On Monday, McLaren took its 2022 championship contender, the MCL36, out onto the track at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for the first time ahead of the pre-season test.
McLaren’s 2022 Formula 1 car, the MCL36 has made its track debut at the famous Catalunya circuit in Barcelona as part of a shakedown filming day.
McLaren’s new MCL36, which was unveiled on February 11th at its Woking headquarters, hit the circuit for the first time on Monday afternoon, just two days prior to the start of the official pre-season test at the same track.
McLaren is the latest team to conduct a shakedown, and it comes just hours after Haas’ new VF-22 made its on-track premiere around the Spanish Grand Prix venue earlier in the day, adding to Mercedes-Benz, Red Bull, Ferrari, AlphaTauri, Aston Martin, Williams, and Alfa Romeo as the teams that have completed a shakedown so far.
Outside of official sessions, teams are allowed to run their cars twice a year; however, each run is limited to 100 kilometers and must utilize Pirelli’s demo tyres.
This is why McLaren has used one of its two filming days for the 2022 season to offer its new car a brief 100-kilometer test run as to carry out preliminary system checks.
Lando Norris was the first of the McLaren drivers to test the all new MCL36 as his teammate Daniel Ricciardo is yet to sample the new machinery as they prepare for the three-day Barcelona test scheduled to begin on Wednesday.
A second pre-season test is scheduled for March 10-12 in Bahrain, ahead of the season-opening race at Sakhir on March 20.
Alpine will be the ninth team to debut their 2022 car in Paris on Monday evening, leaving Alfa Romeo as the only team yet to reveal its new livery on February 27.
