McLaren has revealed the date for when it plans to launch its 2023 Formula 1 car, the MCL37.
A fifth place finish in last season’s constructors’ championship saw McLaren slip a place lower than its 2021 placing as it struggled in the first year of the new technical regulations.
The car was hampered by brake issues in pre-season testing that left McLaren on the back foot in the early races before it clawed back performance to seal its one and only podium finish of the season at Imola.
Despite a reliable package, McLaren was unable to consistently have both cars in the top 10 and found the MCL36 to be track specific.
Lando Norris generally out-performed the car over the season, finishing a clear best-of-the-rest behind the top three teams in the drivers’ standings.
McLaren’s points tally was curtailed by Daniel Ricciardo’s persistent struggles that ultimately led to the team’s decision to terminate his contract a year early.
The Woking-based outfit swopped to sign Ricciardo’s compatriot Oscar Piastri as his replacement, who arrives in F1 tipped as a future star of grand prix racing after a stellar junior career.
Piastri was also subject to a contract dispute with parent team Alpine, who despite an attempt to prove he had a valid contract to race for them this year through the Contract Recognition Board, lost his services to McLaren via a ruling.
As well as a new driver line-up, there has been a change to McLaren’s hierarchy following the departure of Andreas Seidl to Sauber, with Andrea Stella promoted as team principal.
Stella has been with McLaren since 2015 after spending more than a decade as a performance and race engineer at Ferrari and, according to CEO Zak Brown, was the team’s first choice to replace Seidl.
McLaren announced it will unveil its 2023 challenger on February 13, the same day as Aston Martin, with the MCL37 set to driven in anger for the first time in pre-season testing in Bahrain on February 23.
Half of this year’s grid has now confirmed their launch plans ahead of the new season, which is due to begin with the Bahrain Grand Prix on March 5.
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