Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMcLaren

McLaren to launch MP4-31 on February 21

McLaren has announced it will launch its 2016 car - the MP4-31 - on February 21.

The launch will take place a day before the start of pre-season testing at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain, with the team set to unveil its new car online as in previous years.

McLaren confirmed the news via its Twitter account, with a slight dig at Ferrari which on the same day ended a week-long countdown with the announcement of a social media competition which would provide 10 fans with the opportunity to see the launch of its 2016 car next month.

The MP4-31 will be McLaren's second since the return of Honda at the start of the 2015 season, with Honda saying the "size-zero" concept will be retained as the team looks to improve on last year's disappointing season which saw it finish ninth in the constructors' championship.

There are only two pre-season tests this year, both taking place in Barcelona from February 22-25 and from March 1-4, with the first race of the season in Australia on March 20.

Key dates for the 2016 F1 season

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.