WOKING, England (PSF) — As McLaren celebrates 60 years since James McLaren founded the team, they become the sixth team on the grid to reveal their challenger for the 2023 F1 season. Named to commemorate the teams 60 year history, the MCL60 will hold one of the more intriguing driver lineups these season. This includes McLaren golden boy Lando Norris who returns for his fifth season with the team still searching for his first race win. Norris will partner highly touted Aussie rookie Oscar Piastri. After winning the Formula 3 title in 2020 and the Formula 2 title in 2021 the grid was still secured for the 2022 season, so he opted to remain take a reserve role with Alpine as he was apart of their driver academy. But after a silly season on the F1 grid that saw Sebastian Vettel retire and Fernando Alonso announcing he was going to leave Alpine for that Aston Martin season for the 2023 season, Alpine announced that Oscar Piastri would drive for them the next season unbeknownst to Piastri. This rubbed Piastri the wrong way and he announced the same day as the Alpine announcement that he will not be racing for Alpine in 2023. McLaren saw the opportunity and essentially forced veteran Daniel Ricciardo out of the team, and a couple days later Piastri was announced to drive for McLaren in 2023.

The livery from last year’s MCL36 to this year’s MCL60 retains the core color scheme of orange, light blue, and black. Yet the black is more prominent this season on the the side of the car, while the blue is not featured as much. An interesting feature to this season’s car is the 60 decal right next to the rear suspension, obviously to recognize the team’s 60 year history. McLaren has also replaced the large Android logo on the top of the engine cover with a large Google Chrome logo. We saw the creative partnership last season with the Google Chrome colors in a ring on the wheel covers which the team has brought back for this season.

Looking at the structure of the MCL60, it seems to be very similar to last season’s championship winning RB18 from Red Bull. The car is much leaner with the inlets as well as the front wing remaining simple. This is likely an attempt by McLaren to increase the car’s performance in the slow corners which is where Red Bull excelled in all of last season. The team will also look to make improvements in drag and traction which were two of the main issues for the team last season. This car, if it meets expectations, should rival Alpine to be the team that dominates the midfield taking that next step towards becoming a team that can fight for wins once again.

While I am not a fan of the look of the McLaren, and haven’t been for quite some time, the team remains a fan favorite for many Formula One fans as long as Lando Norris is the one driving the car. His vibrant personality and comical online presence draws many to not just himself, but the team. Maybe the MCL60 can be the car that gets him across the line in P1 for the first time in Formula One.