McLaren sends Norris and Senna cars to Goodwood

Lando Norris will headline McLaren’s Goodwood Festival of Speed line-up on Saturday 11 July, with the reigning Formula 1 world champion driving the 2023 MCL60 as the team turns its appearance into a celebration of both its latest title success and its 60-year history.

McLaren will take four Formula 1 cars to Goodwood for the 9-12 July event. Alongside the MCL60, the team is bringing James Hunt’s 1976 world championship-winning M23, the 1993 MP4/8 that Ayrton Senna drove to victory in the Australian Grand Prix, and the rarely seen 1993 MP4/8B.

The MP4/8B is the standout curiosity in the collection. McLaren said it will make its first public appearance in action in 33 years, having last been seen in September 1993, and it has been described as the last McLaren ever driven by Senna.

That gives Norris’s role a wider significance than a routine festival run. McLaren is using the weekend to link last year’s championship-winning campaign with some of the most important cars in its Formula 1 past, including the M23 as it marks 50 years since Hunt won the world title.

Lou McEwen, McLaren Racing chief marketing officer, said the team was "particularly excited to bring the MP4/8B for public viewing for the first time since Ayrton and Mika Häkkinen drove it at a test in Estoril in 1993, a real treat for all motorsport fans." He added: "We’ll also be celebrating last year’s double Championship win on Saturday, when Lando drives the MCL60 to Goodwood House."

Norris will not be the only McLaren driver on duty across the weekend. Reserve driver Leonardo Fornaroli will drive the MCL60 when Norris is unavailable, while Fornaroli, Bruno Senna and Rob Garofall will share the MP4/8.

For McLaren, the event is less about a single demonstration run than presenting a full timeline of its F1 identity, from Hunt’s championship M23 to Senna’s final McLaren machinery and on to Norris carrying the current title into one of motorsport’s biggest public stages.