Lando Norris is still waiting to find out whether McLaren chief Zak Brown might one day act on a request he says he has made multiple times.
It wasn't long before it became clear that Norris was a bona fide starlet in Formula 1. He was signed by McLaren as a rookie and has gone on to establish himself as one of the top talents on the grid.
A race victory in the top category continues to elude the Brit, but finishes of sixth and seventh place in the drivers' championship in the last two seasons illustrates why McLaren are so keen to build their future around Norris.
Still, though, the 23-year-old doesn't get everything he wants. For example, he has been asking chief executive Zak Brown to make a change to the team's livery for quite some time – and clearly he has not been listened to.
Since 2017, McLaren have been racing in the iconic and original papaya colour scheme. Before that the team raced in silver and black for a few years, but perhaps their most recognisable livery remains the silver and red one bore by the MP4-23, driven by Lewis Hamilton in 2008, when he won the first of his seven world titles.
"This is what got me into Formula 1," he told GQ as he took one of their journalists for a tour of the McLaren Technology Centre. He was referring to their MP4-23, and added: "I've asked Zak many times to go back to this."
In truth, McLaren have bigger concerns right now than the colour of their cars. Brown admitted on the eve of the season that their development targets had been missed, but some rotten luck has also taken its toll in the first two races of the year.
Oscar Piastri was forced to retire just 13 laps into his debut with an electrical problem, while Norris spent his time 'racing' in Bahrain trundling around at the back as the team managed a pneumatic issue which forced him to visit the pits half-a-dozen times.
Things were looking up in Saudi Arabia when Piastri managed to go ninth fastest in qualifying. But lady luck abandoned them once again on the first lap of the race, when the Aussie picked up damage after contact with Pierre Gasly and, to rub salt into the wounds, the debris which came flying off his car hit Norris and damaged his front wing.
