The McLaren Formula 1 team today has a unique livery unveiled for their MCL36 Formula 1 cars. This version of the car will be on display at the Singapore Grand Prix on October 2. The theme of the car is all about cryptocurrencies and was designed by a partner of the F1 team: crypto exchange OKX. In may of this year McLaren and OKX have already entered into a partnership.
Behold the MCL36 in #FutureFashion.
To celebrate our partnership with @OKX we’ll be racing at the #SingaporeGP and the #JapaneseGP in a bespoke livery.
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) September 27, 2022
McLaren and crypto
The new livery features McLaren’s iconic papaya orange colors with neon pink trims. McLaren reports in a press release that the design represents the emergence of new technologies from the Asian region such as of course crypto and Web3.
The color scheme was co-designed by OKX, one of the largest exchanges in Asia. According to OKX marketing chief Haider Rafique, working with McLaren to design this unique livery has been a great experience for both parties:
“It was incredibly fun for us and McLaren to co-design the livery for Asia. This new livery signals the arrival of bold new technology. The cyberpunk design we created celebrates Web3’s influence on popular culture.”
Crypto in Formula 1
McLaren not only works with OKX, it also has a partnership with Tezos (XTZ) to a non-fungible token (NFT) to get the platform off the ground. In addition, McLaren is far from the only F1 team to partner with some of the biggest names in the crypto industry.
Max Verstappen’s Red Bull Racing team also has a number of crypto sponsors. The most important of these is probably derivatives exchange ByBit. The ByBit logo is prominently featured on both the front and rear wings of the RB18. In fact, the American crypto exchange Crypto.com is one of the main sponsors of the F1 organization itself.
It is not surprising that Formula 1 is full of crypto companies. Both the crypto industry and Formula 1 naturally attach great importance to innovation. A link between the two sectors was therefore quickly established.
