McLaren colours next year?

[JonesBoy]

Whilst getting myself all excited about about next years F1 season.....a classic before a wheel has been turned..........I wondered if McLaren would be changing their race car colours as Mercedes GP will of course be the "Silver Arrow" now..........? Will we see a British Racing Green Macca for our boys next year?

Any inside info anyone.

Edited by JonesBoy on Friday 8th January 10:12

[Mini1275]

I'd love McLaren orange

[Eric Mc]

McLaren team cars were never green - even in the pre sponsorship era. They were either red, white or orange.

[nonplussed]

I'm sure it'll never happen but I too would love to see them in orange.

[matthewhaskins]

Hi all,

I think the point of the post was that the Italians will be in Red, the Germans in Silver so shouldn't the Brits be in British Racing Green? Traditional Racing colours??

[jamieboy]

matthewhaskins said:

Traditional Racing colours??

What's the traditional racing colour for a majority German / Middle East owned team set up by a New Zealander?

I thought the 'official' colours for the McLaren F1 team were the grey/silver livery they introduced post-Marlboro. I've said before that I remember reading a story about it, including Ron Dennis being adamant that there wasn't any black on the car, just shades of grey. I thought it was an outside agency that designed it for them, flemke reckons it was done in-house and he's much more likely to be right. On that subject, at least.

[Eric Mc]

matthewhaskins said:

Hi all,

I think the point of the post was that the Italians will be in Red, the Germans in Silver so shouldn't the Brits be in British Racing Green? Traditional Racing colours??

And the point I was making was that,in the era when cars were in their national colours, McLarens WERE NOT painted in green.

Mc Laren was odd in that it was founded by a New Zealander but was based in the UK. By the time Bruce had a fully competitive F1 car (1969), national colours were almost gone in F1 and he opted to paint his cars all orange. He had been racing orange Can Am cars since 1967.

So, McLarens never raced in British Racing Green.

[Ralf Rockefeller]

I still think exposured Carbon Fibre is the way forward. It will save weight high up in the car, and then just stick the sponsors stickers on.

[llewop]

If the team website is to believed, no change from last year:

'The team will continue to be known as Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, its distinctive silver-with-red livery will remain unchanged, and Mercedes-Benz will continue as both an engine supplier and a partner.'

[From the press release the day of the Merc/Brawn/McLaren realignment]

Therefore, the more 'interesting' question could be; how will Brawn Mercedes come up with a 'silver arrows' livery which does not clash with McLaren!

[Muzzer]

llewop said:

Therefore, the more 'interesting' question could be; how will Brawn Mercedes come up with a 'silver arrows' livery which does not clash with McLaren!

McLaren are more of a chrome-effect silver so I would imagine that Brawn/Mercedes will go for a proper silver.

AIUI, McLaren's colours will stay the same. They're not changing sponsor or anything so...

[tom0507]

Judging but their 2010 teamwear collection next years car is staying exactly the same.

[Eric Mc]

Brawn could stay white. That was the origional German national colours anyway so they could kill two birds with one stone.

[flemke]

Eric Mc said:

Brawn could stay white. That was the origional German national colours anyway so they could kill two birds with one stone.

As long as they get rid of that wretched puke-yellow.

[BoRED S2upid]

Ralf Rockefeller said:

I still think exposured Carbon Fibre is the way forward. It will save weight high up in the car, and then just stick the sponsors stickers on.

That will be USF1 they wont have time to do any painting.

[A911DOM]

and Judging by Jensons team ware as worn on the BBC F1 page - looks absolutely no different to last year, which I find a little disappointing to be honest.

Smacks of Merc calling the shots to me?

I too would have liked to have seen a Orange/Carbon livery with much more 'McLaren' about it.

Still - leaves them more time to make sure the thing goes like greased weasel st from the off I suppose

[CanAm]

Eric Mc said:

matthewhaskins said:

Hi all,

I think the point of the post was that the Italians will be in Red, the Germans in Silver so shouldn't the Brits be in British Racing Green? Traditional Racing colours??

And the point I was making was that,in the era when cars were in their national colours, McLarens WERE NOT painted in green.

Mc Laren was odd in that it was founded by a New Zealander but was based in the UK. By the time Bruce had a fully competitive F1 car (1969), national colours were almost gone in F1 and he opted to paint his cars all orange. He had been racing orange Can Am cars since 1967.

So, McLarens never raced in British Racing Green.

Not in F1, but the "Zerex Special", a McLaren in everything but name, wasn't called the Jolly Green Giant for nothing and the first McLaren M1 was black with a silver stripe, edged in red.
The official FIA colour for Germany was always white.

[disco1]

I would love to see them drop the silver and race in the Marlboro'esq organgy red and white. Vodafone have a similar colour combo. However, Ron has mentioned a few times that their cars are not silver because of Merc but because he likes greys and silvers.

[Eric Mc]

A true candidate for The Wacky Races.

[Project 644]

Eric Mc said:

matthewhaskins said:

Hi all,



I think the point of the post was that the Italians will be in Red, the Germans in Silver so shouldn't the Brits be in British Racing Green? Traditional Racing colours??

And the point I was making was that,in the era when cars were in their national colours, McLarens WERE NOT painted in green.



Mc Laren was odd in that it was founded by a New Zealander but was based in the UK. By the time Bruce had a fully competitive F1 car (1969), national colours were almost gone in F1 and he opted to paint his cars all orange. He had been racing orange Can Am cars since 1967.



So, McLarens never raced in British Racing Green.

I'm racking my brains now for the details, it's in the book Lotus 49 by Micheal Oliver.

In the 1967 Italian GP at Monza, the Italian Authorities didn't like the look of Bruce's McLaren as it was Red with Blue stripes down the front. They said that they had to repaint the car green as green was the colour for British teams, red was for Italian teams. Bruce, having something of a sense of humour, told the mechanics to find the most vile shade of green available and paint the whole car in the colour. The mechanics got the paint and were about to start painting when the race director came down and told them to leave the car as it was. Apparently it would look bad for Italy without a red car on the front row of the grid.

I'll check back and amend this post later, but the gist is there. McLarens were nearly a "vile shade of green!"

[Trophybloo]

Eric Mc said:

matthewhaskins said:

Hi all,

I think the point of the post was that the Italians will be in Red, the Germans in Silver so shouldn't the Brits be in British Racing Green? Traditional Racing colours??

And the point I was making was that,in the era when cars were in their national colours, McLarens WERE NOT painted in green.

Mc Laren was odd in that it was founded by a New Zealander but was based in the UK. By the time Bruce had a fully competitive F1 car (1969), national colours were almost gone in F1 and he opted to paint his cars all orange. He had been racing orange Can Am cars since 1967.

So, McLarens never raced in British Racing Green.

Point of fact Bruce's first competitive F1 car was the M7A in 1968.
He tried manfully to get the BRM -engined M5A to work in 67 (subsequently sold to Jo Bonnier for 68) Qualified 3rd for Italian GP in the days when grids were 3-2-3-2
McLarens were orange because the main commercial sponsor was Gulf on the 67 CanAm cars and the orange scheme (to differentiate from the JW GT40 / Mirage team) was the Gulf inspired colour. They stayed predominantly orange through Yardley sponsorship but went red and white for the Marlborough Texaco years.

Edited by Trophybloo on Friday 8th January 16:09