McLaren has announced that it will be leaving cycling at the end of this season, just one year after co-sponsoring the WorldTour team Bahrain McLaren.

The move leaves the team looking for a new co-sponsor for next year, a financially difficult time for McLaren and a year that saw a series of salary deferrals within the team due to COVID-19.

"Bahrain World Tour Cycling Team and McLaren, the British supercar manufacturer and Formula 1 team, today confirmed that McLaren will end its Team Bahrain McLaren title partnership at the end of the 2020 season. confirming that McLaren will end its title partnership with Team Bahrain McLaren at the end of the 2020 season.

"Team Bahrain McLaren has worked with its team partners to keep the team at the top level of professional cycling, both on and off the bike. The distinctive colors of Team Bahrain-McLaren have brought a number of memorable victories during this interrupted Covid~19 season, including the Tour of Saudi Arabia, Paris~Nice, Circuit de Gesso, and Route d'Oxytany. The team thanks McLaren for their contribution to the partnership and wishes them well in their return to four-wheel racing."

In July, Cyclingnews reported that Bahrain was looking for a new title sponsor after McLaren's departure due to financial problems.

Financial pressures stemming from the coronavirus outbreak have caused McLaren to suffer huge financial losses in recent months, with 1,200 UK-based staff being laid off earlier this spring. The Bahrain McLaren team's players and staff received up to 70% wage deferrals for three months, agreed earlier this year, to help the team stave off financial difficulties; according to Cyclingnews, these deferred wages will not be paid in full, but the team's owner Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa has guaranteed that he will continue to run the team until 2021, so the team will get 75% of its annual salary.

The Bahraini royal family owns a majority stake in McLaren, but the financial pressure on both sides has been immense in recent months; according to Forbes, McLaren's profits will drop from $217.7 million in 2019 to $136.2 million in 2020, while The brand's pre-tax loss jumped 600 percent to $165.6 million. It was also reported at the end of June that McLaren had received a £150 million loan from Bahrain Bank, but even that may not be enough to save the McLaren bicycle team's seat.