McLaren have run their new MCL60 on track for the first time, two days before the start of Formula 1’s official pre-season test.
The team launched its new car at the McLaren Technology Centre last week, and shared footage on social media of Lando Norris leaving the pits in the MCL60 today.
McLaren are running at the Bahrain International Circuit, where three days of testing will begin on Thursday.
The team is conducting a filming day at the track, which allows them to complete up to 100 kilometres of running. That equates to 18 laps at the venue of the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, and the track time is expected to be shared between Norris and new team mate Oscar Piastri.
New McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said at the team’s launch that they are already planning a significant update to the MCL60 soon after the season begins.
“Assessing our performance last year and looking at competitors, we identified multiple areas of opportunities. The good news is that pretty much all of them have been addressed.
“I wouldn’t want to be too specific, but they have to do predominantly with aerodynamics. Aerodynamics is the name of the game in F1 so no mystery. But there’s some more areas, for instance, in terms of interaction with the tyres, there’s some work that we needed to do and this was done over the weekend.
“There’s some other areas of the car that, like I said, will be influenced by developments in the early stage of the season. So we are happy, not entirely happy, for what is the launch car but optimistic that we should take a good step soon.”
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Time to unleash the power. 💪
Our #MCL60 hits the track for the first time! pic.twitter.com/hFVWmWr6Ra
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) February 21, 2023
This article will be updated.
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2023 F1 season
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