FIRST PICS: 2006 McLaren livery.

McLaren has unveiled the striking new livery that will adorn the cars of Kimi Raikkonen and Juan Pablo Montoya in 2006.

The livery of the MP4-21 ? the first new colour scheme since the loss of West sponsorship due to stringent laws on tobacco advertising - features prominent Johnnie Walker branding on the sidepods and a vibrant red on both the front and rear wings.

The livery also has an innovative surface coating, perfected by McLaren over the past six months, which achieves a high level of reflectivity and will be totally new to Formula One.

That innovative reflective finish is something the team believes will give its sponsors a little bit extra in 2006, with McLaren already being one of the most photographed outfits in the paddock.

"A lot of research and months of work have gone into creating this unique chrome finish," marketing managing director Ekrem Sami said. "We are always looking at innovative ways to allow our sponsor partners to differentiate their brands from the competition through their partnership with the team and this unique livery is designed to be extremely photogenic.

"Team McLaren Mercedes had the highest audited 'Share of TV Voice' in 2005 - and we hope that this new identity will contribute to us retaining that status."

Sami also added that the new livery would be the foundation of future colour schemes for the team - which welcomes Vodafone as title sponsor from 2007 onwards.

"When we created our previous livery in the mid nineties we established what we believed then was an innovative and groundbreaking new identity for McLaren Mercedes," he said. "What we have launched today is as revolutionary and we hope it will be the foundation of the team's livery for many years to come."

Both Raikkonen and Montoya have given the new livery the thumbs up ahead of the opening round of the season in Bahrain, with Raikkonen impressed by the design put together by the McLaren team.

"I have only seen illustrations of the new livery until now but they do it no justice," he said. "It looks fantastic and should create a bit of a stir when we drive it on tracks around the world. If we can make the car as fast as it looks then we will be in good shape."

Montoya was also pleased with what he saw when shown the car for the first time.

"Wow!" he said. "What a beautiful looking car. I have obviously been testing the MP4-21 quite a bit already but seeing the car like this is something else."