McLaren finalises F1 2026 launch plans with Bahrain reveal

McLaren is the 11th and final team to confirm its launch date for the F1 2026 season.

The team’s latest car will be revealed in Bahrain on February 9.

McLaren announces launch date for F1 2026

McLaren has confirmed when it will unveil its car for the F1 2026 season as it prepares to defend the titles it claimed last year.

The Woking-based outfit is the final team on the grid to announce details of its launch plans for the 2026 campaign.

McLaren confirmed on Friday evening that its new challenger will be presented on Monday February 9 at the Bahrain International Circuit, shortly before the first of two three-day pre-season tests at the venue.

The confirmation came on the same day that the first 2026 car took to the track for the first time, with the newly-renamed Audi (formerly Sauber) heading to Barcelona for a closed-door filming day.

Bahrain’s sovereign wealth fund, Mumtalakat Holding Company, owns 100 per cent of the McLaren Group, which includes the McLaren Racing company, which houses the F1 team.

McLaren’s confirmed launch date coincides with the launch of the first Adrian Newey-penned Aston Martin.

More on F1 2026’s pre-season

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As reported by PlanetF1.com last month, McLaren took the unusual step last year of auctioning its 2026 car before it even took to the track.

The car, named the MCL40A, was sold for $11,480,000 at the 2025 season finale in Abu Dhabi, making it the sixth-most expensive F1 car to be sold at auction.

The winning bidder will receive the 2026 car in the first quarter of 2028, with McLaren set to provide a showcar of its title-winning 2025 machine in the meantime.

McLaren heads into the new season as the reigning constructors’ champion for a second consecutive year, having secured titles in both 2024 and 2025 under different circumstances.

In 2024, the team edged Ferrari by a slender 14-point margin in a closely fought championship battle.

Last season, however, McLaren was in a class of its own, dominating the field and finishing a commanding 364 points clear of Mercedes, its nearest rival.

The team also celebrated a landmark achievement in the Drivers’ Championship, with Lando Norris claiming his first world title and McLaren’s first since Lewis Hamilton in 2008.

Norris sealed the title in dramatic fashion, beating Red Bull’s Max Verstappen by just two points after a tense season finale.

Norris’ team-mate Oscar Piastri, who led the championship for much of the year, ultimately finished third, 13 points adrift of the British driver.

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