McLaren Reveals Its 2014 Formula 1 Car – And Guess What I like The Color
McLaren became the first Formula 1 team to fully unveil a 2014 car as it launched the MP4-29 online on Friday.
While Force India and Williams had already given hints of their new designs with computer-generated images, McLaren’s event marked the first proper look a 2014 F1 design.
It featured the anticipated take on the controversial nose design that teams have leaned to under the new regulations, with a narrow protruding section to meet the revised crash test rules without lowering the entire front end as the rulemakers originally envisaged.
The car was unveiled in a plain silver livery with basic MP4-29 branding.
McLaren admitted earlier this week that it would not have a new title sponsor in time for its launch following the loss of Vodafone, but insisted that its overall financial situation was stronger than ever despite the absence of a single headline backer.
The spotlight on McLaren increased on the morning of the launch when news broke that Eric Boullier had left Lotus and was poised to take over from Martin Whitmarsh as team principal at the Woking squad.
Although McLaren made clear that no announcement about its management structure would be made during the MP4-29 event, changes have been anticipated following Ron Dennis’s return to a major role.
McLaren endured one of the least competitive seasons in its history in 2013, failing to achieve a podium finish.
At the end of the year it dropped Sergio Perez after a single season, instead promoting protege and Formula Renault 3.5 champion Kevin Magnussen to the second race seat alongside 2009 world champion Jenson Button.
The team is starting the final year of its Mercedes engine deal, an arrangement that began in 1995, before spearheading Honda’s F1 return in 2015.
MyTake
Today there are some bigs stories in the news cycle and the temptation was great to cover one of those instead. However, how could I pick any other news item to talk about but the unveiling of McLaren International’s 2014 challenger. Especially because I think it looks fantastic. If you recall I was the one who only a couple of days ago said the grey and silver was played out. Wrong. Just for the record grey and all of it’s variations (I possess cool gray Ad Markers 1-10 and super blk as well) is probably my favorite color although some might have an augment against me on the color part.
I still think orange would have be a master stroke, but Ron Dennis and company have done themselves no wrong in this new livery. As for the overall design of the car, It looks great and I think most fans will all get over the wired protruding nose in front. Remember how everyone was repulsed a few years ago when the regulations dictated a change to the width of the front wing and the height of the rear wing. Fans went on for days how ugly they made the cars look. However that passed and the last few years Formula 1 cars have looked better than ever.
By the way Lotus has released some graphic renderings of their interpretation of the rule changes and how they have decided to treat the nose cone at the point of contact with the front wing. I like it quite a bit. I have not gone too into detail about the MP4-29, nor will I for any other the other new cars, except Ferrari and Mercedes. I will be writing a more detailed opinion of the design, livery, what I notice, and how both of these constructors interpretations will effect the cars performance, not that I’m and expert at F1 car design or divination mine you, but I will be weighing in none the less. -jp- 😉
AmerF1can 