This is the 2023 Formula 1 car from McLaren, celebrating the team’s 60th anniversary of its 1963 founding.
In a launch event at its Woking factory, McLaren also presented new driver Oscar Piastri alongside Lando Norris, and Andrea Stella, who takes over as team principal following Andreas Seidl’s departure to the Sauber-run Alfa Romeo squad at the end of last year.
The MCL60 appears to be very much an evolution in terms of the aerodynamic concept begun with the MCL36, with additional updates to the sidepods which the team switched to running last year, in a similar style to those featured on the successful Red Bull RB18.
The new car’s sidepods have been tightened and feature a bigger undercut compared to its predecessor, which suggests McLaren is being less conservative when it comes to the cooling demands of its second car built to Formula 1’s new ground-effects rules.
Speaking to the media after the MCL60’s launch event, McLaren boss Zak Brown said: “I think we have identified the shortcomings of last year’s car and worked hard to tackle it on this year’s car.
“I think we got most of it right, but we know there’s still a couple areas that we’re not where we want to be.”
The MCL60’s livery is also broadly similar to the colour scheme the MCL36 was running by the end of 2022 – with orange patches added to the rear wing and removed from the front wing.
The new McLaren is again running with a large chunk of bare carbon fibre at the centre of its livery as the team – along with many of its rivals judging by the looks of the cars revealed so far in the pre-season – again strives to operate at the 798kg weight limit.
Social media and official website:
https://www.mclaren.com/racing/2023/car-launch/mclaren-celebrates-landmark-anniversary-new-driver-line-up-for-mcl60/
https://twitter.com/McLarenF1/status/1625182783248252955?cxt=HHwWtoC-qa_I540tAAAA
https://twitter.com/McLarenF1/status/1625181671661223946?cxt=HHwWlIC-rdWH540tAAAA
https://twitter.com/McLarenF1/status/1625184107503165440?cxt=HHwWgICx5bmV6I0tAAAA
https://twitter.com/McLarenF1/status/1625185894956253193?cxt=HHwWkoC-rb_96I0tAAAA
News stories:
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.gallery-take-a-closer-look-at-mclarens-new-car-and-livery-for-the-2023-f1.2YbU9kF9DlEad7IXibVhtU.html
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.first-look-mclaren-present-vibrant-looking-mcl60-to-kick-off-2023.5gnCsx6H01YFs97JlP4ax5.html
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/64625961
https://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12433/12810098/mclaren-mcl60-launch-lando-norris-and-oscar-piastri-help-reveal-2023-f1-challenger
https://www.racefans.net/2023/02/13/mclaren-set-top-four-target-as-they-reveal-new-f1-car-for-2023/
https://www.racefans.net/2023/02/13/mclaren-aim-first-mcl60-upgrade-for-baku-after-finding-really-strong-area-for-gains/
https://the-race.com/formula-1/mclaren-launches-mcl60-f1-2023-car/
https://the-race.com/formula-1/norris-has-pushed-for-fundamental-mclaren-f1-philosophy-changes/
https://the-race.com/formula-1/piastris-always-a-little-unhappy-and-mclaren-loves-it/
McLaren has admitted that it is not “entirely happy” with all aspects of its new Formula 1 car, but hopes early season upgrades can help it address any shortcomings.
The Woking-based team unveiled its new MCL60 at its factory on Monday evening. The car features some bold aerodynamic steps compared to its 2022 challenger, including a much more aggressive sidepod solution.
Although McLaren hopes to be able to use the 2023 campaign to close in on the top three outfits, new team boss Andrea Stella has urged caution about expecting too much in the early races.
He thinks the launch specification car is not at a level he reckons it can get to, which is why hopes are high that early-season upgrades in the pipeline can propel it forward.
Asked about the progress the team has made with the 2023 car, Stella said: “Assessing our performance last year and looking at comparing those, we identified multiple areas of opportunities.
The good news is that pretty much all of them have been addressed. I wouldn’t want to be too specific, but certainly they have to do predominantly with aerodynamics.
“Aerodynamics is the name of the game in F1 so no mystery, but there’s some areas, for instance, in terms of interaction with the tyres, where there’s some work that we needed to do and this was done over the winter.
“There’s some other areas of the car that will be improved by developments in the early stage of the season. So we are happy, not entirely happy for what is the launch car, but optimistic that we should take a good step soon.”
Pushed on where he anticipated McLaren to be at the start of the year, Stella suggested that it was impossible to know what rivals had produced.
However, he said that it would be wrong to be too optimistic if the team already knew it was giving performance away.
“It is always difficult to translate what you see over the winter in terms of development to where you’re going to be in terms of pecking order,” he said. “But we try to relate this to ourselves.
“Like I said before, I think while we are happy with the development of the car in most of the areas, there’s some areas in which we kind of realised a little late in development, some really strong directions. So not necessarily we have been able to capitalise on this direction in the very short term.
“That’s why also I talk about the developments coming after the start of the season. So in this sense, I just invoke realism.
“In a way, it’s more relative to ourselves. But it’s such a competitive game that I would be surprised if [we are there immediately]. Normally you need to be totally happy and totally at the top of what you can do to achieve your targets.”
Stella said he expected the upgrades to be ready by around the time of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, although there was not a fixed date yet.
“In terms of development [timing], hopefully a couple of months into the season, hopefully less,” he said. “So this may coincide with race four. We will see how rapidly we can get this project to land.”
Source: Motorsport.com