McLaren Unveils its 2026 Livery: Papaya and Black Dominate in Bahrain

McLaren Unveils its New Look for the 2026 Formula 1 Season

McLaren, the current Formula 1 champions, have unveiled their new look for the 2026 season at an event held in Bahrain, prior to the start of pre-season testing this week. The team used a completely black provisional decoration during the first week of testing in Spain last month, before revealing its final design at an event on Monday. The new image maintains the papaya and black color combination, already characteristic of McLaren, although with a greater presence of papaya orange, associated with the team’s first F1 cars.

The iconic papaya continues on the MCL40, as we maintain our tradition of bringing the Championship-winning decorations to the next season.
Zak Brown, CEO of McLaren

McLaren reveló su imagen para la temporada 2026 en Bahréin.

“Performance in racing is also at the forefront of the design by exploring creative routes, and we have balanced the creative direction with aerodynamic considerations to create this impressive 2026 competitor,” Brown added. The team achieved the constructors’ title and the drivers’ title with Lando Norris in 2025 and hopes to defend those titles under a new set of chassis and power unit regulations for 2026. Norris will continue in the team in 2026 alongside Oscar Piastri, who finished third in last year’s championship despite leading the standings for much of the season. Before two weeks of testing in Bahrain, McLaren CEO Zak Brown commented that it is still too early to know if his team will be able to defend their titles in 2026.

I think it’s too early, I think it’s too risky to judge. What I would say is that we feel we will be competitive.
Zak Brown, CEO of McLaren

«The four main teams looked very competitive, so it’s very early, but there are signs that we will be strong. But I think it would be premature to make any prediction beyond the first few days of testing. Obviously, things will start to clear up a bit in the next two weeks». The inaugural race of the 2026 season will begin in Australia on March 8th.