McLaren Unleashes MCL60 For First On-Track Run Ahead of Pre-Season Testing
Just two days before the start of the official pre-season test, McLaren has successfully tested its new MCL60 car on the track.
After launching the vehicle at the McLaren Technology Centre last week, the team shared footage on social media of Lando Norris leaving the pits in the MCL60 during the test.
The testing is being held at the Bahrain International Circuit, where McLaren is conducting a filming day. They are permitted to run up to 100 kilometers, which is approximately 18 laps of the circuit where the Bahrain Grand Prix is held. Norris and new teammate Oscar Piastri will share the track time during the test.
According to the team's new principal, Andrea Stella, they are already planning a significant update to the MCL60 soon after the season commences. This indicates that the team is focused on making progress and improving their car's performance throughout the year. Stella explained, as quoted by Racefans.net:
“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.”