McLaren has unveiled one of the biggest visual surprises ahead of the 2026 Formula 1 British Grand Prix, revealing a special white-and-green livery that will replace the team’s familiar papaya and black colours for its home race at Silverstone.
The Woking-based squad will race with a design inspired by one of the most important cars in its history, celebrating both its heritage and its technological partnership with Google Gemini through a unique one-off appearance.
A bold new look for Silverstone
Fans will need to get used to seeing a very different McLaren this weekend. For its home event at Silverstone, the MCL40 cars driven by Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri will abandon the iconic papaya and black colour scheme in favour of an eye-catching combination of white and green.
The transformation is immediately striking, especially considering how closely McLaren has been associated with its modern papaya colours in recent years. The images released by the team have already generated considerable excitement among Formula 1 fans ahead of the British Grand Prix.
The special livery has been created as part of the Spark What’s Next campaign in collaboration with Google Gemini. According to McLaren, the project celebrates the bold ideas that have shaped the team’s history and laid the foundations for decades of innovation and success.
A tribute to the McLaren M2B
The design pays homage to the legendary McLaren M2B, the car that marked the team’s Formula 1 debut at the 1966 Monaco Grand Prix. That same season also saw founder Bruce McLaren score the team’s first-ever Formula 1 championship point at the British Grand Prix, making Silverstone the perfect venue to honour this important chapter in McLaren’s history.
The initiative continues the celebrations that began earlier this season when McLaren marked its 1,000th Formula 1 Grand Prix in Monaco. During those festivities, two-time Formula 1 World Champion Mika Häkkinen drove the historic M2B around the streets of Monaco as a tribute to the team’s origins.
Connecting the past with the future
McLaren says the Silverstone livery creates a visual bridge between the team’s first Formula 1 car and its latest challenger. Through the Spark What’s Next campaign, McLaren Racing and Google Gemini aim to showcase how ambitious ideas can drive future innovation.
From the original M2B in 1966 to today’s MCL40, every McLaren Formula 1 car has built upon the technological advances introduced by its predecessor. That philosophy remains central to the team’s engineering approach today.
Across a single Formula 1 season, a car can undergo around 18,000 design modifications, highlighting the relentless pursuit of performance that defines the sport. While the M2B represents the beginning of McLaren’s Formula 1 journey, the 2026 Silverstone livery serves as a reminder of just how dramatically technology and performance have evolved over the decades.
McLaren and Google explain the project
Louise McEwen, Chief Marketing Officer at McLaren Racing, said: “Our Silverstone livery celebrates our origins and everything we have built since then. The McLaren M2B represents the beginning of a journey defined by relentless innovation and the belief that anything is possible, and this design brings that spirit to life.
“Our partnership with Google Gemini is built on those same principles. Together, we are exploring how technology can unlock new opportunities for innovation, continuous evolution and improved performance, both on and off the track. This livery is a powerful expression of that shared vision: it honours our history while looking confidently towards the future.”
Marvin Chow, Vice President of Consumer and AI Marketing at Google, added: “From generating creative ideas through the Gemini app to securely transforming complex datasets into real-time strategic insights with Gemini Enterprise, McLaren demonstrates what it truly means to unlock the potential of artificial intelligence.
“We are excited to continue exploring new ways Gemini can power the team’s creativity, business operations and on-track strategy.”
Leave a Reply