McLaren executive director Zak Brown says the decision to bring back the papaya orange livery on the new MCL33 is part of the “deeper engagement” he wants to build with fans.
Last year saw the Woking outfit return to their traditional colour as used by founder Bruce McLaren on his early cars, but the shade was orange was not quite the same as that the New Zealander painted his machines.
For 2018, that has been put right with papaya and blue being used in a variation of the livery seen on Fernando Alonso’s IndyCar at Indianapolis and it was a move which was about more than just history.
“Our return to a papaya orange livery for this year wasn’t simply an emotional decision; it demonstrates that we are listening to our fans, building deeper engagement with them and the F1 community as a whole,” Brown claimed.
“We want McLaren to earn respect on and off the track and we want to show everyone what makes this team special, whether that’s our fans or our partners – there’s room for more on our journey.”
McLaren head into this year with increased expectations after dropping Honda’s underperforming engine in favour of the same Renault unit as used by Red Bull, which the team hope can draw them level with their rivals from Milton Keynes.
“The design, engineering and aerodynamic departments have done an incredible job delivering a new car with a new power unit in an extremely short timeframe,” racing director Eric Boullier commented.
“We are humble about the challenge ahead, but feel we’ve prepared well, have a solid package that we can build upon and exploit as the season progresses and have two excellent drivers who will make the difference in races.
“At McLaren, we are all racers – pure and simple. We’re going to come out pushing, and we’re going to be racing as hard as ever,” the Frenchman concluded.
