McLaren unveils 2026 Formula 1 car design at Bahrain launch event
Defending Formula 1 champions McLaren have unveiled their 2026 livery at a launch event in Bahrain, just before the start of preseason testing this week.
During their initial week of testing in Spain last month, McLaren utilized an all-black interim livery before presenting the complete race livery at an event on Monday.
The new design maintains McLaren’s well-known papaya and black color scheme, featuring an increased presence of the papaya orange that is reminiscent of the team’s earliest F1 vehicles.
“The iconic papaya continues on the MCL40 as we uphold our tradition of carrying Championship-winning liveries into the next season,” stated McLaren CEO Zak Brown.
“Racing performance is also central to our design approach as we explore creative avenues, and we’ve harmonized creative direction with aerodynamic considerations to develop this impressive 2026 contender.”
The team secured both the constructors’ title and the drivers’ title with Lando Norris in 2025 and aims to defend those titles under a new framework of chassis and power unit regulations for 2026.
Norris will remain with the team in 2026, joined by Oscar Piastri, who placed third in last year’s championship despite leading the standings for a significant portion of the season.
As the team prepares for two weeks of testing in Bahrain, McLaren CEO Zak Brown remarked that it is still too early to determine if his team will successfully defend its titles in 2026.
“I think it’s very early days, and it would be quite risky to make judgments,” he noted. “What I can say is that we feel we will be competitive.
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“The top four teams all appeared very competitive, so it is still early, but there are signs that we will be strong.
“However, I believe it would be premature to make any forecasts beyond the initial few days of testing.
“Clearly, things will start to become clearer over the next two weeks.”
The first race of the 2026 season is scheduled to take place in Australia on March 8.
Source: espn.com
