McLaren plans MCL36 filming day debut ‘very close’ to first test

McLaren unveiled its new car for the 2022 season in a launch at its Woking headquarters on Friday, sporting a revised aerodynamic design and a tweaked papaya and blue livery.

It was only the second team after Aston Martin to provide a true look at what the 2022 grid will look like by presenting a physical car. Haas opted to reveal its new model via renders, while Red Bull used a show car to present its 2022 livery.

Aston Martin followed its launch on Thursday by giving the AMR22 car its first on-track runout on Friday, completing a filming day at Silverstone.

Teams typically use one of their two permitted filming days for each year ahead of testing as a first shakedown before the start of official on-track running.

Asked by Autosport about McLaren’s plan to give the MCL36 a first run-out, team principal Andreas Seidl set a target for just prior to the first Barcelona test.

“Similar to probably every other team, we’re also planning to do a filming day very close to the start of the official test in Barcelona,” said Seidl.

“That’s in the schedule. [We] still have a lot of boxes to tick in the next week to be finally ready for that.

“But with the great work everyone is putting in under the leadership of Piers [Thynne], James [Key] and Andrea [Stella], I’m absolutely confident that we’ll be ready.”

Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren MCL36

Photo by: McLaren

Filming days are limited to 100km, meaning McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo will get their first extended running in the new car in the opening test from 23-25 February.

McLaren technical director James Key felt the team could be “proud of presenting a real car” at the launch, and that while it was the version that would be taken to Barcelona, some elements had been hidden “for obvious reasons”.

“There are some sensitive areas, but a lot more will be seen when we’re running the car,” said Key.

“As far as the development plan is concerned, like every team, I’m sure we have development steps to come early on because we’re still very much in the leaning process at this stage.

“The development rate and the proactivity that everyone is showing to find that next step is really strong. So we’ll be bringing some updates to Bahrain. And then the next tranche of those is already in process now.

“You’ll see the car change, but I’m sure everyone’s car is going to change.”