Formula 1

New McLaren to debut this weekend

The development McLaren MP4-19B will debut at the French Grand Prix this weekend after intensive test sessions recently. The current MP4-19 has been an uncompetitive car and the drivers are keen to see the back of it. Some team members had hoped to ...

Published: Jul 1, 2004, 7:50 PM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

The development McLaren MP4-19B will debut at the French Grand Prix this weekend after intensive test sessions recently. The current MP4-19 has been an uncompetitive car and the drivers are keen to see the back of it. Some team members had hoped to take the 19B to the North American leg of the championship but it was decided more testing was the prudent course of action.

Now, however, the new car is ready to tackle competition. Test results at Jerez last week were encouraging, said McLaren CEO Martin Whitmarsh. "We believe that the outcome from both a performance and reliability perspective demonstrates that MP4-19B is a step in the right direction, which is why the decision to race the car has been made," he explained.

Mercedes motorsport boss Norbert Haug is equally positive and is keen to see how the car performs. "The entire team worked extremely hard to prepare the MP4-19B for Magny Cours and everybody is keen to see a performance step with this car in terms of both speed and reliability," he commented.

For Kimi Raikkonen and David Coulthard the change is surely long overdue. The pair have only managed 17 points between them so far this season, using the 'old' car that constantly suffered technical problems and engine failures.

"It has run well in testing and I hope that it will run as reliably in the race as it did at Jerez," said Raikkonen of the 19B. Teammate Coulthard commented: "As with the rest of the team, I feel it is a positive move and I am looking forward to seeing how it goes this weekend."

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Jordan to draw London starting order

Next article Will France bring more surprises?

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

What we learned from Friday practice at the 2026 Mexico GP

Formula 1

Mexican GP

What we learned from Friday practice at the 2026 Mexico GP

Chandler Smith wins Martinsville as NASCAR Truck title fight tightens

NASCAR Truck

NSTR NASCAR Truck

Martinsville

1 h

Chandler Smith wins Martinsville as NASCAR Truck title fight tightens

F1 Mexico GP: Saturday schedule, weather forecast and how to watch

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Mexican GP

2 h

F1 Mexico GP: Saturday schedule, weather forecast and how to watch

Max Verstappen slams Liam Lawson for FP2 clash at F1 Mexico GP

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Mexican GP

2 h

Max Verstappen slams Liam Lawson for FP2 clash at F1 Mexico GP

Feature

Discover prime content

What we learned from Friday practice at the 2026 Mexico GP

Formula 1

Mexican GP

By Jake Boxall-Legge

What we learned from Friday practice at the 2026 Mexico GP

What’s the state of play at F1’s smallest team?

Formula 1

By Jake Boxall-Legge

What’s the state of play at F1’s smallest team?

Is history really repeating itself? What Christian Horner’s Adrian Newey claim says about Aston Martin and Red Bull

Formula 1

By Ronald Vording

Is history really repeating itself? What Christian Horner’s Adrian Newey claim says about Aston Martin and Red Bull

The one aspect of the 2026 US GP that should be a blueprint for F1 2027

Formula 1

United States GP

By Jake Boxall-Legge

The one aspect of the 2026 US GP that should be a blueprint for F1 2027

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts