The colour of McLaren’s 2017 car – designated MCL32 – is a much debated mystery, so much so that their superstar driver Fernando Alonso is in the dark regarding the livery of the car he will drive this season.
Alonso admitted, “I do not know what colour it will be. What I have read [in the media] is that it can be something orange, black and white.
“I even asked [Eric] Boullier about it, with the excuse that I want to include the colour in my helmet design… But he said: You will see at the presentation.”
“Color is not the most important thing and I hope, whatever it is, that it will be quick!” added the Spaniard who will be looking for a turnaround in fortunes after couple of below par seasons since he returned to McLaren in 2015.
The issue regarding the change of colour for McLaren, from the gray, white and black livery of recent years, comes in the wake of huge management changes at McLaren since Ron Dennis was ousted from the helm of the organisation last year.
In a clear step away from the Dennis-era, the team have dropped the MP4 nomenclature of their F1 cars which will now be be designated with the MCL prefix.
In the late sixties McLaren were painted orange for the Can-Am series after team manager Teddy Mayer was impressed by a rival’s orange car.
For the 1968 season, the team’s Can-Am and Formula 1 cars featured bright orange liveries which became their signature colour and indeed made the team visually unique, in the manner that Ferrari used red to distinguish their race cars.
The orange livery remained on works McLaren F1 cars until 1971 when perfume and toiletries company Yardley became the title sponsors upon which the cars were painted white.
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