McLaren sets launch date for Mercedes-powered 2021 F1 car

McLaren will launch its 2021 Formula 1 car, the MCL35, on 15 February at its headquarters in Woking.

The British squad is the second F1 team to confirm its launch plans ahead of the upcoming 2021 season, with Alfa Romeo unveiling its latest contender at an event in Warsaw a week after McLaren on 22 February.

As well as taking the wraps off its newly-named, Mercedes-powered MCL35 in a live launch show that will be broadcast on Sky Sports F1 in the UK, McLaren will also present its revised driver line-up consisting of Lando Norris and new signing Daniel Ricciardo.

McLaren fired up its new MCL35M for the first time on Tuesday, with the process overseen by team principal Andreas Seidl and CEO Zak Brown.

The announcement of McLaren’s launch date is one of the earliest, despite the particularly busy winter the Woking-based outfit has faced as it raced to get its new car ready for the upcoming campaign, having switched from Renault power.

McLaren is the only F1 team changing its power unit supplier in the off-season, requiring the team to essentially build a brand new car despite teams largely carrying over most of their cars from 2020 with development heavily restricted amid a delay to the technical regulation overhaul that will now come in 2022.

The team launch will take place almost a month before pre-season testing gets underway in Bahrain ahead of the season-opener on 28 March, allowing McLaren plenty of time to fit in a filming day shakedown before winter testing.

McLaren is aiming to build on its third place finish in the 2020 constructors’ championship as it successfully broke into F1’s top three teams with an excellent campaign.