So, how should an exotic car marque celebrate two championships in a row? Of course, it needs to roll out a commemorative car. The McLaren Artura Spider MCL39 Championship Edition is a celebratory limited-edition model.
It marks the team’s 10th championship, and the marque stated that only 10 will be made. That puts it in the ultra-exclusive category and, no doubt, has top McLaren fans making frantic calls and pulling every string to add one to their collection.
With the return to the front of the F1 grid, McLaren has seen a boost to its overall brand image. The sponsor portfolio has gone from 5 to more than 50 in seven years. With all that, it’s easy to forget that the company was on the verge of bankruptcy a few years ago, along with a lackluster F1 record.
We’ve touched on the soap-opera-like McLaren F1 story many times. In the years preceding its recent resurgence, McLaren F1 had been just another F1 participant that could only win a race under special circumstances (plenty of luck required).
Fans will recall the Spygate episode, which likely marked the beginning of the downfall of Ron Dennis, the return of Fernando Alonso, and his subsequent “engine, engine” frustration rants.
Further casting a dark cloud over the team were incidents such as Eric Boullier's infamous exit, poor race results, and the end of the Honda engine partnership. You could argue that this period represents the F1 team’s darkest period in history. However, we’ll leave that debate for another day.
All of that is like ancient history now with the team celebrating back-to-back contractors' championships and a well-deserved driver’s championship.
Taking its name from the championship-winning MCL39 F1 car driven in the 2025 F1 season by Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, it doesn’t come with a special engine or anything else unique to it under the body.
It has the same internals as the regular Artura. A 3-liter twin-turbo V6 making 670hp along with an 8-speed dual-clutch transmission. That’s a little disappointing given the event the car celebrates.
However, the car does have a special black and papaya livery and 10-spoke, super-light forged-alloy wheels with a gloss-black finish to help it stand out. The wheel is perfectly complemented with a papaya brake caliper on what looks like carbon ceramic brake disks (the press release didn’t confirm that).
Courtesy of the marque’s MSO division, the car also has not so subtle hints of its celebratory nod to the team’s 10th F1 championship.
The MSO signature ‘10’ detailing on the car includes a Myan Orange steering wheel,’10’ embroidery on the headrest, a center console custom casement plaque, and carbon black Alcantara, and black Nappa leather seats with Vision Orange piping. Also noteworthy is the satin carbon fiber sill finishers hand-signed by Ocsar and Lando.
If you’re a hardcore McLaren fan, you’ll no doubt want one of these in your garage. Its exclusivity is also likely to yield a handsome profit if you choose to let it go in the future. McLaren was quiet about pricing, but you should expect it to be well north of the regular Artura’s starting price.
