McLaren reveals MCL38 car for 2024 F1 season

McLaren are the latest Formula 1 team to unveil their new F1 car for 2024, called the MCL38, as they look to start the season the way they finished last when they were often the main threat to Red Bull.

Having previously presented the visual identity for 2024, McLaren today also revealed a new car at Silverstone with which they aim to be competitive from the start of the season.

Last year, McLaren sacrificed the start of the season so they could make a big step forward in the summer, and this resulted in a dramatic jump in pace that shocked their rivals as they went from one of the slowest cars to podium contention and victory threat in a matter of months.

McLaren was joined this year by important new people who were not allowed to start working earlier due to long notice periods in Formula 1 – Rob Marshall from Red Bull, the new technical director for design, and David Sanchez from Ferrari, the new technical director for vehicle concept.

The third technical director is Peter Prodromou, who is in charge of aerodynamics, and all are directly responsible to the team boss, who has been Andrea Stella since last year.

This year’s McLaren will be the first car to be tested in the new wind tunnel in Woking after years of using Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne, which should increase the accuracy of data correlation and the speed of the whole process.

McLaren will test the new MCL38 for the first time on the track today at Silverstone when it will do a day of filming promotional materials and drive a maximum of 100 kilometers on special Pirelli tyres.

“It’s great to be able to launch our 2024 car, the MCL38, today at Silverstone,” said Zak Brown, Chief Executive Officer.

“It’s great to see our new car in 2024 livery on track and to see the team’s hard work and commitment come together.”

“The fantastic thing about this sport is how competitive it is and so we have to stay realistic because every team will improve in the off-season.”

“The real test of whether we’ve taken steps in the right direction will be qualifying in Bahrain. We’re all excited to be racing again, but we know we have a long season ahead of us and a lot of work to do to ensure we build on the progress we made during 2023 .”

“The team is excited to unveil the MCL38 today and see it on track for the first time,” added Andrea Stella, team principal.

“Going into this year, we want to build on the momentum of last season, but we are realistic in knowing that every team will improve and find competitiveness for their cars for 2024.”

“Now we have everything in place from infrastructure, people and culture so we continue to press forward and build to get back to the top of the standings.”

“We have a lot of work to do before we hit the track for the competition sessions, including checking the MCL38 during pre-season testing in Bahrain.”

“The team did a good job during the winter and we are confident that we can start working, but we know that we have important tasks before the start of the season.”

“There are a number of innovations on the car, but not all the areas we want to address are present on the first specification of the car, but are now becoming the focus of our seasonal development which is already underway.”

“I’m excited to get behind the wheel of the MCL38 and see how it works,” said Lando Norris, who finished sixth last year with seven podium finishes.

“I’m looking forward to shaking the car in Bahrain. I have full confidence in the team to continue to push forward after the upheaval of last season. However, the real test of our progress will come when we push it in testing, qualifying and the Bahrain GP.”

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

“Thanks to everyone at the track and in the factory for their work to get us to this point. I’m excited to come to Bahrain and race again.”

“It’s great to be able to drive the MCL38 on the track for the first time today,” added Oscar Piastri.

“It’s an important milestone in our development for this year and I’m excited to see it on track in a new guise.”

“We won’t know where we stand in terms of competitiveness until we go to the race in Bahrain, but we’ve been preparing as best we can by spending time in the simulator, working closely with everyone who has designed, built and will be working on this car to make sure that we are ready for a strong start.”

“I’m looking forward to the next few weeks. A big thank you to the team for everything they’ve done so far to prepare us for 2024. I’m really excited to start my second season in F1 in the right way.”