McLaren has stuck to its popular papaya orange and black colour scheme for the new F1 season, reverting to its standard nomenclature for the MCL38 that will get its first mileage on Wednesday during a filming session in Silverstone.
The car builds on the much-improved MCL60 which, after a slow start, came alive thanks to several mid-season upgrades in the 2023 season.
It is the first car fully overseen from its conception by team boss Andrea Stella and his new technical structure at Woking, which enabled it to move up to fourth in the 2023 championship, and it also the first product from McLaren's brand-new wind tunnel.
“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.
Briton Norris gears up for his sixth season in F1 with McLaren, having recently signed a fresh contract that will keep the 24-year-old at the Woking squad until at least 2026. His 22-year-old Australian team-mate Piastri is set for his sophomore year after producing one of the most impressive rookie seasons in 2023.
“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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