McLaren rolls out new MCL38 F1 challenger for 2024

McLaren recently unveiled the livery of its 2024 car, but team papaya has now pulled the covers off its MCL38 that will carry the Woking-based outfit’s hopes in this year’s F1 world championship.

McLaren says that its new car will enjoy its track debut at Silverstone today for a shakedown and a filming days with both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

The team will then pack up and travel to Bahrain where pre-season testing will kick off on February 21 ahead of the opening round of the season at Sakhir on March 3.

“It’s awesome to be able to launch our 2024 competitor, the MCL38, at Silverstone today,” commented McLaren racing boss Zak Brown.

“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.”

• Launch Gallery: McLaren MCL38

McLaren’s new challenger builds upon the promising foundation laid by the MCL60, which overcame a sluggish start to blossom after mid-season upgrades in the 2023 season.

But the MCL38 represents a significant shift. For the first time, it was conceived and overseen from the ground up by team boss Andrea Stella and his newly-assembled technical team at Woking.

This new structure, coupled with the first fruits of McLaren's brand-new wind tunnel, fueled the team's climb to fourth place in the 2023 championship.

“Going into this year, we look to build on the momentum of last season but are realistic in the knowledge that every team will have made progress and found competitiveness for their 2024 cars," Stella said.

"We now have everything in place from an infrastructure, people and culture perspective so we continue to push forward and build on the work done to get us back to front of the grid.

“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 pre-season 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’s talented young line-up of drivers sees 24-year-old Norris - whose contract with McLaren was extended last month - embark on his sixth season in F1, while Piastri tackles his sophomore year in the sport.

“I have full confidence in the team that we’ll continue pushing forward off the back of the turnaround last season," said Norris.

"However, the true test of our progress is coming up when we put the car through its paces in testing, ahead of then qualifying and racing for the Bahrain Grand Prix.

“Over the past few weeks I’ve been back at the MTC putting a lot of work in on the simulator with my engineering team to ensure that we’re fully prepared ahead of next week."

Piastri added: "It’s great to be able to drive the MCL38 on track for the first time today. It’s an important milestone in our development for the year and I’m excited to see it on track in its new livery.

“We won’t know where we stand in terms of competitiveness until we go racing in Bahrain, but we’ve been preparing as best as we possibly can by spending time in the simulator, working closely with everyone who’s designed, built and will run the car to ensure we’re ready to start strongly."

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