McLaren 'exploring envelope' in Barcelona after avoiding F1 'nasties'

McLaren chief designer Rob Marshall has asserted the team is treating the Barcelona test as a true shakedown and is not focusing on extracting pace from the MCL40 challenger.

The Woking-based squad made its on-track debut with the car on Wednesday with reigning champion Lando Norris behind the wheel.

Norris tallied 76 laps across the day as McLaren got its first eye in on its new car, which it hopes can repeat its double title success from 2025.

Marshall asserted it was a smooth day for the team as no unexpected difficulties arose from the outing.

"The car ran pretty well today, we're quite happy with it, no nasties, no really scary things went wrong," he said. 

"There are obviously little gremlins here and there but we ironed those out during the day.”

Norris' team-mate Oscar Piastri jumped behind the wheel on Thursday as he got his first experience of the new car.

However, there is little to no focus on getting the car in a competitive window during the days ahead, which instead is set to be the focus at the Bahrain test next month.

"We really treat this week as a shakedown, so this is for us to get the car reliable, running, and make sure it'll run in all the conditions we want it to run in,” he said.

“We're going all the way around the envelope trying every single bit we can and then when we get to Bahrain we'll try and dial the car in a bit better. 

“The conditions here are so cold that doing representative lap times is obviously going to be very difficult.”