{"id":2189811,"date":"2026-10-10T17:25:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-10T14:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2189811"},"modified":"2026-10-10T17:25:00","modified_gmt":"2026-10-10T14:25:00","slug":"google-maps-will-now-display-your-vehicle-as-a-mclaren-formula-1-race-car","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2189811","title":{"rendered":"Google Maps Will Now Display Your Vehicle As A McLaren Formula 1 Race Car"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"columns-holder\">\n<div class=\"add-on-google-widget\">\n<div class=\"add-on-google-heading\">Add Jalopnik on Google:<\/div>\n<div class=\"add-on-google-buttons-row\">\n                    <button type=\"button\" class=\"add-on-google-btn\" id=\"preferred-source\">Preferred Source<\/button><br \/>\n                    <a href=\"https:\/\/profile.google.com\/cp\/Cg0vZy8xMXBneTRxX2Zw\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"add-on-google-btn\" id=\"google-discover\">Google Discover<\/a>\n                <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"columns-holder \">\n<p dir=\"ltr\">What an age we live in. You can (and likely do) take personal navigation for granted these days, departing on everything from urban errands to weeks-long road trips without any sort of physical map. Google Maps and Apple Maps (okay, maybe just Google Maps) can get you where you&#8217;re going so long as you have cell signal. And to add some whimsy, now the app can display your location with an avatar car instead of a sterile, clinical arrow.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Thanks to a motorsports partnership between the tech giant Google and the British car brand McLaren, you can inject a little Formula 1 racing flavor into your next trip. To answer a few of your inevitable questions:\u00a0No, your car won&#8217;t speak to you in the voice of Oscar Piastri or Lando Norris. And no, Google Maps will not tell you to box this lap. Sorry. Instead, for a limited time, you can swap out your sober little car-toon or boring standard blue arrow for a comically stubby, yet still unmistakable, McLaren F1 car. We wish there were more choices, like\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jalopnik.com\/2086795\/mclaren-f1-engine-power\/\" target=\"_blank\">the legendary McLaren F1 road car<\/a>, but for now it&#8217;s just the\u00a0MCL40.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Google and McLaren claim the official avatar is a way to ring in the coming United States GP in Austin. &#8220;Celebrate the United States Grand Prix with the official team avatar, available until November 23, 2026,&#8221; the avatar selection page reads. The official team avatar is going to disappear in late November, meaning users can keep the little race car avatar for two American Formula 1 race weekends: the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jalopnik.com\/the-united-states-grand-prix-really-was-that-packed-1847935962\/\" target=\"_blank\">USGP at COTA<\/a>\u00a0on October 25 and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jalopnik.com\/2188478\/formula-1-extends-las-vegas-contract-10-years\/\" target=\"_blank\">Las Vegas Grand Prix<\/a>\u00a0on November 21.\u00a0After things wind down in Las Vegas, it&#8217;ll be back to Google Maps&#8217; assortment of cartoony little car avatars.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"columns-holder \">\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Last year, Google rolled out an update for Maps that expanded the available library of vehicle avatars to include new models and even customizable colors. However, those options are straight-up boring compared to your very own still-stuck-in-traffic F1 car. In the latest update, the app allows users to swipe right past a luxury sedan, an off-road-going pickup truck, and a slick-looking sports car to opt for a McLaren Orange Formula 1 car.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">To change your avatar to something more Oscar Piastri-esque, you can open your Google Maps app\u00a0and select &#8220;Settings.&#8221; Then find the &#8220;Choose driving avatar&#8221; list, and select the McLaren Formula 1 car. Presto, your little avatar is an F1 race car. Now, if only they could figure out the Batmobile.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The little icon is hard to see, but it&#8217;s almost certainly a nod to McLaren&#8217;s Formula 1 car of choice for the 2026 season, the MCL40. In celebration of the team&#8217;s successes in the 2025 season, the McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 team chose to carry over the historic papaya-hued palette, hence the orange little avatar on your Apple CarPlay or Android Auto screen.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Add Jalopnik on Google: Preferred Source Google Discover What an age we live in. You can (and likely do) take personal navigation for granted these days, departing on everything from urban errands to weeks-long road trips without any sort of physical map. Google Maps and Apple Maps (okay, maybe just Google Maps) can get you [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,247],"class_list":["post-2189811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-jalopnik-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2189811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2189811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2189811\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2189811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2189811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2189811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}