McLaren: We've seen these fake MCL32 pics it's not our car

A Formula 1 news website has released a series of fake photos of what they claim is the new Honda powered McLaren MCL32 featuring the team's new livery.

McLaren have made no secret of the fact that there will be a colour change on their cars for the 2017 F1 season, although the suspicion is that their iconic orange will be integrated into the colour scheme, the team are keeping details of this secret - even their star driver Fernando Alonso is in the dark about it.

The stop-start website in question - The Judge 13 - is notorious for 'thumb suck' stories written under pseudonyms regarding Formula 1 and often claiming to have scoops and inside information which are invariably not true or silly speculation.

Typically they thrive on the fact that news is scarce at this time of the year, target a story that can generate 'clicks' and then milk it through gullible social media channels.

This time around they trumpet: "It’s very possible that the images in this article are that of the new McLaren car for 2017 or are at least very similar to what you’ll see running in Barcelona."

And then post photos that appeared in the Real Time UK Twitter feed:

McLaren responded to the photos: "We've seen these fake MCL32 pics, it's not our car. You'll have to wait a bit longer for the real thing."

Even to an inexperienced eye the photos are clearly not of a new generation F1 car, let alone the new McLaren, as the rear and front wings are incorrect, while the engine cover resembles a GP2 Series car.

Graphics of F1 cars with alternative liveries, and speculative artwork are currently the rage in F1 fan circles.