McLaren launched their first car in the post-Ron Dennis era, revealing a brand new orange livery. The team teased on social media with orange promotional material, leading most people to believe that the McLaren will be sporting an orange livery from their classic era.
The new car, named the MCL32, and the new color scheme are intended to give the team a fresh start to their new era, while also revisit McLaren’s successful past. The fans have been requesting a livery change for quite some time, especially after their dreadful livery choice in 2016. Some were hoping that the original red and white from the McLaren-Honda era would return.
Despite a lot of progress over the last year, McLaren CEO Jonathan Neale believes that there is still work to be done and that the team will have a difficult journey ahead of them:
“The journey ahead isn’t going to be easy, and I’ve emphasized that to everyone. We’ve made progress in the past 12 months, but we’re not where we need to be and we expect on-track competition to be fierce. To win in Formula 1 requires any competitor to be good at everything. Thoughtful but relentless pursuit of excellence is required.
So, do I believe we’ll be back at the front this year? Realistically, probably not quite yet, no. But do I think we’ll continue to make meaningful improvement as a team? Absolutely. And that’s our aim: to make progress by establishing the proper and correct, if sometimes difficult, changes that are needed to go forward.”
The McLaren launch was one of the most anticipated among Formula One fans and have generated a lot of attention from the media in the run up to the event.
“McLaren has always been the team in Formula 1 for me, and I’m massively motivated to be able to help re-establish the team where I firmly believe it belongs: at the very pinnacle of Formula 1,” said Zak Brown, the new executive director of the McLaren Technology Group. “I’m hugely encouraged by the amount of attention this year’s McLaren-Honda launch has garnered, and by the number of our partners in attendance – not only at the McLaren Thought Leadership Centre in Woking [UK], but also at our concurrent event in Tokyo [Japan], which is taking place at a Hilton hotel; Hilton is one of our partners, of course.”
The drivers seem to like the new changes to the car, with Fernando Alonso saying that the car “appears to be really promising” and Stoffel Vandoorne welcoming the new livery by saying “It’s really nice to see a McLaren looking like a proper McLaren”. The car will hit the track for the first time at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for the first pre-season testing session on Monday.
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