Mclaren MP4-23

Tis the best time of the year for me being a petrolhead, the new f1 season is fast approaching, and all the competing teams are on the new car launch bandwagon. Most teams launching their new machines in the next week or so, one that my eye is on is the new Hamiltonless Mclaren Mercedes, should be a fantastic car to witness battling it out on the circuits against the Red Bulls and Ferraris etc.

Even better is the news of the development of the new engine rulings for 2014, 1.6lt V6 turbos coming back into the series, that'll be an eye opener for fuel economy during the races :

Anyway a quick description of the car pictured :

The McLaren MP4-23 was Vodafone McLaren-Mercedes' Formula One car for the 2008 Formula One season. It was revealed at Mercedes-Benz's motor sport museum in Stuttgart on 7 January 2008, and it had its first on-track appearance at Jerez in Spain on 9 January. The car won the 2008 World Driver's Championship in the hands of Lewis Hamilton, but finished 2nd in the constructor's championship which was won by Ferrari. The car, along with its rivals during the season marked the end of an era of complex aerodynamic appendages on the bodywork, which would be banned for the 2009 season.

Following the 2007 Formula One espionage controversy the MP4-23 was subject to FIA inspection before the start of the 2008 season, to determine if any Ferrari intellectual property was on the car. After an admission that the Ferrari information was disseminated more widely throughout the team than was originally thought and apology by McLaren on 13 December 2007, and a pledge that measures would be taken to rectify the situation, the FIA decided that there was no need for a formal hearing and the matter was considered closed.

Revisions from the MP4-22 include a longer wheel-base, the removal of the "bullhorns" from the airbox and a new rear wing which differs both in main profile and its endplates. In the pre-German Grand Prix testing, the car was run with a "shark fin" engine cover, as sported by cars such as the Renault R28 and the Red Bull RB4, but the team did not permanently run it.

At the 2008 Hungarian Grand Prix, some new aerodynamic parts were added, including "dumbo wings", similar to those used by Honda on the RA108, which were temporarily removed at the Italian Grand Prix but reinstated for the rest of the season.

The MP4-23 was succeeded by the MP4-24.