McLaren unveils throwback chrome F1 livery for British GP

McLaren recently ran a trio of tribute liveries at the Indianapolis 500 to commemorate its unique Triple Crown successes. These were combined into a single look for Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, who ran the revised livery in Monaco and Spain.

Continuing its celebration, McLaren has revealed a return to the ‘fan-favourite’ chrome look that featured between 2006-2014, and was run by Lewis Hamilton in 2008 when he clinched his maiden world title.

The livery has been created in conjunction with McLaren partner Google, which launched its Chrome web browser in the same year as Hamilton's early success.

“It’s no secret that racing fans love McLaren’s classic chrome livery,” said McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown.

“Google Chrome wanted to bring back elements of this iconic livery to celebrate our team’s history at the British Grand Prix, and we’re excited to be able to give our fans what they want.

“I’m sure this livery will bring back great memories for many of our fans, and I can’t wait to see it out on track at our home race.”

McLaren MCL36 livery for British GP

Photo by: McLaren

The ‘Chrome’ look will be completed with bespoke helmet designs, boots and race suits for Norris and Piastri.

After Brown teased that Norris had been pestering him for some time to revert to a chrome livery, Norris said: "It was probably one of the first things that I said to him. I’m pretty sure, from what I remember, it was when he first showed me the livery for that we were going to have for 2019.

“He asked me, ‘s’up dude. What would you change with the car?’ and I said ‘the whole thing’.

“For me, walking down the boulevard, as much as I would love a white and bright orange car – that livery was amazing – there is no other car nowadays that is like the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes that we had back then, and that’s what I grew up watching.

“That’s what I fell in love with. In many ways, I can say that it inspired me to become a Formula 1 driver. Because before that, I was more into MotoGP and motorbikes.

“I didn’t really know much about racing and then I got into watching some Formula 1 and it was Lewis [Hamilton] versus Fernando [Alonso], even though they were in the same team, and that’s what I fell in love with.

“Every year, I’ve been pestering Zak to go back a little bit in this direction. I know it’s just for one race but it’s cool to relive a little bit what got me into Formula 1.”