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Formula One

Is McLaren’s Senna Monaco livery the best one-off ever?

Holy moly… McLaren pays tribute to F1 legend with *this* tribute livery

Published: 21 May 2024

We’re calling it: this Ayrton Senna tribute livery that McLaren is running at this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix is the greatest one-off* we’ve ever seen. Period.

Just… look at it. In equal parts a radical departure from the team’s usual papaya and, er, eerily similar to Michael Schumacher’s old ‘91 Benetton, it’ll be raced in honour of the Brazilian legend just a week after the sport marked 30 years since his tragic death in Imola.

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McLaren, after all, is the team with which Senna scored 35 of his 41 career victories, as well as his three world titles and six wins in Monaco; more than any other driver in history.

Inspired by the colours of Senna’s helmet, the livery is a collab between the Senna brand and McLaren sponsor OKX, which dabbles in crypto and web3… nope, us neither.

Anyway, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri will both be wearing matching livery overalls this weekend, and naturally there’s a one-off edition of the McLaren Senna road car (duh) dubbed ‘Senna Sempre’.

Hand-painted by MSO (McLaren Special Operations), it features the same colours as the F1 car and a matrix dot portrait of the great man himself. No word yet on what’ll happen to it after the race.

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“The team is proud to recognise and celebrate the extraordinary life and racing legacy of Ayrton Senna through this McLaren livery,” said McLaren CEO Zak Brown. “Senna remains revered and respected as Formula 1’s greatest icon, and McLaren’s most decorated driver. His impact on McLaren is enormous, not only through his racing record but also presence within the team, and now his legacy, so it’s an honour to race for him at his most successful circuit in his green, yellow and blue colours.

“With it being the thirtieth anniversary of his passing, the team are choosing to recognise and celebrate his life at one of his favourite and most successful places to race, Monaco. We look forward to racing in this vibrant and beautiful livery this weekend.”

Don’t forget that having won in Miami and finishing a close second to Max Verstappen in Imola, McLaren - and Norris in particular - are in red hot form right now. So there’s every chance you could be looking at Monaco’s next winner here…

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