When McLaren will reveal its actual 2024 F1 car

McLaren has revealed the livery it will use during the 2024 Formula 1 season - but when will we see the actual car?

The team made a surprise early reveal of its 2024 livery on Tuesday, releasing images of the new livery on a car it won't use this year.

McLaren will hold its actual car launch for the MCL38 on February 14, exactly one week before the start of pre-season testing in Bahrain - by which the MCL38 will likely have already changed somewhat.

During the early livery launch, McLaren boss Andrea Stella listed improving the driveability of the car - Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri had to get the car to a peril-filled knife-edge when at the limit last year - as one of the key priorities.

"Some of the benefits may be embedded onto the launch car but actually some of the projects belong to a workstream that may land trackside with some other developments [later]," Stella said.

"Some things require a few months to be implemented."

The MCL38 is the first McLaren to be developed using the team's new windtunnel. Development of the 2024 car has taken place exclusively with that windtunnel since September last year.

The arrivals of technical aces David Sanchez (from Ferrari) and Rob Marshall (from Red Bull) in January are too early to impact the 2024 car - but they have started integrating into Andrea Stella's technical leadership structure.

“After a busy and productive off-season, we head into 2024 with our sights set on continuing our journey towards the front of the grid," Stella said.

"Last year allowed the team to set a strong foundation for the future through continued hard work, commitment, effort and talent.

“With our new infrastructure upgrades and people in place, we must continue to elevate our standards and incorporate high performance in everything we do."

2024 launches so far