Video: Listen to the healthy roar of McLaren's 2022 car

Daniel Ricciardo (AUS) McLaren MCL35M. 11.12.2021. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 22, Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Yas Marina
© XPB 

McLaren's new beast is alive and well, the 2022 challenger sounding its guttural roar upon the MCL36's first fire-up of the year.

The pre-season ritual was apparently trouble-free with McLaren's top brass on hand to witness the always ceremonial moment.

F1 teams will kick off their presentations next month, with Aston Martin currently on pole to unveil its 2022 design on February 10.

But McLaren is scheduled to pull the covers off its MCL36 the following day with an event that will take place at Woking and which will be broadcasted live online and by Sky Sports F1.

Once again, McLaren has entrusted the all-new design of its Mercedes-powered charger to technical director James Key and his team of engineers.

Assessing this season's radical regulation overhaul, Key expects a fair amount of innovation from McLaren's rivals but also reckons that this year's development rate will be extremely high.

"You actually get quite innovative at times like this," he said at the end of last season.

"It happened in 2009 with some really upset aerodynamicists running around the office saying ‘oh, it’s not the same anymore’, and we realised there’s a whole load of things you can do but it’s a bit more subtle and complicated.

"So I think it’s that sort of the situation with 2022."

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