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Wondering what Lando and Oscar have been up to over the past few weeks? “Training and preparing.” And how about their plans for the next two weeks? “Training and preparing.”

After an off-season spent relaxing and recovering in the likes of Australia and Indonesia, our drivers are firmly in pre-season mode, working through a gruelling training regime and a strict simulator schedule.

Lando and Oscar were reunited in Spain last weekend, where they enjoyed a day behind the wheel of our 2022 challenger each, before handing the keys over to our Test and Simulator Drivers, Will Stevens and Oliver Turvey, who got a half day each.

Oscar had already tested the MCL36 at Le Castellet in France the weekend before, but the outing around the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya was Lando’s first track time of 2024, and his first time driving a McLaren since he signed a multi-year contract extension with the team.

“It felt great,” Lando said. “It definitely felt like it had been a little while, and I felt a little bit sore, but at the same time, it took me probably only a couple of laps to get back into the swing of things, and I am now even more excited to get things going for the first official test.

“The main thing for me was getting used to driving a Formula 1 car again,  I was working with a different team from the one I normally work with at races, but it was good to be back behind the wheel and back with McLaren, a team that I want to be with for many years. That is always a lot of fun and it was good to see a lot of faces and to get back to doing what we all love.”

Although the MCL36 is very different to the MCL38, these tests still act as an opportunity for our drivers to get back into the mindset of driving a Formula 1 car and a good exercise in ensuring they arrive at pre-season testing in the Sakhir desert with any cobwebs already blown away and left in Woking.   

Among the team in France were some familiar faces, including Oscar’s engineer, Tom Stallard, but Lando and Oscar were largely joined by a different group of people in Spain. As well as being useful for our drivers, these tests also provide the opportunity for us to send out and train members of staff who aren’t used to working in the race track environment. 

“It was nice to be back in the car again,” said Oscar. “It was good to do some more laps, to get back into the swing of things, getting my body ready for the first race. 

“There were a few new faces today and it is good for them to get the experience of running with us. Everything went smoothly and well – it is nice to work with people that you don’t normally work with. It was also good for Tom [Stallard] and the other engineers to be here and get up to speed, as it had been a couple of months since they last ran a car. Plus, it’s good to continue to build that relationship.”

For the first time in his fledging single-seater career, Oscar will start a successive season with the same team in the same Championship. After two tests in as many weeks, Oscar is looking to carry over the momentum from his highly successful rookie campaign and add to his tally of two podiums and a Sprint race victory.

“I mainly worked on my driving,” Oscar continued. “This car isn’t raced anymore and we were running on different tyres, but you can still try and learn, and  it was just good to get back into the swing of things.

“We have to arrive at testing on top of our game, so it is good to get used to driving again and to make sure our bodies have been physically woken up and are ready to go for pre-season testing.”

Pre-season testing kicks into gear on 21 - 23 February at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, but before Lando and Oscar jump into our 2024 car for the first time, we’ll be revealing the MCL38 on Wednesday, 14 February, which comes on the back of our livery launch in January.