F1 fans spot embarrassing McLaren blunder at British Grand Prix

George Russell, Oscar Piastri, Mercedes, McLaren, Imola, 2025 — Photo: © IMAGO

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F1 fans spot embarrassing McLaren blunder at British GP

McLaren appeared to have stolen Mercedes' car design

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Sunday 6 July 2025 22:57

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An embarrassing blunder by British Grand Prix organisers saw one F1 team adopt another's car design at Silverstone.

Eagle-eyed F1 fans spotted the mistake in the pre-race programme at Silverstone, during a brilliant weekend of racing action.

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While George Russell and Mercedes have done well to keep themselves within touching distance of McLaren during many race weekends in 2025, this latest mishap suggested that the dominant McLaren team were going to be racing in Mercedes cars.

The programme mix up saw McLaren drivers and championship rivals Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri lining up alongside Mercedes' W16, while Russell and Kimi Antonelli were also introduced alongside their car.

But don't worry, there were not four cars with the same livery on the grid for the British GP, with Piastri and Norris lining up second and third respectively in their MCL39s.

The weekend schedule at Silverstone was jam packed

Silverstone's historic weekend

With such a jam-packed schedule for the Silverstone racing weekend, organisers can be forgiven for making a small mistake here or there.

F1, F2, F3 and British F4 championships were all in action throughout the Friday, Saturday, Sunday schedule at the circuit, with almost 100 racers in action.

It was the first time in history that all four of those series have had a championship race at the same track on the same weekend, as part of the same racing weekend schedule.

A plethora of British racing stars were hoping to impress their home crowds, including Russell, Norris and Oliver Bearman in F1, while British racing legend Lewis Hamilton was aiming for an unprecedented 10th race victory at the British GP.

It was not to be for Hamilton, who just missed out on a podium finish as Nico Hulkenberg secured his first ever top three finish.