McLaren Automotive has revealed the Artura 1000GP by McLaren Special Operations, a strictly limited 10-car edition timed to the constructor's 1,000th Formula 1 Grand Prix start at this weekend's 2026 Monaco race.
Featuring a bespoke exterior livery drawn directly from the MCL40 race car that Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri will campaign in Monaco. The centrepiece is a fragmented, geometric papaya graphic applied across the hood, its angular, pixelated forms resolving into the numerals "1000" when viewed from directly above. The same graphic treatment continues along the lower body sides, with a standalone "1000 GP" badge positioned just ahead of the rear wheel arch.
Mirror casings on both sides carry matching orange detailing, while a thin papaya pinstripe traces the front splitter and rear diffuser, referencing heritage liveries from earlier chapters in the team's history. The base finish is a deep, near-black dark grey, which makes the orange graphics land with considerably more force than they would on a lighter body color.
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“Racing and road cars have always been shaped by the same mindset at McLaren, and the McLaren Artura 1000GP by MSO celebrates that shared foundation. It reflects the environment Bruce created - an environment built on collective ambition, engineering excellence, and a unified approach to progress. Through this shared purpose, our teams continue to craft vehicles that carry his spirit forward. The McLaren Artura 1000GP by MSO is a testament to that legacy and offers our clients a meaningful connection to the MCL40 in a milestone moment.” - Nick Collins, Chief Executive Officer, McLaren Group Holdings.
Bruce McLaren founded the team in 1963 with a small crew. In the decades that followed, the organization produced 12 Drivers' World Champions, including Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost, and Lewis Hamilton, and accumulated 10 Constructors' titles.
Senna alone won at Monaco six times, five of them in a McLaren, giving the Principality a particular significance in the team's history that makes it the right venue to mark this occasion. Reaching 1,000 starts places McLaren alongside Ferrari as the only two constructors in the sport's history to achieve the landmark, and this 10-car Artura gives a very small group of collectors a tangible record of these achievements.
Images: McLaren