New McLaren MCL38 launched with ‘a number of innovations’

McLaren has launched its 2024 Formula 1 car — the MCL38 — that it says features “a number of innovations” but still has areas that it wants to address during the season. Last year, McLaren warned of issues with its launch-spec car and it started the season well off the pace before an excellent development program propelled it into contention for regular podiums, with Oscar Piastri securing a Sprint victory in Qatar. Although the team has been more confident in its development this winter, team principal Andrea Stella says there is more potential to come as the year unfolds. “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.” OUR 2024 CHALLENGER. Presenting the #MCL38! pic.twitter.com/92bFXbLSmb — McLaren (@McLarenF1) February 14, 2024 McLaren will shake the MCL38 down at Silverstone on Wednesday as part of an initial short test, with a filming day expected to take place in Bahrain ahead of the pre-season test from Feb. 21-23. “It’s awesome to be able to launch our 2024 competitor, the MCL38, at Silverstone today,” McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown said. “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 offseason. 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.”