McLaren unveil striking papaya MCL33
- Published on 23 Feb 2018 08:01
-
- By: Fergal Walsh
After weeks of building rumours, McLaren has launched its 2018 car which wears a papaya livery. It was heavily expected that the Woking-based outfit would use a papaya livery for the upcoming season, after dropping several hints over the off-season.
The livery also features flashes of blue, with the rear wing, driver numbers and parts of the front wing and engine cover shaded blue. McLaren has also opted to paint its halo black. The images released seem to show the car being a bit bare around the airbox and sidepods, with different parts expected to be seen next week in Barcelona.
After three years of disappointment and poor results with engine supplier Honda, McLaren will be running with Renault power this year. It last won a Grand Prix back in 2012, and hasn't claimed a podium finish since 2014, when it had Mercedes power units.
Fernando Alonso will drive for the team once again, having re-joined in 2015. He will be partnered by Stoffel Vandoorne, who completed his first full season in the sport last year.
Alonso will also be competing in the World Endurance Championship this year, as well as F1. The Spaniard has voiced his desire to win the Triple Crown of Motorsport, and is aiming to complete the second leg this year by winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
8
Replies (24)
Login to replyKyalamiKid
Posts: 146
Very nice, I m looking forward seeing this on the grid.
(All orange MCL33, sounds like the car Verstappen should be driving this season)
Kean
Posts: 692
No, they botched it! I mean I'm for the papaya orange and blue, but they should have taken a page out of Sean Bulls book. That guy has two concepts of a papaya orange McLaren and they look way better than this. They need to get rid of the black, so make the bargeboards and halo either orange or blue, and they need something to break the monotony on the sidepods, like "McLaren" written in blue.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
The car itself looks nice, but that livery could very well end up on my top 10 shittiest liveries list. There is literally nothing I like about it. Such a shame.
Kean
Posts: 692
Yeah, it looks pasty, cheap. Almost like the livery is gonna slow it down. Worst livery so far counting.... well all the 18 years I've been watching. Hell even Saubers Banco do Brazil was better. Really I'm just displeased in general this year, the coolest livery - Red Bull's - will not be kept. Mercedes and Ferrari, well they're nice and all, but predictable. That leaves Sauber and Renault as the only ones to "get excited" about, because Haas and Williams were just... meh... but honestly McLaren? Aren't you embarrassed?
Freguz
Posts: 160
Yes looks like a childs toy, this one can not win any races :-)
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
I actually like many of the liveries this year. Toro Rosso could be this year's favourite, depending on. And Sauber's livery is very elegant.
reg
Posts: 162
Well to my eyes it looks fabulous, very clean, tidy and as thwith simple looking things they are usually better and I hope faster!
Bhurt
Posts: 320
The rest of the car is about as imaginative as going with a black halo. Quite dreadful.
mbmwe36
Posts: 533
Were they on some kind of acid when they chose that colour combination? While orange and blue are complementary colours, these particular shades does not go together. And then you have the black mixed in... the lack of sponsors on the engine cover doesn't do it any favours either.
The worst part might be the blue mohawk on the engine cover.
I'd agree with calle.itw, easily in the top 10 of worst liveries ever.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
I dont necessarily know if they are complimentary colours, IMO blue and orange should stay away from one another (bronze and blue are nice though, personal favourite). But its more than the colours. Its the raw lazyness. No decals, no shapes, nothing that makes it stand out. Its a pale canvas. The reason for that? Well, the sidepods are literally screaming for a title sponsor, methinks. Assuming they can #BeBrave enough this season... But I suppose those who screamed for an Indy style livery got what they wanted. A boring, ugly livery.
Barron
Posts: 625
Dear Lord. I promise to be a good boy, eat all my dinner and not misbehave in school, but please, please deliver us from would be Graphic Designers everywhere.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
You dont need to be a graphic designer to point out personal taste about a livery... -.-
Barron
Posts: 625
Very true.. Personally, I never cared much what they look like as long as they’re quick. It’s a feature of the 21st Century though where style has become more important than substance..I’ll reserve judgement until the Australian Grand Prix grid, but I will say that imo this is not the right livery for F1. This is the livery made famous by McLaren in the CanAm days and I don’t think an F1 McLaren ever did more than a handful of races painted thus. Red & White though, that’s a very different story.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
I dont really think the "looks before function morale" is a new thing. Looks were always a part of F1, albeit not necessarily the most important aspect. Thats why even the less competitive Lotus cars are remembered today. Most of the favourite cars were both goodlooking and competitive back then aswell though.
Despite my loudmouthing about the livery here, I too will reserve criticism until Melbourne, and probably a bit after Melbourne aswell, but I can tell that this wont be a favourite for me. Not when Sauber, Toro Rosso, Mercedes and Williams are around. I dont care much for historic liveries, this is a new era so have a new livery and establish it IMO, but a return to red and white would be far better than this.
mbmwe36
Posts: 533
It's a colour term. For instance are red and green, yellow and purple also complementary colours.
Yes, the sidepods are literally screaming for a sponsor, and it is utterly ridiculous that they haven't found a solution there. But even with no sponsor, there are still ways you can work around that. But as you say, it seems lazy.
I thought the colours they used last year, the metallic orange and black, looked badass.it was, however, let down by the design.
This year there are no redeeming qualities about their look.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Yeah, I realize that, but I dont really think they compliment one another very well. They are pretty contrasting in a way I personally dont find attractive.
I'd love for a metallic, pearlescent or iridiscent orange combined with black or white. Something resembling what they had last year, but more exotic.
ajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
@MBMWE36 I can't understand why they left the sidepods completely blank. I agree it looks lazy. But also sad. I'm just hoping (foolishly perhaps) that they do have some sponsors or designs, but that they were not ready to go because of contractual reasons or something crazy like that.
ajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
When I saw the pictures above I hated the livery, then I saw some real pictures of the car on track on other websites and it actually looked nice. My only problem is on the sidepods and engine cover. Why so blank? Did they lose even more sponsors? Where the hell are all the new sponsors they announced recently? Also does anyone know why they no longer put the name of the driver on the sidepod as they used to do (e.g. Kimi, Pedro, Lewis). That empty sidepod/engine cover are depressing.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
They have, note the absense of Honda (obviously), Castrol and BP sponsorship along with no Johnnie Walker logos (AFAIS), and I think the blank sidepods are a very intentional design "feature". Its there to attract a title sponsor. This is quite literally like that guy at the gym flexing his biceps in front of his mates right beside a few girls. Even fans of this livery think this looks empty. Imagine what it looks like to a potential sponsor.
You can actually see Petrobras on the sides and three new sponsors on the nose, including Dell.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Mind, they are still partners to companies like CNBC, SAP, Carlsonic, Logitech and Sparco. Some of those pay pretty well, some of them are useful in other regards. Not featuring any of those is a bit weird to me. Carlsonic are very close to Nissan, a company affiliated with Renault, so that in particular is a bit of a missed opportunity, methinks. Thats nothing new though, McLaren has been doing that kinda thing for ages. Cant imagine sponsors would like that.
boudy
Posts: 1,168
Hope they will do better this year. However if they aren't near redbull they will have failed with their design no matter how fast it is in the corners (so did they hold on to much downforce). Great team, excellent drivers
... jury is still out on if decision to switch away from Honda was wise.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Close to Red Bull? No way that will happen. Close to works Renault? Possible. Expecting them to immediately jump up to Red Bull isnt fair to McLaren. Then again, McLaren has pretty much hyped up the situation to that point already, so go figure.
RogerF1
Posts: 501
Personally not keen on the whole package of the ‘cars’ now and the top down view of McLaren is typical. Maybe if Saab still made cars and chipped into F1 their jet fighter aero would fit nicely - and they’d make a better job of cockpit design.
The only part that resembles a car is the four black bits at the corners, the rest is just aero and there’s the rub.
Pauli
Posts: 140
Inside there is also a few parts that resemble cars but even insides would not be exactly same what you see in cars. But it has been well known fact that F1 performance has more in common with jet fighters than cars. :)