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McLaren's new F1 car is love at first sight for driver Carlos Sainz

WOKING — Spanish driver Carlos Sainz got into the Valentine's Day spirit by declaring love at first sight on Thursday as McLaren showed off its 2019 Formula One car and lineup. The blue and papaya orange MCL34 car was unveiled by 34 team employees at the former champions' Woking headquarters before Sainz and 19-year-old British rookie teammate Lando Norris stepped up to admire it. "I like the new colors. My teammate, I'll see in a couple of months if I like him," joked Sainz, 24, who has joined from Renault. The pair, replacing Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne, are McLaren's first all-new driver lineup in 12 years, and former reserve Norris, 19, is the Renault-powered team's youngest ever driver. "I've got a lot to live up to," said the teenager. "There is a lot on my shoulders, a lot of people relying on myself and Carlos." This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. McLaren, the once-dominant team of champions like Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost, has not won a race since 2012 or a championship since Lewis Hamilton's first in 2008. It finished sixth overall last year, an improvement on three years with Honda in which McLaren plumbed the depths of disappointment. The overall position was flattered, however, by Force India being stripped of all its points and being replaced by Racing Point, and McLaren still have a long way to go to catch the sport's top manufacturer teams. Team boss Zak Brown, who has brought in new sponsors and presided over a management shakeup that saw Racing Director Eric Boullier leave last year, recognized it would be a long road back from sixth place. "We're in a rebuilding process and it's going to be a journey," said the American, who will have James Key joining as technical head later in the year after a long 'gardening leave' from Toro Rosso. Former Porsche Le Mans team boss Andreas Siedl will join as managing director on May 1.

McLaren rolls out new 650S en route to Geneva

There are a lot of good things to be said about the McLaren MP4-12C. It is, after all, one of the most thoroughly capable supercars on the market, and it's served as a fitting launch pad for the new McLaren Automotive operation. What the 12C has never had, however, is an engaging name or a distinctive design. But the latter appears to be something Woking is out to fix with the new 650S. Based on the 12C, the 650S incorporates a number of key improvements over its progenitor – some of which you can see and some of which you can't. The new front end takes its cues from the P1, with a better integrated splitter and LED headlamps, while the rear bumper takes its inspiration from the company's 12C GT3 racing model. The side intakes are new, and the rear wing has been optimized to help deliver 24-percent more downforce at speed. Five-spoke alloys (of curiously unspecified diameter) are wrapped in special Pirelli P Zero Corsa MC1 rubber. As expected, underneath the revised sheetmetal sits a retuned version of McLaren's ubiquitous 3.8-liter twin-turbo V8 now producing (as the name suggests) 650 metric horsepower (641 hp by our standards). The ProActive Chassis Control system has also been recalibrated and allows the driver to adjust suspension settings independent of engine response. McLaren has not released performance figures for the 650S, but you can expect the increased power and improved aero to give shave a tenth or two off the 0-60 time – enough to drop it below the 3-second mark. The updated cabin is fitted with all the bells and whistles – from satellite radio and navigation to smartphone integration – and buyers will be able to opt for fixed carbon racing buckets, electric steering column adjustment, rear camera and more. Most crucially, the 650S will launch at next month's Geneva Motor Show in both coupe and hardtop convertible versions right from the get-go, ostensibly making this an apt replacement for the entire MP4-12C line. However, as you can see from the press release below, McLaren insists that it will continue offering the 12C alongside the 650S, at least for the time being. Assuming the premium for the upgraded model isn't too ludicrous, we can't imagine many buyers going for the older model though.

Volkswagen Group names Paefgen head of classics program

You may remember the name Franz-Josef Paefgen. Until recently, the German engineer and executive was head of both Bentley and Bugatti. Before that he was chief executive of Audi, after working for several years at Ford. He technically "retired" earlier this year, but like the cars he helped create, an executive like Paefgen could never really retire. So it should come as little surprise that the Volkswagen Group has named Dr. Paefgen head of its Classic program.
In his new capacity, Paefgen will oversee the historic automobile activities of the entire VW Group, including those of Volkswagen, Seat, Skoda, Audi, Lamborghini, and of course Bentley and Bugatti. It strikes us as a suitable semi-retirement for the man responsible in no small part for the Bugatti Veyron and Bentley Mulsanne, to name just two, and who was decorated in 2006 by the ACO as the "Spirit of Le Mans" for his contribution to endurance racing. Read the official announcement after the break.