-off liveries.
“We want to keep our identity and make a special paint job something special. And if we do it all the time, it loses its distinctiveness.
“[Abu Dhabi] was sponsor driven. I think it adds some vibrancy and brings great messages. In this case it was an artist from this field, so a great way to draw attention to different topics.
Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren MCL35M
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
“Of course, our fans are happy to support us. You see a lot of Gulf hats and shirts walking around. So it’s another opportunity for great fan engagement. Everyone voted thumbs up, so to speak, with their enthusiasm for it.
“It’s something we want to do and will continue to do, but not on a high-frequency basis because you lose your own identity and it loses its distinctiveness.”
Alfa Romeo and Red Bull were the only other two teams to launch revised livery designs last year.
Alfa Romeo added some additional green elements to its usual design to celebrate its home race in Italy at Monza, while Red Bull paid tribute to outgoing engine partner Honda by switching to a white livery design for the Turkish Grand Prix to match the colours Japan’s resembles .
