McLaren unveil new livery featuring a rainbow and ‘end racism’ logos after Mercedes launched new all-black look for Lewis Hamilton
- McLaren are the latest team to tweak their car’s livery ahead of the season’s start
- Addition of rainbow colours follows launch of F1’s ‘#WeRaceAsOne campaign
- Mercedes have already ditched traditional silver for a black car this season
- The new Formula One season gets underway on Sunday with the Austrian GP
McLaren have tweaked the livery on their car ahead of the start of the 2020 Formula One season to incorporate rainbows and an ‘end racism’ logo as part of a campaign to promote diversity.
Lewis Hamilton has been at the front of F1’s drive to increase diversity in the sport recently having called the series ‘white dominated’.
In response F1 launched a campaign titled ‘#WeRaceAsOne’ which aims to get those from under represented backgrounds more involved with the sport, with the sport’s chief Chase Carey putting $1million (£800,000) into the project.
McLaren have tweaked the livery on their car ahead of the 2020 Formula One season
The Woking outfit have added details to promote F1’s new diversity campaign
As a result McLaren, whose cars will be driven by young British star Lando Norris and Spaniard Carlos Sainz this term, have changed the design of their MCL35 to incorporate the campaign ahead of the season opener at the Austrian Grand Prix on Sunday.
McLaren shared images of their car which will feature a rainbow logo from the campaign on the HALO device above the driver’s cockpit, where there will also feature an ‘End Racism’ logo.
Further tweaks include the side of the car where the blue trim now also features rainbow colours added.
The HALO device on the cockpit will now feature a rainbow as well as an end racism logo
The side of the car also sees rainbow colours added as part of the design tweak
McLaren’s previous livery design from pre-season testing in Barcelona featured just blue streaks on the side where the rainbow colours are now displayed
McLaren are not the first to alter their livery ahead of the new season, with Hamilton’s Mercedes team making more radical changes to their car.
The world champions have ditched their traditional silver colours for the campaign and will instead race in a predominately black car which was designed by Hamilton.
Sportsmail understands that Hamilton came up with the idea of a black car in discussion with team principal Toto Wolff earlier in June. The scheme was then signed off by the Mercedes board in Stuttgart within 48 hours, and the plans drawn up.
Lewis Hamilton has designed an all-black car to race in for Mercedes during the 2020 season
F1 will finally get its season underway on Sunday at the Red Bull ring following nearly four months of delays owing to the coronavirus pandemic.
The first nine races of the season were either postponed or cancelled and the sport is now keen to salvage the campaign which was initially set to hold a record 22 races.
F1 chiefs will hope to get 18 events signed off for the season, although only eight have been confirmed thus far.