McLaren unveils the successor to two of its supercar offerings, the McLaren F1 and McLaren P1, with the new W1. The W1 name celebrates McLaren’s World Championship mindset, with the date of the public reveal of the car was also chosen with this in mind: 6 October 2024 is the 50th anniversary of Emerson Fittipaldi sealing McLaren’s first Formula 1 Drivers and Constructors World Championships.
The ultimate expression of a real supercar, the new W1 has been created according to the McLaren ethos of class-leading performance, informed by the core principles that underpin every McLaren supercar: epic power applied through cutting-edge aerodynamics and lightweight chassis technologies; the highest levels of dynamic excellence and the purest driver connection; the perfect driver environment, for all driving situations; and awe-inspiring visual and aural drama.
The spine-tingling driver enjoyment ensured by the W1’s revolutionary new high-downforce, low- drag, ground-effect aerodynamics design is further enhanced by the unique transformation process from Road mode to Race mode for track driving: W1’s ride height lowers (by 37mm at the front and 17mm at the rear) and a heave system stiffens the suspension. Front and rear active wings are deployed, with the McLaren Active Long Tail extending rearwards by up to 300mm to assist in generating the 1,000kg of downforce available in W1.
The all-new MHP-8 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 engine that debuts in W1 is coupled with a power-dense E-module to deliver scintillating speed. The epic power of this all-new 1275PS High-Performance Hybrid powertrain and McLaren’s relentless dedication to lightweight engineering has resulted in levels of performance previously only attainable by track-only supercars and race cars.