The heat is on

Another sizzling F1 season is underway – and things have really started to heat up now that McLaren Racing has unveiled its new MCL60.

Having extended its long-running partnership with McLaren Racing in 2022, AkzoNobel has remained its official supplier of coatings solutions for the last 14 years.

Given that F1 has now moved to wrapping cars in film – because it’s much lighter – any paint that’s used on the race cars tends to be highly specialised.

AkzoNobel is quite literally adding an element of cool to the new MCL60 by providing heat shielding in the shape of its Intertherm 50 high-temperature coating.

It forms part of a sophisticated thermal management system which protects critical components surrounding the engine and exhaust. The added beauty of the high-performance product – apart from its striking silver colour – is that a single coat is just 25 microns thick, around a third of the width of a human hair.

“In addition, AkzoNobel’s Sikkens products are being used across the McLaren Racing team’s portfolio, including their factory, transport, the pit lane garage and equipment.

AkzoNobel has achieved several improvements in paint technology since first teaming up with McLaren Racing in 2008. As well as contributing to the performance of the F1 cars, the advances AkzoNobel has made have also crossed over to drive innovation in other industries.

This kind of close collaboration has also expanded into other partnership areas. For example, the company’s Coral brand recently worked with McLaren Racing on a “Let’s Colour” project near the Interlagos circuit in São Paulo, Brazil.  A stunning mural was painted onto a local community centre, which is designed to help raise awareness for gender equality.