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McLAREN P1 Makes a Cameo Appearance

The latest chapter in the story of McLaren Automotive, the McLaren P1^TM, made a brief appearance this morning at the McLaren Technology Centre, driven by none other than 2009 Formula 1 World Champion Jenson Button. This formed part of the launch event for the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes 2013 Formula 1^TM challenger, the MP4-28.

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes driver Sergio ‘Checo' Perez arrived at the event in a 12C Spider finished in heritage McLaren Orange, while his teammate followed closely behind in a camouflaged XP prototype version of the McLaren P1^TM. These two models brought proceedings fully up-to-date as they joined a spectacular grid of racing cars showcasing the brand's history, and kicked off a year of 50th anniversary celebrations.

The parade brought to life a string of race- and championship-winning McLarens from across the decades, including 1970s M8D CanAm sportscar, Emerson Fittipaldi's iconic 1974 M23, Ayrton Senna's dominant 1988 MP4/4, our 1995 Le Mans-winning F1 GTR, Mika Hakkinen's MP4-13 car from 1998, and the most recent championship winning car to wear the McLaren badge, the MP4-23 from 2008.

About McLaren Automotive:

McLaren Automotive is a British manufacturer of luxury, high-performance sports cars, located at the McLaren Technology Centre (MTC) in Woking, Surrey.

Following the company's global launch in 2010, McLaren Automotive launched the groundbreaking 12C and 12C Spider and, in keeping with its plan to introduce a new model each year, recently unveiled the McLaren P1^TM at the Paris Motor Show. The brand continues to expand, operating through a dedicated global network of retailers in every major automotive market.

McLaren Automotive Technical Partners

In the development, engineering and manufacture of its range of innovative and highly acclaimed sports cars, McLaren Automotive has partnered with world leading companies to provide specialist expertise and technology. These include Akebono, AkzoNobel, ExxonMobil and Pirelli.

Designed for the track; Developed for the road

The connection between Formula 1 and road cars at McLaren is a natural process of experience, knowledge, principles and process transfer. Through the integration of 50 years of Formula 1 racing expertise and knowledge, and 20 years of heritage in producing landmark sports cars, McLaren Automotive designs, develops and builds the technologically advanced, groundbreaking and no compromise 12C and 12C Spider.

McLaren has pioneered the use of carbon fibre in vehicle production over the past 30 years, and since introducing a carbon chassis into racing and road cars with the 1981 McLaren MP4/1 and 1993 McLaren F1 respectively, McLaren has not built a car without a carbon fibre chassis.