McLaren reveal the livery of their 2026 Formula 1 car

The McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 Team unveiled the car during a live broadcast from Bahrain, home to the team’s long standing shareholders, with CEO Zak Brown, Team Principal Andrea Stella, drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, Chief Marketing Officer Lou McEwen and Chief Designer Rob Marshall present for the launch.

In keeping with McLaren tradition, the papaya livery that delivered the 2025 Constructors’ and Drivers’ World Championships has been retained for the following season. The MCL40 features the familiar papaya colour palette, complemented by anthracite sections and subtle teal highlights, a design theme that also extends to the drivers’ race overalls.

Norris and Piastri will race in fire suits featuring an all papaya front and anthracite rear, with their respective numbers 1 and 81 highlighted in team colours, underlining McLaren’s champion status heading into 2026.

The livery also showcases the team’s commercial strength, with the presence of long standing and new partners reflecting what McLaren describes as their central role in enabling the team to compete at the highest level.

The MCL40 has already completed its first on track running, making its debut during the recent Barcelona Pre Season Shakedown. Designed under the all new 2026 technical regulations, the car represents a clean sheet approach for the team as Formula 1 enters its next era.

The new livery will appear on track again on Tuesday, 10 February during McLaren’s promotional filming day, before the first Bahrain Pre Season Test begins on Wednesday, 11 February.

Brown said: “We’re delighted to present our 2026 challenger’s livery from our second home, Bahrain. The iconic papaya continues on the MCL40 as we keep our tradition of carrying Championship winning liveries through to the next season. Racing performance is also at the forefront of design when exploring creative routes, and we’ve balanced creative direction with aero considerations to create this striking 2026 competitor.

“Thank you to all our committed shareholders and partners, without whom we simply wouldn’t be able to go racing, to our fans for their continued support, and to our team of people who have worked tirelessly to get us to this point in the exciting new era of Formula 1. We’re all excited to see it hit the track.”

Stella underlined the scale of the challenge facing the champions as the regulations reset the competitive order, saying: “It’s fantastic to reveal the livery for our 2026 challenger, the MCL40, as we reach an important milestone in our team’s incredible work and dedication before we begin racing this year.

“2026 marks a new challenge as we take on a new era of Formula 1 regulations. We also go into the season as an independent challenger facing five top manufacturers who all want to beat us. While we have the benefit of the lessons learned from our success in the past few years, the whole grid is restarting from zero and our past achievements count for nothing.

“Our objective is to hit the ground running, and we have the best combination of team, driver pairing, collaboration with Mercedes HPP, partners, and fans to be able to do this. We will continue to focus on creating the conditions to succeed as we approach our biggest challenge to date.”

From the cockpit, Norris welcomed the continuation of the championship winning look, saying: “It’s good to be back in Bahrain to reveal the livery for this season. The design looks great and I’m excited to continue racing in the colours which were part of our huge success last year.

“To win the Championship with the team I’ve been with since the beginning was incredible. We’re coming into this year as World Champions and I’m excited to see what we can achieve in this new era of Formula 1.”

Piastri echoed that sentiment, adding: “The new livery on our MCL40 looks excellent, and it’s great that we have carried through our Championship winning design from 2025. It’s always fun to race in a papaya car.

“We’ve got a big challenge ahead with the new regulations, but I come into this year with a lot of positivity and ready to tackle this new era of Formula 1 head on. We’ve taken a lot of good learnings from last year, so I am feeling stronger than ever.”