Starting with this weekend’s Singapore event and produced in conjunction with team sponsor OKX, McLaren has significantly upended its usual livery, with a mostly black design instead highlighted with the orange that usually makes up the majority of its car’s colours.
McLaren says it is also making the change to continue its celebration of 2023’s 60th anniversary of the team’s founding as Bruce McLaren Motor Racing in 1963.
Previously, McLaren ran a ‘Triple Crown’ colour scheme at the Monaco and Spanish races in tribute to the success of its cars in the 1974 Indianapolis 500, 1984 Monaco GP (a race the team has won on 14 other occasions after that first triumph) and 1995 Le Mans 24 Hours.
McLaren also ran a tweaked design to its usual livery at the British GP to highlight another one of its sponsors, Google Chrome.
“Our partnership with OKX goes from strength to strength, and it’s fantastic to celebrate it with this incredible livery,” said McLaren Racing CEO, Zak Brown. “Stealth Mode [McLaren’s name for its latest livery change] flips our race car’s colours, bringing something exciting and different to these two great races in Singapore and Japan.
We hope fans will love it as much as we do and get a chance to enjoy the fan zone to connect with our team.
“OKX are a dedicated supporter of McLaren’s journey, and in turn we’re proud to bring our partnership to life on track through the global platform of Formula 1.”
McLaren is not the only team making a major livery change for the next few races, with Williams also set to alter its design as part of a sponsorship arrangement with the Gulf oil company.
Williams will also keep its temporary design change – which was announced back in July following a fan vote on various choices using the famous Gulf colours for the idea McLaren itself ran with at the 2021 Monaco GP when it had the sponsor’s patronage – for Japan, then also use it for the following race in Qatar.
F1 car liveries and changes to them are covered by the championship’s sporting rules.
The relevant article in the FIA’s F1 sporting regulations, 9.1.b, states that “both cars entered by a competitor must be presented in substantially the same livery at every competition, any significant change to this livery during a championship may only be made with the agreement of the FIA and the Commercial Rights Holder”.
It has also been announced that another idea first used by McLaren is also soon set to officially debut on AlphaTauri’s cars.
This is the Digital-Out-of-Home (DOOH) advertising technology from the Seamless Digital company that allows sponsor graphics placed in panels on F1 cars to change as the machines run on track.
This approach was first tested by McLaren in practice at the 2022 US GP before it committed to using them in competitive sessions this season.
AlphaTauri is set to do likewise from 2024, when the team will likely have a new name following Red Bull’s decision not to sell the Faenza-based squad but instead change its identity, as well as be more closely aligned with the main Red Bull team.
Ahead of the Singapore race, AlphaTauri said it has been discreetly testing the DOOH panels on its AT04 cars at 2023 events.
