McLaren places a flip-flop brand on the Halo in Melbourne

This season, McLaren’s cars seem quite bare, with very few sponsors. Especially when considering that Kimoa, which has significant visibility particularly on the rear wing, is the brand launched by Fernando Alonso.

But that doesn’t stop the marketing team from attempting moves that can attract attention. This is the case with the announcement of a partnership during the Australian Grand Prix with Gandys, which was launched as a flip-flop brand because the two founding brothers of the brand wanted to pay tribute to their parents who died in the 2004 tsunami.

The Woking team thus does not fail to highlight the irony of the situation: « Today’s announcement means that Gandys will become the first brand to take advantage of the unique shape of the cockpit protection structure, the Halo, which was introduced in 2018 and has often been compared to the upper part of a flip-flop. »

It was McLaren who contacted the brand to propose the idea, as explained by Rob Forkan, the co-founder of the brand: « We were particularly thrilled when McLaren submitted this idea to us. When the brand was created, Paul was living in Melbourne. I came to surprise him for his birthday by talking to him about the idea for Gandys. After convincing him to return to the UK to launch the brand, it’s very exciting to go back there. In fact, it’s the first time we are returning to Melbourne. The circle is complete! »

McLaren and Gandys, which has now diversified into men’s and women’s clothing, will also launch a limited series of 100 pairs of slides in their colors, with 100% of the profits going to the Orfans for Orfans foundation, which helps orphans in Sri Lanka and Malawi.

Now remains to be seen how the other teams will react to this news as many fans are complaining about seeing even less of the drivers’ helmets with this new structure.

With the participation of www.racingbusiness.fr