#vodafone mclaren

[beciiamsherlocked55]

The fit brief was iconic past liveries so I had to do it

[ujustwaitsunshine]

EVEN MORE Jenson button :)

most images saved from mhakkinens on Pinterest!

[n1pp]

damn mclaren used to be hot:

[skitskatdacat63]

those 2011 pics remind me of hard the McLaren race suits used to fuck, I loved the vodafone era suits so much 🥹

YES AGREED!!! I love the Vodafone McLaren livery, literally peak!!!!!

Thank you for sending this ask bcs now I get to talk about 2011 in particular. There were these special Saturday race suits and they're all so pretty!!! Hugo Boss did a design competition to celebrate their partnership with McLaren and different artists made different designs for the Quali days. They're so beautiful 🥹🥹 Why can't they do anything fun like that now???? I digress, I went through all the Qualis and compiled pics of all of them!!

[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.

[icame-isaw-iwentbackhome]

When did u get into formula one?

My parents both grew up watching it so there was no escape for me 😔😭. But the thing that made me a fan was Jenson joining mclaren when I was 4 i think. 2010 i think it was, atleast that's what google is telling me.

[sebnameyourcar]

i very much enjoy oscar piastri actually. he’s so chill i think i actually relax looking at him

[mickstart]

It's possible for a car to have sponsors all over them and be sexy but we lost this technology after Vodafone McLaren.

[lewisarchive]

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

[brawngp2009]

Jenson Button (GBR) McLaren and Lewis Hamilton (GBR) McLaren McLaren MP4/25 Launch, Vodafone UK Headquarters, Newbury, England, Friday 29 January 2010. Ph.: James Moy.

[lewisinho]

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

[ujustwaitsunshine]

MORE Jenson button :)

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

[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.

[umlewis]

European GP 2007 - Thursday press conference

Interviewer: "Lewis, how are you? I hear you've had some flu." Lewis: "Yeah, I'm okay. I've just not had a great week. I was a bit ill at the beginning of the week but I'm feeling a lot better now." Interviewer: "And a busy day today. Tell us about what you've been doing so far?" Lewis: "It's normal. We have plenty of appearances to do and some working with Mercedes Benz. The weather's not been great. People say it's typical English weather, but if you look at Silverstone I think we had a good weekend." Interviewer: "And also some karting today as well." Lewis: "Yeah, we did the Vodafone karting event and it's really nerve-wracking going back in a go-kart because I'm a bit rusty. I know Nico's been in a kart since me." NR: "You're lucky I wasn't at the event." Lewis: "But I was on form. I was actually quite impressed. It's good to see the youngsters. It's incredible to see how quick these young kids are, how committed they are." Interviewer: "More committed than you remember being at that age?" Lewis: "I wouldn't say more than me, but I'm just remembering how committed you are at such a young age. It's good to still see that people are like that." Interviewer: "What is your approach now to the coming races? Halfway through the season, you are leading the championship. People have been talking, even McLaren have been talking, about adopting a relatively conservative approach." Lewis: "Of course we have to bear in mind that we have to try and finish every race and maintain the level if we can, but that doesn't mean that we slack. We're going to keep on pushing hard to beat everyone. That's how we have been all season. The whole team is pushing extremely hard back at the factory to improve the car. I'm working hard at my training to improve my game. Yes, we go into the race thinking 'Okay, we need the points.' But we want to win, so it's a balance." Interviewer: "A difficult balance?" Lewis: "I don't think it's difficult. Maybe it would be for some people."

[QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR:]

(Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) A question for Lewis. Of course next week will be very important for the situation of McLaren in this championship. What is your feeling, knowing that everything you have worked for could be cancelled? LH: I'm not really bothered about it to be honest. I don't think that is going to happen, so I'm not worried, I'm very confident. I'm confident in what the team has done over the years and I have every confidence in the team now. I don't believe anything like that would happen. On my part that is all I'm going to say. Otherwise you should speak to Fernando.

(Carole Capitaine – L'Equipe) Question for Lewis. At Silverstone you said you had a problem with the set-up on your car. What do you expect from this race? LH: I expect it to be better. We went down a certain route…. You only have P1, P2, P3 and it's not a lot of time to find the perfect set-up. Sometimes you go down one route and its too late to go back to another one, you don't have enough time so you continue with that and hope it is good enough. We didn't have the right set-up for once at Silverstone. Going into this weekend we understand where we went wrong, we think we come here a bit stronger.

(MC) How good was the Spa test for you? LH: The Spa test went well for me, I had a nice clear day with no rain. I think everyone else had some rain over the next couple of days. It was a real boost of confidence for me. We got there and the car felt better than it has felt all season so I was very, very happy. We did the team briefing and I was just comfortable with my set-up. When you drive a car that you are comfortable with it is just a pleasure. So for once I enjoyed testing.

(MC) So would that have actually been a step forward in terms of set-up for future races? LH: Maybe for that track. But in terms of just making sure we have the right direction I think we have gone back to where we were before and we have to continue to make sure we improve in that area.

[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.

[schumigrace]

Bestie Grace, as the certified all knower of McLaren lore, there’s clips of fetus Lewis being flown over the audience

in a gladiator esc theater show.

Other photos:

Do you know where this is from? Someone said Ron Dennis put him up to it…

hello bestie!! this was something that Vodafone made him do (not entirely sure why!) but they basically made him join a dance troupe in Istanbul to play the part of Apollo in their rendition of the iliad...

here's a clip of it, and some articles about it too [x] [x]

Ron Dennis almost certainly had something to do with it, and I am convinced that this exact thing is the reason he now has most public appearances written out of his contracts before he'll agree to sign