The McLaren F1 Team will run without branding from engine suppliers Mercedes-Benz in 2021 after it was revealed the relationship between the two companies does not include any kind of marketing agreement.
McLaren made the decision during 2019 to end their relationship with Renault and return to Mercedes-Benz power from 2021, but the new partnership between the team and the engine supplier is purely one of a customer and supplier.
According to Motorsport.com, it is the same kind of partnership that the BWT Racing Point Formula One Team (now Aston Martin Racing) has had in recent years, with the pink cars and their race suits of their drivers not having any logos or branding from Mercedes-Benz.
Mercedes-Benz has never insisted on their logos being present on the cars of their customer teams, so it appears this is the case with McLaren as it is with their other two customer outfits in 2021.
Neither Lando Norris nor Daniel Ricciardo’s race cars and suits will have Mercedes-Benz branding this year, with the MCL35, launched on Monday, completely absent of any logos from their new German engine supplier.
The only Mercedes-Benz customer team to have and semblance of branding is Williams Racing, although this is restricted to the race suits of drivers George Russell and Nicholas Latifi. The cars themselves do not have any Mercedes brandings, and it is likely the drivers do because of Russell’s long-standing relationship with the German marque.
