A new era has begun in the history of McLaren as they launched their latest and revolutionary car, the MCL32 in an event at the MTC in Woking. McLaren decided to drop the MP4 prefix while naming their cars and now, they have started to use an orange livery. All this has taken place after Ron Dennis has left McLaren.
The car features an orange, black and white colour scheme which looks absolutely fantastic and classy. Orange and black are the two primary colours and the small amount of white makes the car look delightful. McLaren have finally fulfilled the endless requests of their fans to use an orange livery. The last McLaren car which featured an orange race livery was the McLaren M7A which was driven by McLaren’s founder, the Late Bruce McLaren himself in 1968. I personally am in admiration of this, new, bold and exciting looking livery and would love it if the upcoming McLaren cars will be orange as well.
Now, we arrive to the technical part of the car. The British team have become the 4th team this season to use the Thumb Nose. If the Thumb Nose works well with the new regulations, it will carry many teams along with it to good results. McLaren have adopted an Extended Shark Fin Engine Cover similar to that used by Force India and Sportscar Prototypes. Just like all other teams, McLaren have used large bargeboards which are easily visible. They have also used a badger next to the sidepods which regulates the airflow to the engine.
Otherwise, the car is pretty much similar to a few other teams in terms of technicalities. To achieve success this season, McLaren desperately needs Honda to perform as Power Units are a very important factor of all motorsports. Honda have redesigned their whole engine and have used a technology which is similar to what Mercedes used in 2016. If Honda delivers, we could see McLaren constantly fighting for podium finishes.
Considering both, the physical design of the car and the visually appealing livery, I would rate this car a 9 on a scale of 10.
Many McLaren fans including myself would love to see Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne be very competitive this season and possibly even contest for the World Championship. If the McLaren and Honda partnership finally clicks this season, we will be in for a cracker of a season!
None of the images used in this article belong to me. Credits to whomsoever they may belong to.
