McLaren’s 2012 F1 car will be ready for the first test of 2012, the team have confirmed.
The MP4-27 will be launched on February 1st, prior to the beginning of testing at Jerez.
McLaren have not yet confirmed where the launch will be held.
Sauber have previously confirmed their new car will be ready for the first test, but Mercedes’ W03 won’t.
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Image © McLaren
din
19th December 2011, 11:53
So its Redbull, Ferrari, McLaren and Sauber for the first test for now. I guess Caterham might join them as well since they have already passed the crash test.
Eggry (@eggry)
20th December 2011, 7:40
Caterham is quite likely. but Mercedes is…
MylesW (@mpw1985)
19th December 2011, 11:54
Just curious, but isn’t the MP4-27 the name of McLaren’s new road car? I assumed they’d be naming the F1 car something different in light of that.
Bendanarama (@bendana)
19th December 2011, 11:56
No, that’s the MP4-12C. Very catchy name for a road car, I’m sure we can all agree.
MylesW (@mpw1985)
19th December 2011, 11:58
No, I mean their NEW road car, the successor/addition to the MP4-12C
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
19th December 2011, 12:12
Nope, the successor to the MP4-12C is only known by the internal designation “P12”.
Felix Hemsted (@demos12)
19th December 2011, 14:05
maybe they plan on mass-producing there new car? (fingers crossed :))
Eggry (@eggry)
20th December 2011, 7:42
actually it’s not successor of MP4-12C. It would be different line-up from MP4-12C. P12 is supposed to be the real Mclaren F1 successor.
GeeMac (@geemac)
19th December 2011, 12:16
They’ve only just released teh MP4-12C and they are already working on it’s successor?!
deanmachine (@deanmachine)
19th December 2011, 12:25
It’s more of an upmarket “Enzo” type car designed to replace the F1 if anything, just an addition to the range rather than a successor.
Adrian J (@adrian-j)
19th December 2011, 17:15
They’re planning on having 3 cars out:
The MP4-12C, a hypercar (currently codenamed P12) and a 911 aimed “baby-mclaren” (currently codenamed P13)…
…and you can bet they’re already planning the successor to the MP4-12C, that’s how car companies work…
Alex W
19th December 2011, 23:41
They also have new F1GT’s instock, but you must win 3 WDC with Mclaren before you can purchase!
Eggry (@eggry)
20th December 2011, 7:46
MP4-12C is Mclaren’s F430. P12 is Mclaren’s Enzo.
BasCB (@bascb)
21st December 2011, 20:31
Thats automotive for you @geemac! It takes about 2-3 years for big companies to design the car and another 6-9 months to get up to production volumes.
Just a relatively small manufacturer like Skoda (the ones “next door” for me) currently have 1 new models that went into production this year, a further 2 for next year and they are planning on doing this rate for the next few years to keep the fresh models in.
McLaren actually plans to have 3 cars longer term. The entry model – 150.000 MP4-12C, then the top model supercar (the P12 project, meant to be the “real” successor of the F1) and a car to slot somewhere in between.
John H (@john-h)
19th December 2011, 12:17
Yes you’re right. Perhaps this new F1 car is going to be the MP4-28 then?
A little bit strange to be honest.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
19th December 2011, 12:33
The information from McLaren is that their next F1 car will be called the MP4-27. There’s nothing in it about their road car programme. Hence why the article is written as it is.
John H (@john-h)
19th December 2011, 13:49
My bad. Just a combination of rubbish journalism at autoblog and my stupidity.
Dragon (@dragon)
20th December 2011, 14:17
Look up autoblog’s clutchless shifting video on youtube as to why you should never trust ANYTHING from them. There is so much fail in that video it’s hard to believe it’s not a joke!
Mike (@mike)
19th December 2011, 12:30
As I understand it that was a misunderstanding on the part of some media people, who misunderstood the Next F1 cars designation, the MP4-27, to be the designation of the next road car.
MylesW (@mpw1985)
19th December 2011, 12:53
@Mike
That makes much more sense. Every time I search “MP4-27”, there is only information discussing the next road-car model, but it was never very concrete or detailed. I kind of assumed it may have been a mistake, as it seemed odd that Mclaren would “skip” a model designation for their F1 car
TimG (@timg)
19th December 2011, 13:43
It wouldn’t have been unprecedented. The likes of Lotus and Brabham awarded model numbers sequentially, without distinuishing between racing cars of different series and road cars.
For example, the Lotus 49 was an F1 chassis, the 50 was a four seat Elan, 51 was a Formula Ford chassis, 52 the prototype Europa, 53 an unraced sports racer, 54 the production Europa, 55 an F3 chassis and 56 was an Indycar.
Granted, it’s probably more confusing than the system that McLaren, Red Bull, Mercedes et al currently use (although no worse than Ferrari’s, which seem to be picked almost at random), but an interesting hark back to the days when F1 teams competed across a wider ranger of categories.
Oscar Becker (@super_swede_96)
19th December 2011, 15:25
McLaren’s 2012 F1 car will be called the MP4-27A
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F1_2012#Signed_teams_and_drivers
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
19th December 2011, 15:30
I doubt the ‘A’ will make it over to the finished car.
Fixy (@)
19th December 2011, 17:16
@super_swede_96 now changed to just “MP4-27”. This is how it should be.
Gold Leaf
19th December 2011, 21:02
All McLaren race-cars have, since the very start, carried an alphabetical suffix.
It is used on the drawings and the chassis plates, but unless a subsequent specification car ever actually showed-up, then the identifier can and is usually dispensed with. Which is why the MP4-26 was known as that and not 26A, and why next years car is the 27.
You need to go back to a 19B and a 17D to find its application. Before that 10B, 10C and before that a MP4/6B. They managed to get up to E on the MP4/1
Modern F1 designs, with little carry over from previous season, and restrictive rules for homologation and crash-tests probably make a genuine B spec highly unlikely nowadays, but nothing wrong with maintaining a tradition – The first McLaren was 1966’s M2B, a development of the test car, the M2A.
Gotta say, there does seem to be a lot of unnecessary confusion in this thread over something one would have presumed to be kinda straightforward.
There have been an awful lot of MP4s built over the decades, and in that time the program of numerical sequencing has been reliably consistent.
Chris Goldsmith
19th December 2011, 12:38
Man, where did 2011 go, anyway? It only seems like a few weeks ago I was watching McLaren mechanics putting together the MP4-26 in the middle of a street at its launch, and reading people on twitter saying “oooh where’s the exhaust!?”.
Nothing ever stands still in F1..
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
19th December 2011, 13:02
And you just know that when it hits Jerez it will have already gone various updates.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
19th December 2011, 13:02
*undergone
Rucknar (@superted666)
19th December 2011, 13:28
That was weird and awkward. Let’s hope the whole thing works better this time around!
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
19th December 2011, 13:01
Feb 1st. Wow. I only have to get through January before I get to see a new F1 car.
If it’s a UK launch, and accessible, I might try and go.
F1 Novice
19th December 2011, 14:01
…… and I will be at Jerez :)
guido (@guidof1)
19th December 2011, 15:31
and I will be at the Barcelona tests !! twice!! its amazing how lucky we are over here!
Sounds like the right decision to have the car up and running from the very first test. last year mclaren said they didnt want to rush their preparation as they intended to collect as much data as possible, then it turned out they couldnt get together their “octopus sytem”(or whatever) and ended up just pulling a red bull like exhaust-diffuser at the last second…
hopefully we will get to see a fiercer battle at melbourne already
Adrian J (@adrian-j)
19th December 2011, 17:10
Well, some will, the others will get to watch highlights of it….
Mads (@mads)
19th December 2011, 17:39
@guidof1
How do you get to the test at barcelona? Well I can figure out how to get there, but do you have to know Mr. Ecclestone or pay a billion trillion euros to be allowed in there or how does it work?
guido (@guidof1)
19th December 2011, 18:53
no, unfortunately im not friends with bernie. i wish!
you just turn up, find the ticket office and buy yours. last year it was only 15euros on saturdays and sundays, and 10euros from mon to fri. they normally start at 9 in the morning then stop at 1 for lunch and get back at 2 and run until 5pm. its cold and not too bright but it all makes a very special atmosphere. if you are lucky and teams are running reliably you get to see maybe 60 or 70 laps. its well worth it. i strongly recommend it
Mads (@mads)
19th December 2011, 22:24
@guidof1
For that price it ain’t too bad.
As it is testing do you know if there are any restrictions on camera equipment you can bring with you?
Fixy (@)
19th December 2011, 17:18
Seems reasonable, considering they were almost running out of time to fix the exhaust of the MP4-26 before the season started. In case they mess something up, they have time to repair it.
west (@west)
19th December 2011, 17:32
The new maclaren f1 car is MP4-27 and the road car will be MP4/27A this is from gineva motor show.
Eggry (@eggry)
20th December 2011, 7:46
Good. I wonder they would stick with their exotic sidepod.