McLaren has unveiled the special livery it will run at the Monaco Grand Prix. The design inspired by motorsport’s ‘Triple Crown’ of races, all of which McLaren has previously won.
Monaco and the Indianapolis 500 are two of the three events counting towards it, and both take place this weekend. The third element of the Triple Crown is next month’s Le Mans 24 Hours race for sports cars.McLaren, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary as a company, won the Indy 500 in 1974 and 1976 with Johnny Rutherford. Their first Monaco Grand Prix win did not come until in 1984 when Alain Prost started a run of nine wins in 10 years there for the team.
Ayrton Senna went unbeaten on the streets of Monaco from 1989 to 1993, then Mika Hakkinen put McLaren on top again in 1998, his team mate David Coulthard won Monaco in 2000 and 2002. Victories for Kimi Raikkonen (2005), Fernando Alonso (2007) and Lewis Hamilton (2008) brought McLaren’s Monaco win count up to 15 – the most of any team.
The highlight of McLaren’s brief Le Mans history was in 1995 when teams running its BMW-powered F1 GTR car finished first, third, fourth and fifth.
The first of each of those wins have been incorporated into McLaren’s 2023 Monaco livery, with the rear of the car adorned in a Papaya orange harking back to Rutherford’s Indy 500-winning livery. The middle of the MCL60 is white, evoking the iconic liveries McLaren used through the eighties. The race-winning Le Mans livery was all-black, so the top of the MCL60’s nose will switch from orange to black as the front wing and the sides of the front-end of the chassis are already painted dark.
McLaren’s four-car Indy 500 entry this weekend is also celebrating the brand’s history and Triple Crown success, with each of the cars using a different livery referencing those past wins. The F1 team will also run its special livery at next week’s Spanish Grand Prix.
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Nitzo (@webtel)
23rd May 2023, 17:59
Yes. Now they need not worry about race pace. They can go slow so that everyone at trackside can get a good view of this livery !!
Staffan
23rd May 2023, 18:05
I’ve heard its only Red Bull that does one-off liveries ;p
Qeki (@qeki)
23rd May 2023, 18:14
As if Mclaren didn’t have a lot of stuff in their cars beforehand. Now it looks even more messy. I like the idea and the colorscheme but it’s a no from me.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
23rd May 2023, 18:59
Wish they ran this the whole year instead of the hideous livery they usually run. It’s such an awful mess of colours… This one looks good even with the google chrome wheel covers.
Captain Pie (@captainpie)
23rd May 2023, 19:00
Dare I say it looks a bit later life force India…
w Canes canes
24th May 2023, 2:55
Ummmmm. Looks terrible. Go back to the 2001 livery. Still looks phenomenal
MichaelN
23rd May 2023, 19:04
It’s pretty cool, and certainly more sleek than whatever it is they usually run. But given their recent form it might not be the best time to emphasize previous successes. It makes their current struggles look even worse by comparison.
With average qualifying positions for Norris (13) and Piastri (14) outside the top 10, it’s a real possibility McLaren will leave Monaco with zero points.
RandomMallard
23rd May 2023, 19:05
I much prefer the 3 they’re running in the Indy 500 personally. At least they all look like coherent liveries…
I don’t think this is appalling, just a bit weird to look at personally.
Unicron (@unicron2002)
23rd May 2023, 22:05
I’m with you on that. The triple crown Indycar liveries look great… because there are three cars.
This one is just two of those liveries inelegantly plonked on a single car. Something that even the 1999 BAR managed to do better than this!
Olivier
23rd May 2023, 19:42
Clueless, and clinching to the past. It is a bit symptomatic to their current form.
Don
23rd May 2023, 22:32
You must be the life of the party…
Adam (@rocketpanda)
23rd May 2023, 20:33
It’s nice, arguably has more character and personality than the design they are currently using. Gulf was still better, but if this was their new livery here on out I would say it’s an improvement.
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
23rd May 2023, 21:09
Out of curiosity, does anyone know what that digital code on the rear wing is advertising?
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
23rd May 2023, 21:19
I hope it’s not cigarettes.
SpaFrancorchamps (@spafrancorchamps)
23rd May 2023, 21:45
@drycrust OKX
Coventry Climax
23rd May 2023, 22:34
From the OKX.com website:
So, basically just another bunch of financial cryptic croc.
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
23rd May 2023, 23:55
@spafrancorchamps, @Coventry Climax, Thank you guys for letting me know. I guess the advert was too cryptic for me.
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
23rd May 2023, 21:17
Good to see somebody in F1 still thinks Monaco is special.
Maybe they realised the regular livery only commemorates Enrique Bernoldi’s Arrows, which David Coulthard got his McLaren stuck behind in the Monaco Grand Prix…
Neil (@neilosjames)
23rd May 2023, 21:59
Made me think of one of those awful charity songs that you just accept because they exist for a nice reason.
Dutchguy (@justarandomdutchguy)
23rd May 2023, 22:45
Yeah, it’s not great, especially with those hideous black vents. But still, It’s inoffensive and a lot less ugly than their regular livery this year
DB-C90 (@dbradock)
24th May 2023, 0:09
Will it make the car faster? If not, stop spending money on artwork Mclaren and spend money on performance.
Mclaren seems to have lost perspective on what priority it should give when spending its budget.
Jere (@jerejj)
24th May 2023, 5:52
Good livery
Mr Fabulous (@mrfabulous)
24th May 2023, 7:03
Nice of them to do an homage to the Minardi M191, but even set against its current run of form McLaren should surely be setting its sights a bit higher?
Dutchguy (@justarandomdutchguy)
24th May 2023, 9:52
To be totally honest, the M191 seems to be the better car. In F1’s current points system, the M191 would have been in the points 4 times in the first 5 races, compared to the McLaren’s 3, with a better highest position to boot (4th vs. 6th)
Sonny Crockett (@sonnycrockett)
24th May 2023, 9:53
Not a patch on their Gulf livery.
Jockey Ewing
24th May 2023, 12:58
Nice, they could even keep it.
At first sight I thoguht I would come up with some mockery, but looking at it a bit more, I really like it. The black and white portion is a bit Minardi for me although :)
kcrossle (@kcrossle)
24th May 2023, 14:36
At their current level of performance, all energy should be going into making the car faster. Not in recreating a ’90s Minardi.
Nick T.
24th May 2023, 18:25
Wow, that’s an utter mess.