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Brown rejects criticism of new McLaren livery

McLaren's new orange livery didn't go down quite as well on social media as the team had been hoping for, leaving the team's executive director Zak Brown scrambling to its defence.

Fans were divided by the new orange-and-black look, with many comparing it with the design used by the now-defunct Manor team in the past while others have suggested that it looks like a Spyker from the 2007 season.

However, Brown was a stout defender of the new look and said that fans would quickly get used to it and take it to their hearts.

"I think it is one of those that is pretty subjective as to what is a great paint scheme and what is not a great paint scheme," he said.

"Personally we love it, but I am sure that if you ask 100 people, hopefully the majority will love it, but you will get some different views.

"We wanted something that was elegant, impactful," he added. "There was a lot of TV work done - when you see it from the front it will look like an orange car, and it is not until you turn to the side that you pick up that it is not fully orange.

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"For the die-hard McLaren fans, they will notice the arc at the back is the McLaren speed mark. Picking up on that, we think the orange stands out and is quite a bright orange."

Brown added that a lot of thought had gone into making sure that the big change in the livery didn't overshadow McLaren's heritage as a team.

"Our past is awesome and we must never forget our past, that is who has made up who we are today."

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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.