Race and classic pictures

Stoffel and Fernando head to the beach!

One of the things we'll never get tired of is the silly things that Formula 1 drivers are asked to do in the name of sponsorship!

For example, here are Stoffel Vandoorne and Fernando Alonso getting ready for a photo shoot for McLaren's new sponsors Gandys this week. Even without the green screen background, there's enough colour in their beach attire to give anyone a migraine!

Stoffel is certainly putting his heart into delivering the required beach bum image with comendable gusto.

However, despite his longstanding experience with deckchairs, Fernando looks slightly more baffled about the whole thing. He might need counselling to get over the trauma of this particular publicity stunt!

McLaren monetizes a joke with a clever new partner!

The signing of the Gandys lifestyle brand is a wonderfully cheeky touch for McLaren. The design of the new halo cockpit protection device has been compared to the distinctive upper part of that article of footwear.

The Gandys logo will now appear front and centre on the halo at the Australian Grand Prix, right above the driver. The company is also producing a special limited edition 'Halo edition' flip flop. A hundred per cent of profits from sales will go directly to the Orphans For Orphans foundation set up by Gandys co-founders Rob and Paul Forkan.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.