McLaren was the first team to present its new car for the 2025 Formula One season on Thursday, in an exciting camouflage livery.
On February 18, the joint launch of all ten teams for the 2025 Formula 1 season will take place at the O2 Arena in London. But five days before the official F1 event, McLaren was the first team to present its new MCL39 at a car launch in Silverstone that was not widely advertised to the public.
The team of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri did not yet show the final livery of the new car, as it will be at the season opener in Melbourne on March 16. But a special camouflage look that combines the traditional papaya orange with a geometric print pattern and black accents.
The first photos, released by McLaren on Thursday, show that the MCL39 retains some of the key design elements of its predecessors and continues to use a pull-rod front suspension. A striking difference to the MCL38 appears to be in the bodywork around the engine cover, in particular a visibly modified, more oval air intake.
The McLaren team, which won a constructors’ championship in 2024 for the first time since 1998, will complete a so-called filming day at Silverstone on Thursday, during which the MCL39 will complete its first kilometers on a racetrack. Both drivers will be present.
After his first run with the new car, Norris did not want to be drawn into making any specific predictions about results: “It’s still early days, so to be honest I don’t have too many comments yet. We had a few laps on a wet track, and these are not the tires we normally race on.”
In principle, the new McLaren felt “normal”, says Norris, “and that’s a good first step. Because there are some innovative design approaches that the team has been working with this year, which has presented certain challenges. The engineers have done an excellent job exploring new areas and pushing the boundaries.”
McLaren CEO Zak Brown speaks of a “milestone” on the road to (in his view) a hopefully successful title defense: “It’s great to get the MCL39 out on track for the first time and celebrate the team’s hard work. But we have to be realistic, because every team has made progress over the winter.”
He adds that last season’s midfield density is a testament to the close competition in Formula 1: “We believe we have made further progress compared to the MCL38, with which we won the title. But we won’t see where we stand compared to the competition until the season-opening qualifying session in Australia.”
Team Principal Andrea Stella also highlights the challenges of the new season: “Although we finished last season as world champions, 2024 has shown how competitive the field is. We need to be fully focused to keep up with the frontrunners. The team has been working hard to be as prepared as possible.”
Lando Norris says the camouflage livery is “a fun change” and a good taster of the full reveal next week. And Oscar Piastri is looking forward to testing the car on track for the first time: “It’s great to get behind the wheel of the MCL39 for the first time before we put it through its paces in Bahrain.”
The official winter tests before the 2025 Formula 1 season will take place in Bahrain from February 26 to 28 and will be limited to three days. The season will then kick off with the Australian Grand Prix from March 14 to 16.
McLaren’s big goal is to win the drivers’ title this year, following on from the constructors’ title in 2024, and thus win the double. The last time the British team achieved this was in 1998, when Mika Häkkinen became world champion with team-mate David Coulthard. Incidentally, then as now, with a German powertrain from Mercedes.
The next presentation is scheduled for Friday, before the official F1 launch of all teams in London. Williams is planning a shakedown of the new FW47, also at Silverstone, in which, in addition to Alexander Albon, newcomer Carlos Sainz will also make his first major appearance since leaving Ferrari.
