McLaren has released the first images of its new car the MCL38 ahead of its track debut at Silverstone on Wednesday.
The car’s orange and black livery had already been revealed in January, but the MCL38 itself, which appears to be an evolution of last year’s car, had not been seen before now.
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The car will complete a filming day at Silverstone on Wednesday, allowing for 200km of running, before being transported to Bahrain to take part in a three-day preseason test from Feb. 21-23.
“It’s awesome to be able to launch our 2024 competitor, the MCL38, at Silverstone today,” McLaren CEO Zak Brown said in a statement. “It’s great to see our new car in its 2024 livery on track and see the hard work and dedication of the team come together.
“The fantastic thing about this sport is how competitive it is, and therefore we must remain realistic as every team will have made progress in the off season.
“The true test of whether we’ve made steps in the right direction will be qualifying in Bahrain. We’re all excited to go racing again, but we know there’s a long season ahead of us and a lot of work still to do to ensure we build on the progress we made throughout 2023.”
McLaren made a slow start to the 2023 season before an upgrade at the Austrian Grand Prix propelled it up the grid and into regular contention for podiums throughout the rest of the season.
The MCL38 is the first McLaren to benefit from the use of the team’s new wind tunnel, which it started using in September, but team principal Andrea Stella said some areas of development have not been completed in time for the launch of the car.
“Before we hit the track for competitive sessions, we have a lot of work to do, including putting the MCL38 through its paces during the Bahrain preseason test. The team has done a good job over the winter, and we are confident we can hit the ground running, but we know we have important tasks at hand before the season starts.
“There are a number of innovations on the car, but not all the areas we want to address have been completed for our launch-spec car. Those areas now become the focus of our in-season development, which is already in progress.”
McLaren will continue with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri in its driver line-up, with both signed to long-term deals that stretch into Formula One’s next era of technical regulations in 2026.
