McLaren has launched its 2018 Formula 1 car, the MCL33, which features a traditional papaya orange and blue livery.
The team had teased the prospect of a traditional livery in the build-up to the unveiling. The car is painted in the papaya orange used on the earliest McLaren cars. The front and rear wings are primarily blue in-line with the retro theme.
The MCL33 is the first in the team’s 52-year history to be powered by Renault – the French manufacturer stepping in following McLaren’s divorce from Honda at the end of last season.
“The engineering philosophy of the MCL33 follows the roots established by its predecessor, with data accumulated from the 2017 season feeding a range of improvements,” the team said in a press release.
“Much of the work on the MCL33 has been around optimising the packaging of the new Renault engine, and the incorporation of the new halo device.”
McLaren fields an unchanged driver line-up in 2018 with Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne.
While powered by Honda last season, McLaren finished ninth in the constructors’ championship. The team has not achieved a podium finish since 2014 and has failed to win a race since the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix.
The Renault power unit which McLaren will now utilise propelled Red Bull to three race victories last season. Given that both teams will be using the same power unit, comparisons between McLaren’s MCL33 and Red Bull’s recently unveiled RB14 will be representative.
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