McLaren has revealed images of its 2026 Formula 1 car ahead of its on-track debut at Barcelona this week.
McLaren is skipping the first day of the five-day Barcelona ‘shakedown’ in which teams can run on whichever three days they want to, and it might not even debut until day three on Wednesday.
But on Monday morning ahead of the opening day, when some rivals including Red Bull and Audi are intending to run, McLaren released renders of what it billed as its 2026 car.
It’s likely McLaren has hidden a lot of detail from the renders, which will only be apparent when it runs for the first time at Barcelona on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Its chief designer Rob Marshall said that what actually runs this week will "probably pretty much what we'll bring to the first race", rather than McLaren starting off with a basic car that it intends to upgrade heavily between now and the Australian Grand Prix in March.
Unlike the majority of other teams, the 2026 McLaren hasn’t run on track yet on a filming or shakedown day.
McLaren is using a one-off testing livery at Barcelona before its proper season launch on February 9, where it will showcase its actual 2026 livery.
