McLaren Unveil Special Livery for Alonso in Final Race

F1 double world champion Fernando Alonso will be stepping away from the sport at the end of the season. He announced his retirement a while ago and now, Abu Dhabi has finally arrived. In other words, this is Alonso’s final race in Formula One. To commemorate the occasion and thank Alonso for his contribution to McLaren, the team unveiled a special livery.

The livery features a red, blue and yellow stripe running across the engine cover and ending at the rear wheel. The colours are the ones primarily used in Alonso’s helmet. To be perfectly honest, it is a fitting tribute to a driver of Alonso’s calibre.

Fernando Alonso made his debut in 2001 with the Minardi team. He performed well enough to be noticed by Renault in 2002. He was promoted to test driver for that season before securing a race seat in 2003. He would stay with the team until 2006 and win two world championships.

In 2007, he joined McLaren but only stayed there for a single season. He rejoined Renault and stuck around for two more years. In 2010, he traded his Renault overalls for Ferrari ones. He raced with them until 2014, racking up a few wins along the way and challenging Sebastian Vettel for the title.

In 2015, he decided to give McLaren another chance, and with their new partnership with Honda, thing were really lucrative. However, McLaren failed to capture the magic that their first stint with Honda had. That resulted in three torturous years of struggling at the back for the Spaniard.

They had hoped for a change of fortune when Renault joined the fray but it wasn’t to be. In the meantime, Alonso’s interest in F1 waned and he thought about exploring other racing series. This year, he is competing in F1 and the World Endurance Championship.