McLaren’s knack for arriving at the right moment — on track and off it — has been a theme of the last couple of seasons. On the eve of the 2026 campaign, the reigning constructors’ champions have added another piece to that picture, announcing a multi-year partnership with Etihad Airways that feels as much about ambition as it is about branding.
Etihad, the UAE’s national airline and a long-time fixture around the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, is aligning with a Formula 1 team for the first time since its Ferrari deal ended in 2010. There’s a neat bit of symmetry in the timing: Lando Norris sealed his first world title in Abu Dhabi last December, at an event Etihad has backed since it arrived on the calendar in 2009. Now, as McLaren heads to Melbourne to start its title defence, the airline’s logo will travel with it.
The Etihad branding will be visible on the rear wing and halo of McLaren’s new MCL40, and it’ll also appear on the helmets of Norris and Oscar Piastri. McLaren is leaning into the scale of the tie-up too: one of Etihad’s Boeing 787 Dreamliners will wear a bespoke McLaren-inspired livery, complete with papaya detailing and team marks towards the rear of the aircraft. It’s the sort of marketing flex that only really works when both sides believe they’re attaching themselves to a story that’s going somewhere.
Zak Brown, McLaren Racing’s CEO, pitched it in those terms.
“We’re excited to welcome Etihad as an Official Partner,” Brown said. “As we travel to more races around the world, working with a global airline that shares our passion for excellence is a natural fit. Etihad’s commitment to delivering high‑quality experiences aligns strongly with our values and we look forward to working closely together across both Formula 1 and WEC.”
That last part matters. This isn’t a deal designed to sit neatly within the F1 bubble. The partnership also extends to McLaren United AS, the team’s Hypercar project set to join the World Endurance Championship in 2027. In other words, Etihad isn’t buying a logo placement for a single season; it’s signing up for McLaren’s broader motorsport footprint — the one the team has been building with increasing intent.
Etihad CEO Antonoaldo Neves struck a similarly expansive note, leaning into the global reach of F1 and the visibility that comes with being attached to a front-running operation.
“Today, we are thrilled to team up with McLaren Racing to begin an extraordinary partnership,” Neves said. “Formula 1 racing brings together fans from around the world in one of the most exhilarating sports and we’re excited to see the Etihad brand across the 2026 McLaren car as it competes worldwide. In celebration of the partnership, we will also unveil a stunning new aircraft livery designed with McLaren branding, which will fly across the fast-growing Etihad network, engaging with fans around the world.”
What’s hard to ignore is how this slots into McLaren’s wider commercial resurgence. The team goes into 2026 with a title sponsor again for the first time in more than a decade, having upgraded its existing relationship with Mastercard. Since Vodafone’s naming-rights deal ended after 2013, McLaren has often looked like a team reassembling itself in public — famous name, huge fanbase, but chasing the financial muscle that defines the sharp end of modern F1. The last two seasons have altered that perception. Winning brings leverage, and leverage brings deals.
Etihad’s decision to re-enter the team sponsorship space with McLaren, after years away following its Ferrari spell from 2008 to 2010, is another signal that the paddock’s commercial gravity is shifting. The airline is already embedded in the sport through Abu Dhabi; putting its brand on a championship-winning car is a different sort of statement. It’s not a hospitality halo at the finale — it’s a weekly bet, made 24 races at a time.
McLaren, for its part, will be keen to ensure the glossy new partnership doesn’t become a footnote to harder questions: can it defend both titles with a target on its back, and can Norris and Piastri coexist once the margins tighten? But that’s precisely why this kind of deal lands now. Teams don’t sell “potential” at the top of F1 — they sell certainty, momentum, and the promise of being seen at the front.
As the sport rolls into a new season starting with the Australian Grand Prix, McLaren is presenting itself as a complete operation again: fast, confident, and increasingly attractive to heavyweight partners. The papaya-painted Dreamliner is the flashy part. The more telling detail is that Etihad wants to be along for the ride in the first place.
