Mclaren launched their 2022 challenger on Friday evening, the MCL36.
On Friday evening Mclaren became the fourth team to launch their 2022 challenger to a packed media event at the Mclaren Technology Centre. The launch event showed off the team’s upcoming entries for F1, Indycar, Extreme E and E-Sports. Like the Aston Martin launched on February 10th, Mclaren revealed their full 2022 car rather than digital renders.
Keeping the papaya and blue colour scheme adopted since 2019, the MCL36, has incorporated a lighter blue element, similar to the one off Gulf livery seen at the 2021 Monaco Grand Prix.
Drivers Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris remain with the team in 2022, with Norris recently signing an extension until the end of 2025. Both are relishing the challenges of the regulations.
“Last year was my best in Formula 1 so far,” Norris said. “And I’m really proud of what I achieved as a driver, and what we achieved as a team. But I know that the best is yet to come, and my aim is to carry the positive momentum we built up over the last year and take that with me into this exciting new era of Formula 1.
“I’m in a good position heading into this year to build on the successes of 2021. I’ve grown up alongside McLaren and I’m really delighted to have recently confirmed my long-term future with the team. Together, I’m looking forward to finding out what we can achieve, and I’ll be working hard to maximise any opportunities that come our way.”
Ricciardo is hoping for an improved season following his win at Monza in 2021 , and is hoping hoping his experience will help him adapt to the new cars: “There’s always a nervous excitement around the start of the new season, but that’s turned up to 11 when you enter a new era of regulations” said Ricciardo. “Having been through several regulation changes now, I feel like I’m able to use that energy to help me adapt to new cars, new ways of driving and ultimately new ways of racing.
These new cars will feel very different to the previous eras I’ve driven, but I’m hopeful that will come with closer racing and more opportunities to get to the front of the pack.
“Heading into my second year with McLaren feels great and I feel like we learned a lot as a team in 2021, which will help us as we take on this new challenge. Securing the win in Monza was a real highlight of my career, but that’s all in the past now, and I’ll be giving it everything to secure more moments like that for the team throughout the 2022 season.”
Technical Director James Key highlighted the immense challenge the new regulations had on designing the new car said “A new era of regulations is always an exciting moment in our sport. With it comes the potential to totally re-evaluate the philosophy of our package, and these rule changes are no different.
“With a blank sheet of paper, the team here at McLaren have been working hard to establish a competitive platform for this and future seasons. However, we know we’ve only just begun to unlock performance from this regulation set, and that one of the key features of the 2022 season will be the intense development war as teams assess each other’s designs and innovate new ways of generating downforce through ground-effect.
Key also shared his hopes for closer racing now that ground-effect is back in the sport for the first time since the 1980, also praising the team for the challenges developing the car during the pandemic: “It’s been some time since ground-effect had such a predominant role in Formula 1, but it provides a great potential to create closer and more exciting racing with these new regulations.”
“The team at Woking have been working round the clock to design, produce and assemble this car, under tricky conditions over the last year, as the world still battles the risks posed by covid-19. I’m immensely proud of how the team have risen to this challenge in a safe yet effective manner. Now we put the fruits of their labours onto the track and take the development battle to the rest of the grid.”
Team Principal Andreas Siedl is confident of the team’s prospects in 2022, highlighting what he sees as a strong driver line up.
“Together, Lando and Daniel comprise one of the most competitive driver line-ups in the sport” Siedl said. “We can’t wait to see what they can do with the MCL36, into which every member of the team in Woking has poured enormous amounts of effort, passion and determination.
We hope that our incredible fans will join us in cheering on Lando, Daniel and the MCL36 throughout the season and the support we feel around the world is truly inspiring for us.
Siedl also shared his objectives for 2022, hoping Mclaren can continue it’s push to the front of the grid: “Our objective for this season is clear and consistent with that of previous years: we want to further close the gap to the front of the pack. At the same time, we know and respect the tough competition we’ll face and have a realistic view of where we are on our journey.
We’re working through a package of key infrastructure investments, which will provide us with the tools required to compete at the top of our sport when they come online”.
