McLaren has unveiled its new challenger for the 2024 Formula 1 season, the MCL38, one month after releasing first-look images of its revised livery.
The Woking-based squad elected to become the first F1 side on the grid to reveal the design scheme that would adorn its two cars in advance of its launch.
McLaren has retained the traditional papaya that it revived in 2017 alongside with what has been described as anthracite, with chrome accents also included.
The team is bidding to build on a remarkable campaign last term that saw it recover from struggling to score points to becoming a regular fixture at the sharp end.
Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri combined to score nine podiums as McLaren outscored every team with the exception of Red Bull with its revamped MCL60 car.
McLaren would overhaul Aston Martin for fourth place in the Constructors’ Championship with a total of 302 points, marking its strongest F1 season since 2012.
Norris, who renewed his contract last month, embarks upon his sixth year with McLaren, while Piastri, who is tied down through 2026, enters his sophomore season.
Andrea Stella remains at the helm as Team Principal after a successful debut season in charge, with the three-pronged technical structure beneath him now in place.
Rob Marshall (Engineering & Design Technical Director) and David Sanchez (Car Concept & Performance Technical) began their duties at Woking at the turn of the year.
The pair, who arrived from Red Bull and Ferrari respectively, work alongside Aerodynamics Technical Director Peter Prodromou, with the trio reporting directly to Stella.
“The team are excited to present the MCL38 today and to see it on track for the first time,” Stella said. “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.
“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.
“My thanks go to the entire team, both trackside and at MTC and MRC for their great efforts in ensuring the car was ready to hit the track today, as well as our colleagues at Mercedes HPP for their continued collaboration. We now turn our attention to the long season ahead as we look forward to Bahrain Testing next week.”
McLaren CEO Zak Brown added: “It’s awesome to be able to launch our 2024 competitor, the MCL38, at Silverstone today. 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.”
The British outfit’s latest creation will hit the track for the first time today at Silverstone for a promotional filming day with Norris and Piastri sharing driver duties at the wheel.
“I’m excited to get behind the wheel of the MCL38 and see how it runs. The livery looks great on the new car, so it’s fun to be able to get out on track today,” Norris said.
“I’m looking forward to shaking the car down in Bahrain. I have full confidence in the team that we’ll continue pushing forward off the back of the turnaround last season. 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. Thank you to everyone trackside and at the factory for their work to get us to this point. I’m excited to get to Bahrain and go racing again.”
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.
“I’m looking forward to the next few weeks leading into a busy year. A massive thank you to the team for everything they’ve done so far to prepare us for 2024. I’m really excited to properly kick off my second season in F1.”
