McLaren will enter 2021 with a new driver and engine.
WOKING, England—In a low-keyed presentation due to the COVID-19 precautions, the McLaren Formula 1 team was first this season in the world championship to launch their challenger, the MCL 35M. The presentation took place Monday evening at the McLaren Technical Center in Surrey, England.
The event, which Sky F1 presenter Natalie Pinkham conducted, had hundreds of McLaren fans behind the stage (in virtual form) and featured returnee driver Lando Norris and his new Australian teammate, Daniel Ricciardo.
The team will try to capitalize on the last two seasons when their team finished fourth in 2019 and improved to take third last year. And the team will compete this year with a Mercedes engine, selected to replace the Renault engine, which was used for two seasons.
“I like it straight away,” said Andreas Seidel, McLaren’s Racing Director. “It has a lot of updates, but I will love it even more after the lap times in Bahrain. I am looking forward to seeing Norris and Ricciardo race. And I am also looking forward to seeing the car on the track.”
Norris felt that he learned much from last season and feels that the car can still have more potential.
Lando Norris: I am taking a lot of responsibility and getting to know the car. Carlos (Sainz, now at Ferrari) was an excellent teammate and working with Daniel. I will have to get to know him.
Ricciardo made up his mind to join McLaren during the long COVID break from F1 last season. “I am here, it feels real, and I wanted to become part of it,” Ricciardo said. “Being on the farm (during the off-season) gave me a lot of clarity, and it made me have a good perspective to make the decision. As a fan of F1 and growing up, there were only two teams being of Italian heritage. They were Ferrari and McLaren. This is my 11th season, but it feels like it is fresh.”
For CEO Zak Brown, it has been a crazy year–with possible entries in the WEC in the future and already an Indy car team, the American felt that the long hours of developing the F1 car were worth it there is still a way to go. “The 850 men and women have done a great job under the COVID-19 problem,” Brown stated. “The long hours and hours of working has been a great job. Very excited we have the best driver line-up in Formula 1, but we are still far off from the field. We need to keep our heads down and it will get difficult, but we are looking forward to it.”
