New McLaren colors inspired by Monaco car Gulf livery

McLaren says the new color scheme on its MCL36 was inspired by its fans' enthusiastic reaction to the papaya and power blue livery of its Gulf-sponsored 2021 Monaco car.

The Woking-based outfit rolled out its 2022-spec MCL36 at its headquarters on Friday evening and as it conceived its car from a clean sheet, a reworked livery also seemed appropriate.

"We wanted something that was very vibrant and change the shade of our papayas," explained McLaren racing boss Zak Brown.

"I think the livery changes that we did last year, both in Monaco and in Abu Dhabi, we had a lot of great fan reaction, and they liked to see a lot of energy.

"I think it's got some nice speed and elegance to it, that we thought would go on top of the fast race car that hopefully we've designed this year.

"So it's just a natural evolution, and also trying to make sure we give all of our corporate partners a good stand out on the car."

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While McLaren's new blend of Fluro Papaya orange and New Blue naturally conjures images of Gulf Racing's classic cars, Brown was quick to point out that the brand "has not increased their commitment to us".

However, McLaren has extended its new colors across its IndyCar, Extreme E and Esports teams.

"We're McLaren Racing," added Brown. "Formula 1 is clearly our centre of gravity if you like. We think as a single racing entity, so if we can tie our racing programmes together that is positive.

"I think they look fantastic along with the Extreme E and esports, so we wanted people to be able to look at them and be able to go ‘yeah, that's a McLaren’ regardless of the racing series that you're looking at."

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