McLaren becomes first F1 team to reveal 2025 car design

McLaren has revealed its MCL39 Formula 1 car at a Silverstone season launch event, becoming the first team to show off a 2025 design, albeit with temporary restrictions on its livery.

As all 10 teams are committed to only fully revealing their 2025 liveries at the F1 75 Live event at London’s O2 arena on Tuesday, McLaren can at this stage only show off the MCL39 in a distinctive one-off camouflage colour scheme.

This uses the team’s traditional papaya orange corporate colour arranged in a geometric print design along with black swathes.

Williams is holding its 2025 season launch at the same venue on Friday and will also be bound by the temporary livery restrictions when it reveals the FW47.

McLaren, the 2024 F1 constructors’ champion squad, is holding a filming day at Silverstone on Thursday, with drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri in attendance. Both drivers will sample the MCL39 on Thursday, with Norris driving first. 

Images revealed by the Woking-based team show the MCL39 retains some of the key elements pursued across McLaren’s previous designs and continues with the pull-rod front suspension layout.

Other key differences to the MCL38 seem to affect the bodywork around the engine cover, with a visual difference in its more ovoid air intake. 

McLaren MCL39

Photo by: McLaren

McLaren Racing CEO, Zak Brown, said Thursday’s event “is a big milestone in our journey in the fight for the 2025 title”.

He added: “It’s great to get our championship challenger, the MCL39, on track for the first time and to launch the culmination of the team’s hard work.

“We must be realistic that every team will have made progress over the winter. Last year highlighted just how much the grid has closed up, which is a brilliant thing for the sport.

“We believe we have made further steps forward since the championship-winning MCL38 but we won’t know where we sit in the standings until we get into qualifying in Australia [2025’s first race].”

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella commented: “Whilst we finished last year as champions, 2024 highlighted how highly competitive the grid is, which is something that will carry through to this year’s championship. 

“We therefore must keep focused to compete at the front in this tight field. It’s going to be an exciting but incredibly challenging year ahead.

“The team have worked extremely hard to prepare as best as possible for the start of the season.

“We learned a lot from our battles last year, so we take this and use it to push our goal for the year.”

Norris feels the camo livery “is a fun one and it’s great to be able to showcase something different ahead of our full livery reveal at the official F1 75 launch”, while Piastri said “it’s great to get behind the wheel of the MCL39 for the first time ahead of us putting it through its paces in Bahrain”.

Stella, Norris and Piastri are set to face the media during Thursday’s promotional event.

While McLaren clinched its first constructors’ championship in 26 years last season, its wait for a first drivers’ crown since 2008 continues as Norris lost a long-shot battle with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in 2024.

In what is expected to be a multi-team scrap for both titles in 2025, McLaren has a chance to seal its first championship double since Mika Hakkinen led it to both accolades in 1998.

McLaren MCL39

Photo by: McLaren

McLaren MCL39

Photo by: McLaren