#Vodafone McLaren Mercedes

[ujustwaitsunshine]

EVEN MORE Jenson button :)

most images saved from mhakkinens on Pinterest!

[dizzyduck44]

Hmmm maybe it’s time to dig this battered old thing out for the weekend for sentimental effect.

Yes it’s seen better days, it’s 12 years old people!

Just wish I could remember where the Jenson one is.

[lewisarchive]

Rookie Lewis and Fernando Alonso at the launch of the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes MP4-22 (2007)

[lewisinho]

‘vintage lewis hamilton’ EXACTLY this is a vodafone mclaren mercedes ‘07/08 lewis hamilton move

[prosennas]

ferrarifone :: the ferrari × vodafone collaboration

The Vodafone sponsorship established in the 2002 season until the end of 2006, after announcing a switch to McLaren Mercedes.

[racingliners]

As the resident livery watch expert, do you have any livery ideas that you'd love to see?

like personally, I'd kill for aston to incorporate some pink into a special livery or to have a Vodafone mclaren back for a race

Now that I’m in a better headspace I can finally answer this! And I was soooooo happy to get this ask you’ve no idea, I cannot believe that other people enjoy Livery Watch. I just started it because I wanted to yell about car paint, so that fact I’ve now had multiple requests for it, and people have even messaged me saying they were looking forward to my opinion for certain liveries is just… WILD.

ANYWAY! I could really make this answer so long that I’ll end up hitting character limit. Since I started doing Livery Watch, I’ve always done a post before all the car launches listing both what I think the core liveries for each team will look like, and a wishlist of what I want to see. (I hilariously got my prediction for Racing Bulls bringing back the Toro Rosso drinks can livery spot on, and yes I’m still riding that high).

My wishlist of liveries I want to see is… so long. Mainly, and I know I talk about it all the time, I NEED everyone to put the matte paint down. F1 cars are supposed to be SHINY, and this is very much the hill I will die on.

In terms of special/one-off liveries I would love to see:

Aston Martin

Yes I would love it so much if they brought back the pink stripe accents (beloved watermelon AMR21 I miss you!!!). I am however of the very biased opinion that Aston’s livery is absolute perfection and cannot be improved on so honestly, I don’t have any immediate yearnings for a special AM livery.

Alpine

I NEED them so bring back the full pink livery because it was hands down the sexiest car on the grid. The epitome of 10/10 no notes. (and I mean PROPERLY all over pink. Not the stickers on exposed carbon nonsense we have this year).

Mercedes

Hear me out… but I do think they were actually onto something with their vintage inspired livery they used at the German GP in 2019 (I know it was cursed… I KNOW). I think an all-over white livery would be fun as a one off for an anniversary race, or equally a rendition of the livery they ran in the 50s would be just as fun! (Also… all-black bc it was sexy af)

Williams

In an ideal world, I’d have the Martini livery back. This may also be a hot take, but I did enjoy the cyan to white ombre livery they ran during their Rokit sponsorship days. Bar a couple of exceptions the current grid of cars is quite dark and I think a brighter pop of colour would be very appreciated.

Ferrari

THE 1000TH GP BURGUNDY LIVERY!!! I think about it all the time and I miss it SO MUCH!!! Hands down the prettiest Ferrari that I ever did see. Nothing else comes remotely close. (Though, do it with cream accents instead of neon yellow please!!!!)

McLaren – Honestly they have been running some amazing one-off liveries this year! To the point I can't actually think of anythign I'd like to see. The Senna livery from Monaco and the Chrome livery from Austin were both sooo gorgeous – and to echo your above point I do think the chrome livery is the closest we’re going to get to a return of the Vodafone livery, but this year’s rendition was executed perfectly.

Racing Bulls (no I'm still not calling them VCARB)

Everyone and their grandmother knows that Team Faenza is the Red Bull Junior Team and no amount of rebrands is going to change that. So bring back any of the old Toro Rosso liveries please and thank you. Look at the detail work on that Red Bull on the engine cover!!!!!!

I can’t think of anything for the other teams at present sadly. Haas haven’t been around for long enough for anything to spring to mind (I do enjoy their current livery iteration though!) and Sauber have rebranded so much it’s hard to keep track (the Alfa Romeo livery was just so perfect imho)… and for Red Bull just ditching the matte navy for metallic dark blue on their core livery would be enough for me.

[umlewis]

Interview: Hamilton Tries To "Switch Off"

Last year, Lewis Hamilton attended the Mercedes-Benz Stars & Cars season-end celebration as the newly crowned GP2 champion and relatively unknown to the cheering crowd This year, however, he is the main attraction at Stuttgart, where autosport.com caught up with him for his thoughts about the passing year, preparations for next season, and who would be his new teammate.

Lewis Hamilton: "I feel fantastic. I'm having some time to catch up with my life, my friends, and family, and be myself for a while. Do some normal things."

Q: What are your thoughts on McLaren's appeal over the BMW and Williams results?

Hamilton: "I have not really thought about it. My year is over, and that's it. I don't even know when the appeal is."

Q: So do you not want to be world champion this year?

Hamilton: "I'm going to be world champion one day. I didn't win it this year. I'm going to work hard to win it next season. At the last race, or before the last race. We did a great job, and Ferrari did a great job as well."

Q: So you are against the appeal?

Hamilton: "I never said that. I think when you are in such a competitive sport there's rules, and you stick to those rules. If someone has not stuck to the rules - we get punished if we are not on the right road - and so should other people.

"I don't know what the situation is, though, I really haven't focused on it. We will see what happens, but it would be strange (to win it now). I'm just focused on next year now."

Q: How are the preparations for 2008 going?

Hamilton: "I'm looking forward to next season, the testing, the new car. I've switched off from that a little bit so I can live some of my life with my family and friends, I don't want to be talking about racing all the time.

"We've got testing coming up, so the training is starting up again, and we've got a lot of work for Mercedes, for Vodafone and for all my sponsors. The ball is rolling the whole time, and while I'm doing that, the team are working as hard as possible to develop next year's car, and I'm slowly beginning to build up for next year.

"But it's not something you have to get straight into, we've got something like 20 weeks to go."

Q: What do you know about next year's car?

Hamilton: "Erm, you'll see."

Q: What do you think of Fernando Alonso leaving the team?

Hamilton: "I only found out yesterday. I wish him all the best, and I wish him all the best for next season and for his future move, wherever he goes."

Q: How did you find the pressure of this year?

Hamilton: "I had good people around me, my family, a good team. It was quite easy to stick to what I'm doing and just stick to my job."

Q: When will you test for the first time?

Hamilton: "I haven't decided. I'm always keen to drive the car. We've got two tests, three days at Barcelona and three days at Jerez, and I can do whichever one. I will most probably do the second one, because I have other events to do."

Q: You said you wanted to get away for a bit during the winter, but where does Lewis Hamilton go to get away from the public eye?

Hamilton: "I can lock myself in my house, in my parents house, which is not always that bad, but you do need to get out a little bit.

"I've been going into London, trying to spend as much time as I can in the UK, because that's where my friends are, that's where my life is. But, as you can see, it's all over the papers in the UK wherever I go.

"It's not been easy, but I've just tried to put it all out of my head, go everywhere with a hat on, and my hood on just to keep a low profile, but it's really tough.

"It's quite difficult to get used to it. You go out with the initial thought that you will have a normal night, but you can't. Once I've got all this work out of the way, I will probably go to the Caribbean to see my family."

Q: Have you spent any time in Switzerland?

Hamilton: "Yes. I went there and I had a really good time. I can go and do some good training there, and as a youngster I always wanted to go and explore some different places.

"Obviously with travelling all the time you never get to really stay in places, and I had to look for somewhere still close to the UK because my family is there, my life is there, my team is there, and I like it. You've got the mountains, the lake."

Q: Have you sorted a place there?

Hamilton: "No, we are still looking."

Q: Does Fernando leaving put you in a stronger position for 2008, and is it better for your title bid to not have a two-time world champion as your teammate?

Hamilton: "Not really. I don't think so. It will be interesting to see who my teammate is next year, but I'm just as excited as always, and I'm just as excited as all you guys. I have no clue who it's going to be, we can only guess. But whoever it is, I seem to get on with everyone in the field."

Q: What is your guess?

Hamilton: "I haven't really guessed. I think Nick Heidfeld has already been signed to BMW, so I think there's Nico [Rosberg], Adrian Sutil, [Heikki Kovalainen] - so one of those three, and I haven't really guessed which one of those three.

"I think they are all fantastic drivers, and I know all of them quite well. If I could choose, I honestly don't know who I would pick. We need a team player.

"But they all have contracts, so that's what makes it so hard to guess, they are all tied down."

Q: How is the morale in the team after Brazil?

Hamilton: "The team is still pumped. When you look at it, we have had the best car of the year. It was the most reliable, we've not had a car break down all year. Just a couple of hiccups from the drivers, and the last race, but the car still finished. That's a good step in the right direction.

"The previous year wasn't great, so that's a good step in the right direction, and we just need to carry that on. I've spoke to the team, Ron [Dennis] spoke to the team, Norbert [Haug] spoke to the team, so they are all in a comfortable position and they are all confident they can do a good job."

Q: Do you have nightmares about China?

Hamilton: "No, I never had nightmares about it. I don't live in regret. I don't regret anything from this year.

"It's quite strange being here, [in Mercedes season end festival] Stars & Cars. I've been here many times, first time in 1997 as a young kid, and I was here last year as GP2 champion, Kimi [Raikkonen] was there, on his way to Ferrari already, and it was looking like there was going to be a seat, but no one knew who I was.

"And I come here now and I'm a fully fledged Formula One driver, and I just feel very, very fortunate and very blessed to be given the opportunity. I haven't wasted the opportunity, I'm proud to be a part of the team and I'm proud to be working with them."

Q: Last year, could you have dreamed of having a year like this?

Hamilton: "If you had said 12 months ago that I would be number two in the world in my first season in F1 and driving for McLaren Mercedes, it would be crazy.

"I think we are all surprised, even for me. It's just a dream, and an unreal feeling. It's impossible to get used to. It's really quite strange for me."

Q: What's the weirdest thing that's happened to you this year?

Hamilton: "I cant really think off the top of my head, but there's been some weird things. It's just weird when you leave your house.

"When you come home, and you're with your family, you're just a normal guy. Then you might be at some traffic lights, and there's a bus, and there's a picture of you on the bus, or there's people waving to you from the bus.

"Or someone comes to your window to get an autograph. That's probably the weirdest thing, what do you do? Do you let the window down, and lose your wallet?! It's just difficult to manage it all. Do you say yes to everyone, how much time do you give to everyone?"

Q: Do you pay a high price for your popularity?

Hamilton: "Yeah, you do. But it's a sacrifice I was willing to make when I got into F1, and what you get out of it, it's well worth it."

Q: What is your response to people saying you're too young to be releasing an autobiography?

Hamilton: "It's not an autobiography. There's lots of others out, and I thought it was good to get my story. It's not an autobiography, it's about my journey to where I am today. It's been ghost-written."

[umseb]

sebastian vettel, p1, in the post-race press conference, japan - october 4, 2009 (transcription under the cut)

Interviewer: "So here we have the top three finishers in the Fuji TV Japanese Grand Prix: the winner, Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull Racing, fourth career victory, third of this season; in second place, Jarno Trulli, Panasonic Toyota Racing; and third, Lewis Hamilton, Vodafone McLaren-Mercedes. Sebastian, an utterly dominant weekend for you; fastest in qualifying, you totally controlled the race. You must feel great." Seb: "I do. [laughs] I mean, what a race. Obviously yesterday already with pole position. Also, I think strategy-wise, we were the favorite, but first of all you have to do the start and we were pretty confident. I mean, we had good starts in the past. That wasn't always the case in the beginning of the season, but therefore we were confident to defend the position. But it was closer than I thought it would be [laughs] going into turn one. All of a sudden I saw a silver arrow [wooshing noise] on the lefthand side, and obviously I had the inside so it was my advantage, but it was closer than I thought it will be. And after that I just, yeah, head down and tried to push every single lap, and the car was fantastic. I was able to pull a gap quite quickly, a big one, enough... I mean, obviously, with the strategy we were two laps longer than Lewis, a lap longer than Jarno in the first stint, so it all worked out until the end. I mean, I was pretty much in control up to the point where, yeah, I fit the soft tires for the last stint and I wanted to have a little bit of fun. Yeah, did one very quick lap-I think 32.5-and then my engineer came on the radio and said, 'Yeah, okay, be aware of your tires. There might be a safety car or anything.' Two laps later there was the safety car, so obviously it's not what you're hoping for when you're in the lead by roughly ten seconds, but nevertheless I was still taking care of my tires and at the restart was able to use it and obviously had a bit of a cushion with Grosjean behind me, a very good restart, and then, yeah, I think three, four phenomenal laps again to build a gap that was safe enough to win the race in the end, so fantastic. I mean, as you said, utterly... Finally we made it. I was screaming on the radio. I think the last couple of races was a little bit up and down-sometimes we had the pace, sometimes we didn't-and yeah, finally we made it, so it's good to be back on first position also on Sunday." Interviewer: "Well done." [time jump] Interviewer: "Sebastian, you touched on the start in your first speech. You took a very assertive line right down the middle of the racetrack. Just tell us about your tactics there, to keep Lewis out." Seb: "Well, first of all, tactic was to get a good start, so focused on my own, and yeah, the pull away was good. And after that, basically looking right, looking left. So on the righthand side, Jarno, to see if he obviously has a better start than I have, and on the lefthand side, Lewis, and then quickly I noticed, okay, I'm somewhere... I mean, a decent start, seems to be good, so I stay in the middle, I stay where I am, and then was ready to go to the inside in case Lewis had a really good start and then tried to obviously get to the inside of turn one and two. Wasn't the case, so I stayed in the middle, and then all of a sudden he came on the lefthand side, alongside me, nearly, but then obviously I had the advantage going into turn one, so yeah. Fortunately, apart from that, I didn't have wheel-to-wheel racing this race. Was hoping for a clean race. Obviously when the safety car came out, as I said before, it's not what you are hoping for, but nevertheless the speed of the car was fantastic. Great. I mean, this circuit is unbelievable. When I was crossing the line for the last lap, I really enjoyed the first sector again. I mean, it was similar to those two like qualifying. Every single lap, pushing to the limit of the car in the esses, uphill, is fantastic, especially when the car works that well around here, it's great. So I really enjoyed myself today." [time jump] Interviewer: "Final thought, then, Sebastian. You've taken the championship onto the last two races, sixteen points behind the leader. As Lewis knows to his cost from two years ago, when Kimi Räikkönen closed that margin down, it can still be done. What are your thoughts on the last two races?" Seb: "You said it all. It can still be done. Obviously it's looking much better now. Would be nice to have a couple more races left, but two races to go. So we are here to fight and obviously the best thing we can do is win, like today. I think we have a great car. Still improving. The boys back in the factory are pushing very hard and we'll see what we can do. We're focused on us, on ourselves, and simply try to win. Whatever Rubens and Jenson are doing, it's in their hands, so I will surely keep pushing."

[sionisjaune]

can someone please make a “girls when the vodafone mclaren mercedes” post please

[f1cars]

🏎️Fernando Alonso makes a pit stop in Vodafone McLaren Mercedes' MP4-22 during the Malaysian Grand Prix

📍Sepang International Circuit, Malaysia

🗓️ 8 April 2007

📸 Darren Heath

[ujustwaitsunshine]

MORE Jenson button :)

yet again gonna have to continue onto another post because i’ve hit the limit AGAIN

[killa-trav]

McLaren only be called mclaren f1 team since 2018 it was Vodafone McLaren Mercedes when Lewis joined the team. It had the Mercedes since like 1997 and in 2013 to 2015 it was Mclaren Honda

oh okay i got it now cheers

[f1]

'Thats what I fell in love with' Norris gets his wish with McLaren's special chrome livery for British Grand Prix

Lando Norris says he has been lobbying McLaren CEO Zak Brown to introduce a chrome-inspired livery since the day he joined the team in 2018 – and five years later, he’s finally got his wish. McLaren will run a one-off livery for this weekend’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone, with chrome and grey blended with the team’s traditional papaya in a continuation of their year-long 60th anniversary celebrations. FIRST LOOK: McLaren to run special chrome livery for British Grand Prix It’s a nod to one of their most iconic liveries, which they ran from 2006 to 2014 – with Lewis Hamilton winning the drivers’ World Championship in those colours in 2008, in what was McLaren’s last world title. Speaking at the unveiling of the livery, at a special event at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking on Monday, Norris revealed that the chrome-coloured McLarens of the late 2000s and early 2010s were his favourite when he watched the sport growing up – and so it was a dream of his to one day line up on the grid in a chrome McLaren. “Probably over 1,300 days or something since I joined McLaren! 2018, it was one of the first things I probably said to [Zak],” said Norris. “I’m pretty sure, from what I remember, it was when he showed me the livery that we were going to have for 2019, and he asked me ‘what would you change on the car?” and I was like ‘the whole thing!’ “Just because for me, walking down the boulevard, as much as I would like the white and bright orange – that livery was amazing – I just think there’s no other car nowadays that is like the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes that we had back then. “That’s what I grew up watching, that’s what I fell in love with in many ways. I feel like I can say it, it inspired me to be a Formula 1 driver. “Before that, I was more into MotoGP, motorbikes, motocross, quad biking. That’s what I loved to begin with and I didn’t really know much about racing. Then I got into watching some Formula 1 and it was Lewis [Hamilton] versus Fernando [Alonso, in 2007] even though they were in the same team, and that’s what I really fell in love with. “I’d say every year I’ve been pestering [Zak] a little bit to want to go back a little bit in that direction. I know it’s only for one race but it’s kind of cool to relive a little bit of what got me into Formula 1 in some ways and also knowing that it’s a very historic part of McLaren. They were very successful then, it’s when Lewis won his first World Championship and things like that. So, it’s very special.” Brown explained the reason why McLaren avoided a full chrome livery – like that used in 2008 – is because “we want to keep our papaya identity”. READ MORE: Norris says McLaren have taken 'a big step forward' after 'surprisingly' good P4 outing in Austria He added: “It’s very important for us that we give a nod to the past, but very much look forward to the future. There’s also [only] so many times you can change the livery into extremes, so what we did in Monaco a couple of years ago, you’re only really allowed to do a couple of times, and then to kind of have variations of your base scheme, you can do a little bit more often. “I think the rules aside, it was important to us; we’re really trying to build our association with papaya much like Ferrari’s red and Mercedes have their colour identity. We get a lot of feedback from the fans who really like the papaya. That’s why we went with the combination.” via Formula 1 News https://www.formula1.com

[gothicwidowsworld]

Ah 2007 Lewis before the killer designer paddock fashion 😅

[axdbubbleincident]

Next year, when I'll live alone in a house I'll make custom vodafone mclaren mercedes bedsheets (or whatever the fuck you call them in English I mean σεντόνια και σκεπάσματα) and no one will be able to stop me 😎

[racingliners]

☕️ as the livery watch reporter...2014 liveries (which ones are ur fave, which ones don't do it for you, etc)

Deliberately waited until we'd had dinner so I could devote the appropriate amount of time to this (yelling about liveries my beloved!!)

Under a read more bc I'm about to get so chatty (please note: we are not including the rather hideous car noses we were cursed to endure in 2014, just the paint!)

Caterham

Fun fact about British Racing Green: there isn't an exact hue for it, which is why the green Caterham used is much more brighter and more yellow leaning than the emerald green Aston Martin currently use.

Anyway, this is so pretty. It's glossy, the green looks utterly stunning and the splashes of white are really sleek and give it a slightly more modern feel than if it was all over green.

8/10

Ferrari

Ferrari's just look better in glossy paint. Please end the deluge of matte liveries I beg.

The shade of red is literally perfect and I don't really mind the black section at the back, the thin white lines bordering it definitely help make it look less jarring.

Si ragazzi, 9/10

Force India

Pre-BWT sponsorship, Force India liveries always leaned heavily into the colours of the Indian flag, though 2014 was the first year they incorporated a lot of black into the livery.

Which honestly? It slaps. The orange being on the sidepods still keeps the livery looking really bright despite all the black on the engine cover. I am torn on the block of white on the nose cone, but I think without it the car would feel a bit too dark, so for that it's fine.

7/10

Lotus

Oh, if this didn't have the splashes of red and used a proper metallic gold instead of the flat beige colour, it would be the best livery on the grid. Alas, it loses points for those two reasons. BUT the glossy finish is still stunning to thank goodness we have that.

7/10

Marussia

Much like the 2023 and 2024 Haas liveries, the red, white and black combination does look really good. Maybe not ground breaking, but it's far from being offensive on the eyes. I like the use of the warmer orangey red just to add a bit of brightness (and to make it look different from the Ferrari). It's a very solid effort.

7/10

McLaren

Every day I thank the racing gods that McLaren went back to their roots with the papaya orange livery bc their one for 2014 was very meh.

This year was McLaren's last year with Mercedes engines, hence why they kept the silver chrome, but their sponsorship deal with Vodafone had ended at the end of the 2013 season, which is why it doesn't look as iconic. The black sidepods are quite jarring and make the car look really dark and dull.

Definitely not their best, 4/10

Mercedes

As a friend said to me some time ago, Mercedes are all the better for making the switch to having mostly black on their car. The metallic finish Mercedes used on their cars from 2010-2019 and 2022 was really odd in that it didn't look properly metallic despite very obviously looking silver (contrary to my above spiel on McLaren, all over chrome silver with the Petronas teal accents would look so, so good.)

And speaking of the Petronas teal, there's not enough of it here even though I love how the shading on the sidepods was done (as much as I think the accents on the wheel rims are incredibly fun). The blob of black on the engine cover also feels like an after thought, especially with the gradient at the front and sharp line at the back.

6.5/10

Red Bull

Now this is the superior RBR livery. It's glossy, we have the really nice dark metallic blue instead of the navy créme, and the purple Infiniti accents are so very pretty (I'm not so sure on the stripes on the side however).

I deliberately chose a night race picture to show off the metallic sheen and glossy finish. I am on my knees begging RBR to go back to using this livery.

8/10

Sauber

This is... sadly very corporate. Like Mercedes, the metallic finish on the Sauber just looks off (though, it's better than if it were a flat grey) and I wish there was more white on this to brighten it up. The shade of grey used almost blends into the tarmac, which isn't great.

3/10

Toro Rosso

As much as I hold a special place in my heart for the Toro Rosso drinks can livery circa 2017-2019, I still have such vivid memories of the gorgeously detailed Red Bull on the engine cover. Even though the Toro Rosso liveries were just a darker version of the main RBR livery (navy, dark red and gold in place of the more primary blue, red and yellow) I actually prefer the STR version.

Unlike the Lotus livery, the gold is metallic instead of créme, and the navy is also a gorgeous metallic (which ensures that it doesn't look flat, which is my main beef with the post-2016 RBR livery).

I just want to make sure that everyone looks at the bull on the engine cover again, IT'S SO DETAILLED!!!

9/10

Williams

No notes. One of the F1 liveries of all time. I genuinely almost bought a Williams shirt that year bc the team kit looked stunning too with the Martini stripes (and honestly I have been debating whether or not I should try to find one on ebay). The Williams Martini livery is proof that it is possible to make a predominantly white car sexy as hell (and it's also glossy!!!)

If James Vowles ever manages to bring this livery back he can have my hand in marriage no questions asked.

10/10

send me a ☕️ and a topic and i’ll talk about how i feel about it