McLaren 2026 F1 livery gets lukewarm response from fans: "Guess it's OK"

McLaren unveiled its 2026 Formula 1 livery in an event on Monday 9 February. While the Woking outfit was the penultimate team to unveil its 2026 design, many fans have argued that the built-up hype outweighed the livery, which has changed very little from 2025.

The Zak Brown-led team has opted to continue with the striking papaya-coloured design, black accents and diagonal black stripes cladding the sidepods. 

"Spoiler alert: it's the same. As Zak put it during launch: We don't want to change what's been successful, and papaya looks amazing," one fan commented on Reddit, while another added: "So basically McLaren will put the same livery out every season until they start making sh**boxes again."

Another fan posted: "Basically the same. Ehhh. Guess it’s OK, but I was genuinely excited for something a bit different," and someone else wrote: "MCL wants to brand themselves like Ferrari, so it would be more of the same livery for the upcoming years. The papaya colours will be more of their signature mark now."

McLaren MCL40 livery

Photo by: McLaren

"The black stripe is a lot narrower I think, other than that it's the same," one wrote, and another more optimistic fan posted: "Maybe it's a hot take, but I really like the papaya liveries, and I don't think they need to make radical changes to it."

McLaren Racing CEO Brown explained the decision to make minimal changes. "That's intentional," he said during the launch event. "We don't want to change what's been successful. And the papaya looks amazing. Our partners are awesome. This Mastercard era, Gemini with Google, and OKX... I mean, the list goes on of just unbelievable companies that are supporting us.

"Cars are a little bit smaller. When you hear it, it sounds good. The HPP Mercedes engine is amazing. So, I'm looking forward to getting racing."