McLaren will not take part in the first day of Formula 1 pre-season testing at Barcelona next week and may even delay running its new car for the first time until day three.
There are three tests this year due to the introduction of brand new car and engine rules, with the first taking place at Barcelona across five days and teams being able to run on a maximum of three of them.
Unlike most other teams, McLaren will not shake its car down before the test, so its first day of testing next week will be the first time it has run its car on-track at all - and that is set to be on either Tuesday or even Wednesday.
Wednesday would be the latest McLaren could start and still be able to complete three days of running.
Team principal Andrea Stella said its programme is "on plan" and McLaren has been "ambitious" with its car but the extent of the rule changes is such that "you also have to be cautious to make sure that you actually have a car, that you realise it in time, that you build it in time".
The MCL40 is currently in Austria, running on the dynos at engineering specialist AVL, which McLaren uses to sign off systems more confidently than using the facilities it has at its own base.
"That's where the car is at the moment, and then the car will be in Barcelona for the shakedown on track - this will happen directly at the test," said Stella.
"We plan to start testing either in day two or day three, so we will not be testing on day one, we wanted to give ourselves as much time as possible for development."
McLaren is taking a very different approach to most other teams.
Audi confirmed this week it intends to be ready to run at 9am on the opening day of the test and have as much flexibility as possible for the rest of the week, a result of already shaking its car down almost two weeks ago at Barcelona and signing off a more basic initial version to prioritise reliability for its first pre-season as a works team.
Cadillac, Racing Bulls, Alpine, Mercedes and Ferrari have also either completed shakedowns already or will have by the end of this week.
But McLaren, which won both the drivers' and constructors' championships last year, has prioritised launching its car in the most advanced state it can.
"This was always going to be plan A," Stella insisted. "There's so much of a change that we don't need to be necessarily the first on track.
"We wanted to give as much time as possible for development, because every day of development, every day of design, was adding a little bit of performance.
"If you are early on track, you will have the reassurance of knowing what you need to know as soon as possible.
"But at the same time, it means you might have committed to the design and the realisation of the car relatively early, so you will have compromised against development time and ultimate performance.
"Obviously there will be updates pretty much for every car between testing and the first race. But we thought that, in the economy of a season, it was important to start and launch the car in the most competitive package and configuration.
"That's why we pushed all the timing to the limit, but within a very manageable limit.
"We didn't feel any urge to plan for testing on day one."
The success McLaren achieved by the end of the last ruleset - which it started on the back foot - inevitably means it starts the season as an assumed favourite even though there is so much uncertainty over the pecking order given the extent of the rule changes.
Stella said the changes are "almost unprecedented" and the biggest redesign for a new car project he has been part of.
In anticipation of that, McLaren stopped development of its 2025 car much earlier than championship rival Red Bull last year, as it felt this gave it the best chance of being competitive from the start of the new rules.
Stella claimed the team's attitude is simply "we will see where we are". He backs the pedigree of the technical organisation, which was overhauled just over year into the last set of regulations and is therefore dealing with a brand new set of rules for the first time.
"I can see that the team enters 2026 in terms of competencies, capabilities, organisation, culture, in the strongest position that I could witness since team principal," said Stella.
"Irrespective of where we are in testing or race one, we remain very confident that the wealth of capabilities, competencies, and the way we use them thanks to our organisation and culture, will be a success factor long-term."
