McLaren has revised the livery of its Formula 1 car ahead of the Bahrain pre-season test, which starts tomorrow.
The team first unveiled its 2022 livery at its launch in February. It is using a similar look across its other teams in IndyCar and Extreme E cars.The original 2022 colour scheme featured greater use of blue and black in place of McLaren’s distinctive papaya bodywork. Following the launch it was used in a filming day immediately following the launch and during the three days of testing at the Circuit de Catalunya.
McLaren revealed an updated livery during a filming day at Bahrain International Circuit on Wednesday. More areas of the car are now painted black.
The original launch car had a largely papaya engine cover, with flashes of turquoise and black down the sidepods. The livery being run today has a mostly black engine cover with a small orange swoop over the sidepods down the length of the rear. The drivers’ numbers are more prominent, being orange on black instead of blue on orange. The rear wing endplates have also been re-painted black.
The changes to the car are more than just cosmetic. There are also signs of a revised, more heavily contoured floor at the edge of the sidepods, compared to the car that ran at Barcelona. There are significant restrictions to the dimensions of bodywork in that area under the 2022 rules.
The team told RaceFans that the MCL36 livery had evolved since the launch and that it would be likely to continue this evolution over the course of the 2022 season.
McLaren’s filming day today is the second of two the team is permitted to run during the 2022 season.
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Robbie (@robbie)
9th March 2022, 16:35
I like the revision.
Gusmaia
9th March 2022, 16:36
An improvement to a worst situation.
Proesterchen (@proesterchen)
9th March 2022, 16:40
I’m not sure anyone was asking for more unmotivated black / carbon areas sprinkled on the car.
Kris Lord
9th March 2022, 16:43
More orange please!!!
erikje
9th March 2022, 19:30
And a way better orange then in the Spain edition. Foto problem or really a darker orange?
PJ Gaudie (@moogleslam)
9th March 2022, 16:49
I think they both look amazing.
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
9th March 2022, 16:54
I think I prefer the revision. I was not a fan of the original. We need more views/angles though to be sure of this.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
9th March 2022, 17:28
It still looks horrible.
Marios Savvaris (@tomorozos)
9th March 2022, 21:27
Agreed!
Jere (@jerejj)
9th March 2022, 17:39
The only differences appear on PU cover above roughly Halo level & both wing endplates, but I prefer the slightly revised livery pattern.
Jere (@jerejj)
9th March 2022, 17:39
BTW, slightly surprising they used their entire filming day allocation this early in the year.
Gabriel (@gabf1)
9th March 2022, 21:33
@jerejj Agree, I think that’s the real story here. Clearly want to be ready from the first race. I think they’re v quietly confident.
Stephen H
9th March 2022, 17:57
Looks more like their Indycars now..
Jere (@jerejj)
10th March 2022, 6:14
@Stephen H Slightly yes.
Kerry Maxwell (@kerrymaxwell)
9th March 2022, 18:38
A busier and inelegant main logo, and color replaced with black, no thanks.
Eric Rocheteau
9th March 2022, 18:45
it shows they McLaren trying (and not yet succeeding) in attracting new partners
Lots of partner spaces are available, but maybe very difficult in current context
A fundamental issue in past years is that partner names in black on orange background simply does not stand out. see the difference with Red bull, for example
Hence the move to long black space so that partner names in white can stand out
But how can a major partner like Dell Technologies be practically invisible on the car?
Certainly there will be evolutions
Dutchguy (@justarandomdutchguy)
9th March 2022, 18:46
Ah, just what we didn’t need.
Doesn’t look worse. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Becken Lima (@becken-lima)
9th March 2022, 18:50
It´s still a big visual mess.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
9th March 2022, 19:12
Like I said in Spain, it looks like they were looking for sponsors, now they have added q couple touches but they are still looking for a big sponsor.
Dex
9th March 2022, 19:17
It still looks to me like a generic livery from some video game.
Electroball76
9th March 2022, 19:23
What?
Velo is evolving!
Congratulations! Your Velo evolved into Abettertomorrow!
Dusty4
9th March 2022, 19:27
The blue segment coming from the halo to the back of the car changed from blue to orange.
Last year’s Monaco livery was just right. I don’t love neither of the 2022 attempts.
Tommy C (@tommy-c)
9th March 2022, 20:35
Well that’s disappointing…
Qeki (@qeki)
9th March 2022, 20:55
White, Silver, Orange are Mclaren colours now they have really moved away from the Dennis era. A black Mclaren??
This makes release days even more pointless. Now they will also change the colour and not just the car…
David
9th March 2022, 21:15
Just…. awful.
Niefer (@niefer)
9th March 2022, 21:24
Still sucks…
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
9th March 2022, 22:38
I’ve had a titful of the word “evolve” already. What’s wrong with “change”? Or “ruin”?
Paul (@frankjaeger)
10th March 2022, 0:21
All for the sponsors
GeeMac (@geemac)
10th March 2022, 4:32
Urgh, it’s even worse than the original version.
I honestly don’t see how anyone likes that, it’s a mess. Maybe I’m just too old to appreciate it.