McLaren’s redesigned MCL 36 is introduced along with the company’s new E-program.
WOKING, England—After just missing out third place in the constructor’s championship to Ferrari, the McLaren Formula One team launched its MCL 36 challenger Friday evening. The new car is a big contrast to the Aston Martin entry that was launched just 24 hours earlier. Fans and others will have to wait to view the MCL 36 in real-time until the first test begins two weeks from now in Spain.
Like many other teams, McLaren hopes new regulations will allow the team to move up the grid. Team Principal Andreas Seidel believes that research backs up that hope.
Andreas Seidel: Over the last year, the team has been hard at work developing the MCL36, seeking to take advantage of any opportunities we might find in the design and production. Formula One and the FIA have done an important job developing these new technical and sporting regulations, which, in combination with the cost cap, aim to create closer racing and a level-playing field for competition.
Technical director James Key, a fixture with the team following time at Toro Rosso (now Alpha Tauri), wanted to use some of the same components that the Aston Martin team has developed this season but decided to opt instead for a more narrowly packaged design. “I think, first of all, it’s nice to see diversity in the space of three car launches, or real car launches so far,” Key said. “So, it shows that some of the fears about all cars looking identical [under the new rules] aren’t necessarily the case.”
Over the years, McLaren has adopted different colors on their car, from silver to the all-papaya type livery. However, this season, along with the returning Mercedes Turbo Hybrid engine, the team has chosen one of the classic designs, which resembles the Gulf Oil livery of last season. Fans approved of the one-off design, which was displayed at the Monaco and Abu Dhabi Grands Prix.
CEO Zak Brown agreed with that scheme. “We wanted something very vibrant, so we changed the shade of our papaya, it’s a darker blue, but the livery changes we did last year in Monaco and Abu Dhabi we got a lot of great fan reaction. It’s a natural evolution, trying to make sure we give our corporate partners to stand out.”
Notably, McLaren also used the launch to introduce its all-electric Extreme E program and its Indy Car and e-sports programs.
