FIRST LOOK: McLaren take covers off F1 2023 car 

The MCL60 marks a departure from the team’s previous naming convention and is a reference to the 60th anniversary of the British squad, which was founded by Bruce McLaren in 1963. 

McLaren’s 2023 challenger retains a similar livery to its predecessor, comprising of the team’s iconic papaya colour scheme, blue and black. 

McLaren will field a revised driver line-up consisting of Lando Norris and new signing Oscar Piastri, who will make his F1 debut in 2023 in place of the underperforming Daniel Ricciardo. 

There have been significant changes to McLaren’s leadership team over the winter, with Andrea Stella taking over as team principal after Andreas Seidl joined Sauber as their new CEO. 

After losing out on fourth spot in the F1 constructors’ standings to midfield rivals Alpine in 2022, McLaren are aiming to reclaim the position and move closer to the leading three teams - Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes.  

But new team principal Stella stressed McLaren remain realistic about their targets for the upcoming season. 

“I think it’s fair to say that over the course of the season we would like to establish ourselves as part of the top four,” he said. “We know realistically with the top three teams, this may mean potentially being the fourth best car over the course of the season. 

“We are realistic in the very short term, there’s good developments already in the pipeline that should land trackside very soon in the season and should allow us to take a decent step forward. 

“We are not naive, we know that pretty much every team will be saying the same, ‘we have good developments’ and so on. Like I said, we also have more high level developments going on in the team. 

“I would like to remind the importance of getting the new wind tunnel come to fruition which should happen around the mid-year. 

“That should be a step stage for many reasons, not only the fact that it improves your methodologies. There’s also the new simulator coming, we have a new manufacturing facility. 

“So large investments that should come to fruition mid-year. This should be an extra boost in this race to become top four overall in the season and hopefully race for more.”

Aston Martin will follow McLaren in becoming the next team to unveil their F1 2023 car later this evening at the start of a busy week of launches.