McLaren-Mercedes unveiled their 2008 challenger, the MP4-23, in Stuttgart on Monday.
Upgrades planned ahead of March's Australian Grand Prix
McLaren-Mercedes have unveiled their 2008 car, the MP4-23, in Stuttgart.
Star driver Lewis Hamilton, who celebrates his 23rd birthday on Monday, was on hand for the unveiling, together with new team-mate Heikki Kovalainen and McLaren team boss Ron Dennis.
More than 400 members of the media and other guests also packed the Mercedes-Benz Museum, along with over 700 Mercedes-Benz employees from the nearby manufacturing plant Stuttgart-Untertürkheim.
Evolution
The new car, which has already spent over 3000 hours being developed in the wind tunnel, is an evolution of last year's MP4-22 and, as such, there is currently little significant visual difference.
However, the team did announce that between now and the first race of the season, the Australian Grand Prix on March 16th, there are planned upgrades on most of the aerodynamic surfaces, wings, bodywork, bargeboards and additional bodywork components.
"Development of the MP4-23 began in earnest 10 months ago and everyone in Woking, Brixworth and Stuttgart have worked very hard during the last few weeks, and particularly over the Christmas period, to make today's presentation here in Stuttgart happen," said McLaren CEO Martin Whitmarsh.
"In addition we have continued to benefit from tremendous support from all of our Technology Partners. We are confident, based upon the simulation and analysis which has been an integral part of the development process, that the MP4-23 represents a step forward.
"Of course we will continue to develop the car from now until the first race in Australia and see whether we have done enough to be at the level where we want to compete this coming season.
"From today we have 68 working days until the Australian GP, and everybody within the team is highly motivated to travel to Melbourne with the most competitive package possible."
Challenge
Dennis added that he was also looking forward to seeing McLaren challenge for the drivers' and constructors' titles in 2008.
Long-time leader Hamilton missed out on the former by just one point last season, while the team were disqualified from the Constructors' Championship after they were found to have received confidential information belonging to rivals Ferrari.
"The ultimate goal of the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team is to fight for both the Drivers' and Constructors' World Championships. We are looking forward to another competitive season as we look to build on the momentum of last year," Dennis said.
"Every single member of the team has worked extremely hard since the end of the 2007 season to get the MP4-23 on track as soon as possible, to ensure we have the maximum amount of testing time available before the cars leave for Australia."
Because of last season's disqualifications, Hamilton and Kovalainen will respectively race cars numbered 22 and 23 this season.
