What do the first images of the new McLaren MCL39 hide?

Presentation day on the Silverstone side where McLaren surprised everyone by running the MCL39, its new car for the 2025 season, there. Formula 1. Surprised because the Woking team had not yet announced anything regarding the presentation of the successor to the MCL39, the one that had allowed it to win its first Constructors' title since 1998.

It is Lando Norris, according to the images revealed by McLaren, which had the pleasure of bringing the MCL39 to the track for the first time. A debugging on a wet track and with a camouflage livery. However, this did not prevent the first new features of the latest creation from the English team from being hidden.

New air intake and new pontoon design

Seen from the front, this MCL39 is distinguished from the MCL38 by a different upper air intake. Indeed, this one has been reworked and now appears in a more rounded shape, approaching an oval, unlike the old one which was tighter.

© McLaren

Still from the front, McLaren seems to have opted for a different attachment for the mirrors. According to these first photos, they are fixed on the upper part of the air intake of the pontoon while retaining an attachment point on the cockpit.

The pontoons also seem to have been reworked for this 2025 season. Indeed, they are more imposing, especially at the end. Finally, the air intake of the pontoons seems to take on an "inverted P" shape as was seen on the Mercedes W14 during the 2023 season according to the renderings of formula_aerodynamics.

© McLaren

© McLaren

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