McLaren reveals new car name, drops MP4 title

McLaren has broken with tradition by dropping the MP4 title from its chassis name, with its 2017 car set to be called the MCL32.

The team made the announcement via Twitter on Friday, revealing the name it has given to its new car ahead of its launch on Feb. 24. McLaren has named its cars using the MP4 tag since 1981, with the title dating back to Ron Dennis acquiring the team with the help of tobacco sponsor Marlboro.

MP4 stood for Marlboro Project Four – with Project Four being the name of Dennis' F2 team – and last year's car was named the MP4-31. However, Dennis left McLaren last year after over 35 years at the helm, losing his position as chairman and chief executive of McLaren Group. Following that departure, McLaren has cut the ties with one part of its history with Dennis by dropping the MP4 prefix.

The move comes as part of a rebranding of McLaren by one of the men who has replaced Dennis, with executive director Zak Brown overseeing a number of changes to the team's image since he started work in December.

A further change on top of the car name is expected to be the color, with McLaren set to run a predominantly orange livery – known as Papaya Orange – in reference to past cars. Having used the orange color scheme on a number of occasions during testing in the past, McLaren has not raced with an orange car in F1 since 1971, with Dennis having been unwilling to return to what he described as "the old color of McLaren."

2017 will be the third season using Honda power units since McLaren's switch from Mercedes at the end of 2014, while the team will pair Fernando Alonso with Belgian protege Stoffel Vandoorne following Jenson Button's decision to retire from racing in Formula 1.