The McLaren MCL40 has been revealed ahead of pre-season testing in Bahrain this week.

McLaren have revealed their 2026 F1 car (Image: McLaren F1 Team)

McLaren have pulled the covers off their 2026 Formula 1 car. In a live-streamed event from Bahrain on Monday, drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were present along with team principal Andrea Stella and chief executive Zak Brown as they showed off the livery of the MCL40 ahead of this week’s block of pre-season testing at the Bahrain International Circuit, which begins on Wednesday.

Reacting immediately to the livery on the live stream, Australian racer Piastri said he was pleased to see even more colour than usual when it comes to the bright orange cars that this modern iteration of the McLaren team like to race with. “I think it looks great, obviously with a bit more papaya this year, especially at the front, which is nice,” he said.

“Obviously, it’s in-keeping with the livery that has been very successful for the past few years. Just a small tweak, but it’s good to see that there is more papaya on there.” Piastri was, of course, referring to McLaren’s status as constructors’ champions in each of the last two F1 season.

And his team-mate Norris is the defending drivers’ champion, having beaten Max Verstappen to the crown last year. The Brit said of his new car: “Similar things, some small tweaks like Oscar said. The main thing is that we’ve kept the papaya and that we haven’t changed things too much. As much as I loved the [all-black] test livery that we had, this is the one that will be better throughout the course of the season on TV.”

Chief executive Brown was on hand to show off the car, with the reveal in particular focusing on McLaren’s main sponsors including Mastercard, Google and OKX – many of whose financial support the American is credited with gaining. He said the largely unchanged livery was “intentional” ahead of the new season.

McLaren have stuck with their papaya-and-black colour scheme for the MCL40 (Image: McLaren Racing)

Brown said: “We don’t want to change what has been successful, and the papaya looks amazing. Our partners are awesome – there’s Mastercard there and Gemini with Google, OKX… the list goes on of unbelievable companies that are supporting us. The car looks a little bit smaller and when you hear it, it sounds good with the HPP Mercedes engine, which is amazing. I’m looking forward to getting racing.”

The MCL40 sported a different, one-off livery for the Barcelona shakedown at the end of January, though thr most important thing was for the team to gather valuable data and for the drivers to get a feel of their new racing machine. Commenting on that aspect, Piastri added: “It was good to get back out on track and experience just how different these cars are going to be from various different angles.

“But, at the end of the day, it’s still a Formula 1 car – it’s quick and especially in a straight line nowadays, the acceleration with these new engines is seriously impressive. It’s going to be fun to get back out again in Bahrain and then get stuck into it properly in Melbourne.”

On the same subject, Norris added: “It certainly feels different to all the cars I’ve raced. It’s almost like F2 in some ways, in terms of more power and under grit, which is going to make it more of a challenge behind the wheel. It’s our job, at the end of the day, to drive whatever we get given at the end of the day.

“We know we’re in a better place than we’ve ever been, and I’m excited to see what the team has put together.”