Photo: McLaren Racing
We got to hand it to McLaren, because they certainly know how to make a splash – both in the passenger car segment and in Formula 1. Well, as far as the latter is concerned, they’ve only been making “visual splashes” as of late, having run several special liveries in recent years, including a revised one during the 2023 Monaco and Spanish Grand Prix.
For the upcoming British Grand Prix, which is set to take place this weekend (Sunday, July 9), the Woking-based outfit unveiled a special Chrome livery in honor of a fan-favorite design which was used by the team from 2006 to 2014. We’re talking of course about those Vodafone McLaren-Mercedes cars, which were mostly chrome with red and black accents. Real lookers, those were.
Back then, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso were both driving for McLaren, with the former having won the title in 2008 – coincidentally the same year in which Google launched its Chrome browser, which is now used across the team’s operations, both at the track as well as at the McLaren Technology Center.
Both MCL60 race cars will carry this bespoke Chrome livery during the British GP race weekend, with drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri set to wear special race suits. Norris will even sport a new helmet design and bespoke boots, according to the team.
Speaking of Lando Norris, it was he who literally pestered team CEO Zak Brown about reverting to a predominantly chrome livery.
“It was probably one of the first things that I said to him. I’m pretty sure, from what I remember, it was when he first showed me the livery that we were going to have for 2019,” said Norris during an interview with Autosport.
“For me, walking down the boulevard, as much as I would love a white and bright orange car – that livery was amazing – there is no other car nowadays that is like the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes that we had back then, and that’s what I grew up watching.”
“Every year, I’ve been pestering Zak to go back a little bit in this direction,” concluded the British driver.
A little bit in that direction is exactly where the team went, making sure not to offset its visual identity, leaving plenty of orange surfaces undisturbed (nose, sidepods, rear wing). The chrome does blend well with both orange and black, and as a fan, I wouldn’t mind it at all if McLaren suddenly decided to go back in this direction.
Of course, the reason why those old McLaren-Mercedes cars looked so good was because that Vodafone colorway worked perfectly together with their “Silver Arrows” identity from the late 90s and throughout the 2000s. Since then, the Mercedes-AMG F1 Team reclaimed the Silver Arrows look, although as you know, this year they’ve decided to go with another all-black livery.
Back then, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso were both driving for McLaren, with the former having won the title in 2008 – coincidentally the same year in which Google launched its Chrome browser, which is now used across the team’s operations, both at the track as well as at the McLaren Technology Center.
Both MCL60 race cars will carry this bespoke Chrome livery during the British GP race weekend, with drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri set to wear special race suits. Norris will even sport a new helmet design and bespoke boots, according to the team.
Speaking of Lando Norris, it was he who literally pestered team CEO Zak Brown about reverting to a predominantly chrome livery.
“It was probably one of the first things that I said to him. I’m pretty sure, from what I remember, it was when he first showed me the livery that we were going to have for 2019,” said Norris during an interview with Autosport.
“For me, walking down the boulevard, as much as I would love a white and bright orange car – that livery was amazing – there is no other car nowadays that is like the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes that we had back then, and that’s what I grew up watching.”
“Every year, I’ve been pestering Zak to go back a little bit in this direction,” concluded the British driver.
A little bit in that direction is exactly where the team went, making sure not to offset its visual identity, leaving plenty of orange surfaces undisturbed (nose, sidepods, rear wing). The chrome does blend well with both orange and black, and as a fan, I wouldn’t mind it at all if McLaren suddenly decided to go back in this direction.
Of course, the reason why those old McLaren-Mercedes cars looked so good was because that Vodafone colorway worked perfectly together with their “Silver Arrows” identity from the late 90s and throughout the 2000s. Since then, the Mercedes-AMG F1 Team reclaimed the Silver Arrows look, although as you know, this year they’ve decided to go with another all-black livery.
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