Watch the McLaren W1 testing at Silverstone

One year on from its reveal, we get to see what an undisguised W1 looks like on a proper circuit

By PH Staff / Monday, 29 September 2025 / Loading comments

The proof was always going to be in the pudding with the W1. There is so much going on with its active aero - the most advanced suite McLaren has ever applied to a road car - that the P1 successor threatened to underwhelm in the flesh. Now, having already shown a disguised version cold weather testing, the manufacturer finally shows it being put through its paces on a location that will have much bearing on its success: an internationally renowned circuit.

Of course, we’re still a way from lap times and bragging rights. That will come later. But it’s nice to finally see some asphalt under the W1’s very expensive tyres. And asphalt in the UK doesn’t come anymore hallowed than Silverstone. We’ll forgive McLaren for going overboard with the drone (we’d trade the bird’s eye view for an onboard lap any day of the week) but clearly this was an afternoon spent keeping the marketing department happy - and on those terms, the important thing is making sure the car looks good.

Which it does. The W1 was never going to be exclusively about hand-biting beauty (its predecessor certainly wasn’t) but it is certainly meant to be more striking to look at than the famously blunt Senna. Having seen it firsthand in a studio, we’d suggest it looks better under natural light and sweeping through a fast corner - go to 35 seconds in to see what we mean. Not for nothing, but it looks remarkably good in a colour that isn’t Papaya Orange, too.

According to its maker, the car was being driven by Gareth Howell, a former British Touring Car driver, who did a ten-year stint at McLaren before serving as Chief Test Driver at Gordon Murray Automotive. Presumably, the job of helping to perfect the W1 is one of the things that tempted him back to Woking - bringing with him the perfect CV for doing so. "At Silverstone, we've been able to further fine-tune the W1's balance,” he said. “The car's performance and control are simply next level." That much, we can believe.