The Papaya Returns.

“We have had the same [discussions about livery] inside the team: all of these people were saying, why don’t we make it orange – because that was the old colour of McLaren?”
“Well, I say, ‘you just said it – it was the old colour of McLaren. Why the hell do we want to go backwards?”
These were the words of McLaren supremo Ron Dennis when answering a question about the team’s livery after reunification with engine partners Honda during the 2015 F1 season.
Today, during the build up to the 2017 F1 season, McLaren have dropped enough hints suggesting a full or partial return to the Papaya Orange livery it sported in some form or the other between 1968-1973.
This is a good time to run through the McLaren liveries over the years starting from the latest going back to the earliest ones.
McLaren, the 2nd most successful team in Formula 1 is different from the most successful and inarguably the most widely recognised team of the sport, Ferrari, in that they have run countless liveries over 50-years of racing. McLaren Liveries changes have been undertaken mostly for commercial (read sponsorship) reasons. While we expect the current major teams in F1 such as Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull to stay true to their base colours (Scarlet Red for Ferrari, silver-grey for Mercedes, yellow-purple for Red Bull), there is always some excitement every other year for McLaren’s livery, as the team have been known to bring changes and some striking ones at that. The only other ‘major’ team that adopts this philosophy is Williams.

‘Predatory’ Grey (2015-2016)

After reunification with Honda in 2015, McLaren ran a variation of their chrome livery for 4 races in 2015 before switching to a graphite grey livery accentuated by orange highlights on the nose and side pods. This was the 1st major change in colour since 1997 and signalled the team’s final move away from the Mercedes influenced silver/chrome colour scheme. For most fans, the livery stood out as black with dollops of orange.

The Chrome years (2006-2014)

Having run a silver and grey based livery since 1997, McLaren switched to a chrome based grey livery accentuated by red on the nose, front & rear wings. Red was incorporated as one of the major sponsors in 2006 (‘partners’ in McLaren speak) was Emirates whose logo was featured on the front and rear wings. The side pods featured black to accommodate Johnnie Walker, the whiskey brand, another sponsor.
Interestingly, during winter testing in 2006, the team ran a full orange livery in an apparent throwback to it’s widely recognised historical livery.

In 2007, McLaren announced the arrival of title sponsor Vodafone (who switched from Ferrari) in a deal valued at $75 million a year. Emirates departed in 2007 which meant Vodafone was featured in red on the front & rear wings and on the side pods. 2007 also saw the arrival of double world champion Fernando Alonso at the team. He was partnered by McLaren protégé and future world champion Lewis Hamilton.

Silver Arrows (1997-2005)

1997 was the 3rd year of Mercedes joining hands with McLaren and the team adopted a silver and black livery. Cigarette brand West replaced Marlboro (who departed to Ferrari ending a 2-decade long sponsorship) as the title sponsor and was featured on the side pods and the rear wing.
With the silver livery and Mercedes backing, McLaren cars became the de facto ‘Silver Arrows’ – a reference to Mercedes’ cars that participated in Grand Prix racing in the 1930’s. This would remain until 2010 when Mercedes bought the championship winning Brawn GP team and converted the team into the Mercedes ‘works’ team.
Again, McLaren used their traditional papaya orange livery during winter testing in 1997.

Iconic Red and White/The Marlboro Years (1974-1996)

This is perhaps the most recalled Formula One team livery in the history of the sport and was featured on cars driven by Formula 1 greats such as Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost, Nikki Lauda, Emerson Fittipaldi, James Hunt and Mika Hakkinen. This livery ran through a number of minor variations over the years but stayed true to the colours of the principal sponsor -Philip Morris and their cigarette brand Marlboro.
The livery coincides with one of McLaren’s most successful eras which saw the team dominate the sport and becoming champions in 1984, 1985, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991 (the last 4 years were with Honda as engine partners). McLaren’s domination of the sport was unchallenged in the year 1988 that they won 15 of the 16 races held.
The period also witnessed one of the most engaging rivalries in Formula 1 history between Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna with both racing for McLaren.
This livery is also significant in that it saw the maximum number of engine partners including Cosworth (in the 1970’s), Porsche (badged as TAG in the 1980’s), Honda, Ford (1993), Peugeot (1994), Mercedes (1995 onwards)

Standout Orange (1968-1973)

Bruce McLaren, the New Zealander who founded Bruce McLaren Motor Racing (later changed to McLaren Racing) started off in Formula 1 in 1966 with a white livery with strips of green. This was changed to red the next year before opting for the historic papaya orange colour in 1968.
Legend has it that orange was selected for standing out amongst other cars. The change to orange coincided with on track success for the McLaren team. The full orange livery was continued until 1972 when Yardley arrived as a sponsor and orange was restricted to the side pods.

With their 2017 car scheduled to be launched on 24th February and with the team dropping heavy hints about a return to orange in some form, it will be interesting to see the direction the team will take with the livery. If they return to a full orange livery (which remains unlikely), it will be the first time in recent history that McLaren have undertaken a major livery change in close succession.

I’d stick my neck out and say that they will go with graphite grey with orange on the side pods, engine cover and probably the front and rear wings.

Cover image ©McLaren