McLaren Will Have Rocket Red and Chrome Livery in 2011

McLaren Mercedes will continue to use silver for their 2011 livery, ending speculations that the color might disappear this season from the MP4-26 to mark the end of the McLaren – Daimler AG partnership.

The rumors started earlier this week, when the Woking based team presented part of its merchandise for the upcoming campaign. As silver was missing from the caps, management-style shirts and jackets and was replaced by black, some assumed the same would happen with the brand's F1 image.

All of this coincided with the fact that this year McLaren will fully purchase back the part of the company formerly owned by Daimler AG. The two entities ended their partnership at the end of 2009 but the German carmaker continued to hold shares in the British organization, which were to be bought back by Ron Dennis' company gradually. In 2011, this transaction will be complete.

However, despite the fact that Mercedes' new works team in F1 also uses silver on their car and admitted pursuing the Silver Arrows scheme for the future, McLaren will not give up their livery either. And this was not confirmed via an official statement, but through the team's official Twitter feed TheFifthDriver.

“Black livery? Er, no,” wrote the aforementioned feed yesterday, adding that the MP4-26 livery will have “the same Rocket Red and chrome finish that you've grown to love since Vodafone McLaren Mercedes was born in 2007. That's official, btw (by the way).”