McLaren confirms W1 name for F1, P1 successor

McLaren has confirmed that the follow-up to the P1 and F1 will be called the W1.

The company said the name "celebrates [its] world championship mindset", with the new car due to be revealed on 6 October – 50 years since McLaren won its first constructors' title in Formula 1.

The W1 comes just over a decade after the P1 arrived as the successor to the 240mph F1. 

A video recently published by the company features those two hallowed hypercars and refers to the W1 as "the next benchmark".

It is anticipated to take advantage of the developments made with electrification since the P1 was launched 12 years ago.

McLaren has said on numerous occasions that there would need to be a generational change in technologies to justify a new ‘1’ car.

With a pure-electric McLaren supercar understood to still be some years off, this next ‘1’ hypercar is set to stick with a high-output hybrid powertrain that will no doubt comfortably outpace the 903bhp P1.

McLaren chief Michael Leiters last year told Autocar that the company was “not sure” on electric supercars yet because of their weight at present.

“We don’t want to make a car that is 2000kg and 2000hp – anybody can do that,” said Leiters. “We want to make a car that is comparable to the 750 weight-wise.”

Such a car will be possible “maybe at the end of the decade”, he added.