At 11AM on the 4th of February in the middle of Berlin, Germany,
the McLaren team launched their brand new 2011 Formula 1 car. McLaren don’t do anything by half-measures either, this wasn’t just going to be a sheet over the top of the car and then a dramatic pull away and reveal so we weren’t disappointed when the wheeled their car into the centre of this open-air gathering with parts missing. It seemed rather odd, yet they still managed to put a bit of theatre into the whole event by having people from the team or members of the public carrying in parts from the boot of their car or from the top floor of an office block. It was pretty comical to watch, however I believe it was a resounding success and proved very well worth the effort. Once all the bits and pieces had been assembled the car looked wonderful, a truly spectacular event which produced one of the best looking cars this season.
The New MP4-26 Look
McLaren have really gone for the added shine with this year’s livery, making the silver extra specially shiny almost on the verge of a chrome effect and the Vodafone advertising has become more prominent than it ever has before. But enough about its colours! We’re more interested in the overall design of the car, yes it looks fantastic and when they showed off the front wing I would have struggled counting the amount of winglets and fins it actually has, I can only hope it does the job that it has been designed to do.
The Ceremony
Once the car had been put together Jenson button and Lewis Hamilton both entered with the two final pieces of the car to complete it, Lewis with the Helmet brace that goes over the driver and Jenson with the Steering wheel. Finally fully assembled the two McLaren drivers gave a brief interview with the host for the unveiling with the CEO of Vodafone Germany operations also there talking about the launch. The two Formula 1 drivers’ champions took turns in handing out signed McLaren caps and signing them. It was a fairly large crowd compared with the other launches and it was mostly fans as opposed to press. I don’t know how well the venue was secured but I’m pretty sure there could have been room for a few more spectators. All we have to wait for now is the next testing session to find out how well that car is going to perform, both Lewis and Jenson seemed very eager to get into the car and start testing as soon as possible. Just a little over 30 days left before the start of the next Formula 1 season, so if you have nothing to do then get yourselves Karting at one of Team-Sports excellent tracks to while away the time.