The reigning world champions released renders of their new MCL40 ahead of running at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, confirming the car will appear in a stripped-back black and silver design rather than its full race colours.
The special livery will be used exclusively for the five-day shakedown, where teams are permitted to run on three days of their choosing.
Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri will again form McLaren’s driver line-up, with the pair set to make their first on-track appearances of 2026 between January 26 and 30.
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However, McLaren has already indicated it will not take part on the opening day and may delay its first outing until the middle of the week as development work continues on the new car.
McLaren described the livery as a temporary testing look, with its full 2026 race design scheduled to be revealed on February 9 ahead of the first official pre-season test in Bahrain.
The team is also using Barcelona as the first public glimpse of its new challenger, having skipped any earlier filming or shakedown running.
Chief designer Rob Marshall suggested the specification that eventually runs in Spain will be close to what fans see when the season begins.
“Probably pretty much what we’ll bring to the first race,” Marshall said of the initial Barcelona version of the car.
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