McLaren reveal Piastri’s 2024 F1 livery

The look Australia’s Oscar Piastri will race the 2024 Formula 1 season with has been revealed with McLaren unveiling its MCL38 livery.

McLaren is the first team to show off its 2024 livery on the Formula 1 grid, but the full design of the car will not be seen until the official launch on Valentines Day.

The 2024 livery is the latest in the running batch of papaya cars seen since 2017 with the latest look featuring more black and papaya like the one seen seven years ago and especially the all black one Piastri used to score his first podium with at Suzuka.

McLaren’s new F1 livery. Image: McLaren

Blue has been a prominent McLaren colour since 2018 but that is now effectively gone with big slashes of papaya splashed across the front wing/nose and rear ring, while the side pods are covered in black similar to the special livery used at Singapore and Japan last year.

A major change has been the display of the race numbers with McLaren covering them in chrome in a nod to its mid 2000s days.

The chrome #81 on the new look MCL38. Image: McLaren

After being one of the big improvers of 2023, literally climbing from towards the back of the grid in Bahrain to the front nine races later in Silverstone, high expectations surround McLaren.

The team led by Zak Brown and Andrea Stella were the second fastest behind Red Bull at a number of Grands Prix last year and would love to continue that trajectory.

Piastri as a rookie showed maturity beyond his years by taking two podiums and a Sprint win at Qatar.

The front wing has been splashed with papaya. Image: McLaren

The Aussie is a fan of his fifth F1 livery and is determined to raise more eyebrows.

“The 2024 livery looks really cool and I’m looking forward to racing in the iconic colours of McLaren for a second season,” Piastri said. 

“I made some special memories with the team in my rookie year, securing two podiums and a Sprint win.

“I‘m going to work hard alongside the whole team to take those results into the start of the new season and compete well with our competitors to give the fans more memorable moments.”

Oscar Piastri’s first F1 livery in 2023. Image: Andy Hone / LAT Images.

Piastri’s British teammate Lando Norris also enters 2024 with plenty of confidence after his best season yet in F1, featuring seven podiums.

“I’m looking forward to the new season ahead, it will be my sixth in Formula 1 and I’m hoping to carry the momentum we gained as a team at the end of last season to hit the ground running in Bahrain,” Norris said. 

“The new livery looks great with the inclusion of segments from last year’s enhancements, I’m sure the fans will love it as much as me.

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri side by side in Suzuka in a similar all black livery used last year. Photo by Jake Grant / LAT Images

“Everyone at the factory has worked incredibly hard in the off season, and I can’t wait to get behind the wheel of the 2024 car to challenge our competitors towards the front of the grid.”

Notably McLaren was “not entirely happy” with its launch spec MCL60 in February last year.

Although this is simply the livery and the launch spec MCL38 is yet to be finalised, both CEO Zak Brown and Team Principal Andrea Stella are full of optimism.

“We’re delighted to launch our 2024 Formula 1 livery ahead of the new season. The design looks awesome, and I can’t wait to go racing and see it come to life on track next month,” Brown said.

The 2024 McLaren livery is also similar to the 2017 look steered by Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne in 2017. Lets hope the MCL38 is faster than the MCL32 Honda Image: Andy Hone/LAT Images

“We didn’t start 2023 as we wanted but Andrea and the team did a great job following the organisational restructure coming into action, and the hard work continues as we carry that excellent momentum into the 2024 campaign.

“I’m confident the exciting pairing of Lando and Oscar will continue to create more mega memories together after such an impressive second half of last year which saw the team finish fourth in the championship with 302 points. These are all steps forward from the year before as we continue our mission to push and compete at the front of the grid.”

“After a busy and productive off season, we head into 2024 with our sights set on continuing our journey towards the front of the grid,” Stella said.

“Last year allowed the team to set a strong foundation for the future through continued hard work, commitment, effort and talent.

“With our new infrastructure upgrades and people in place, we must continue to elevate our standards and incorporate high performance in everything we do.

“The 2024 livery looks great and I’m looking forward to seeing our exciting driver line-up of Lando and Oscar take the MCL38 to track next month.”

2024 F1 car launch dates

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