McLaren has admitted its current 2018 car is in fact an evolution of last year's MCL32 and the team won't debut its actual 2018 car until the Spanish Grand Prix in May.
The British outfit made a late switch from Honda to Renault power and had to therefore completely redesign its new car around the new power unit that impacted its schedule heavily, forcing the team to run a compromised chassis in Australia, Bahrain and China, as well as the upcoming Azerbaijan GP.
However at the first official European event in Barcelona next month, Racing Director Eric Boullier admitted the team would debut its true 2018 car, which should have raced in Australia save various development delays.
"The 2018 car is coming to Barcelona, and obviously we hope that’s the car we expect it to be,” Boullier told Autosport.
"We missed the schedule targets with it, which means the car we’ll have in Barcelona should have been in Australia.
"So we are running actually with an evolution of last year, and not the new car. And this car hopefully will be the one that we expect."
Boullier refused to be drawn on specific targets for the new chassis when asked: “No expectations, no need," he said.
"I’ve been long enough in F1 to know you just celebrate when you’re on the podium, or on top of the podium.”
McLaren currently holds fourth position in the Constructors' Championship, having secured points in each of the events held so far.
