Winning streak

This is the car McLaren fans have waited over a decade to see: the true successor to the famed P1, the car that did more than any other to establish the then fledgling McLaren Automotive as a genuine and credible rival to Ferrari. Maranello is known to be on the point of unveiling its successor to the LaFerrari but while we wait, let’s take a long, hard look at the most powerful and quickest McLaren road car of them all: the W1. A car, not a London postal district.

Quickest? Though the W1 will not reach a single customer’s hands until 2026, prototypes are already lapping McLaren’s benchmark Nardo handling tracks three seconds faster than the best times ever recorded for the previous fastest, the now near seven-year-old Senna. So what, exactly, is the W1?

It’s most easily understood if you think of it simply as described: the car the P1 would be today if the technology and skills had been available at the time. Philosophically, in the intention to provide the best possible driving experience on both road and track they are cut from the same cloth. Technically, both have carbon fibre tubs and bodywork; both have twin-turbo V8 engines boosted by an electric motor; both make extensive use of active aerodynamics; both use suspension systems that allow the car to be lowered to race track height, massively increasing spring rate and downforce. Neither has a central driving position.