Here’s Why the 1,258 HP McLaren W1 is a Generational Hypercar

McLaren is being mischievous. The Mugello Circuit is about a 90-minute drive from Ferrari’s headquarters in Maranello, and the Italian marque actually owns the racetrack. Opera booms out of the circuit-wide sound system at 9 a.m., adding further gravitas to the drama about to unfold. You don’t get that at Silverstone.

But it’s here in Tuscany that the British automaker has chosen to launch its long-awaited new hypercar. The W1 arrives as McLaren Automotive’s entire approach is being reframed by its new CEO, Nick Collins. He’s the man who led the development of the current Range Rover, which isn’t a bad thing to have on the résumé. The W1 couldn’t be more different.

This is a car heavily influenced by Formula 1, and engineered by a team with multiple F1 World Championship titles. The W1 follows the 1990s-era McLaren F1—now a $20 million-plus collectors’ unicorn—and 2013’s P1 as genre-defining automotive unobtanium. The stakes are high.

Beauty has to give way somewhat to science when it comes to the aesthetic. The W1 isn’t classically pretty, but it has colossal presence in the flesh; angry and aggressive viewed head-on, it’s more sculptural and technically compelling from the rear. Car designers understand the need for a strong stance, and with its hugely chunky rear tires, the W1 aces it. There are also visible carbon-fiber aero structures and exposed suspension components. The side intakes and ducts could be portals to another dimension. Mostly, though, it’s about delivering maximum aero efficiency: that’s what keeps the W1 suctioned to the ground, and stable under high-speed braking—very-high-speed braking.

Note also that the McLaren Special Operations (MSO) team will be eager to help you personalize the car. The W1’s $2.1 million upfront cost is just the start of a multimillion dollar experience. For that sort of outlay, it’s likely that some of the 399 owners may elect to park their investment in a humidified hangar. That would be a shame, for the W1 delivers one of the all-time-great driving experiences.

The W1 is not as intimidating as it looks, though. It also has the narrowest A-pillars on any McLaren, so it provides ample visibility for the pilot. The sense of theater is amplified by placing the “start” button in an overhead panel on the roof, close to the rearview-camera mirror. You’ll also find the window switches, as well as the “D”, “R” and “N” operating buttons, plus the ‘”Race” mode one up there. Everything is beautifully constructed, with lots of exposed carbon fiber.

Rather than conventional seats, the cushions are fixed directly to the chassis, and there’s an optional sustainable textile called InnoKnit, which sweeps across the sills and cockpit like a breaking wave. You don’t sit in the McLaren W1 so much as wear it. A cantilevered door-fin blade helps optimize interior space, and  even the sun visors—just .11 inches thick—are made of carbon fiber. A window panel in the door/roof section lets in a little extra light. The steering wheel is flat at the top and bottom—a race-car affectation that feels correct in here—and has a button for the Boost function and another to adjust the aero, but is otherwise refreshingly simple.

Infotainment is accessed via a hi-res 8-inch touchscreen, located between the driver and passenger. The Bowers & Wilkins audio system is magnificent to listen to but also ingeniously integrated within the cockpit. Apple CarPlay is available, and there’s USB C and A connectivity. Plus, cup holders and central storage space are surprisingly present. The W1 remembers that you need to be able to actually use it, without needing a support crew. Push a button and the headrests fold down, revealing a little more than 4 cubic feet of  storage space behind the seats. Not huge, but enough for a couple of tailored weekend bags.

It starts on the button, although there’s a pause before it fires up. You can sense that there’s a lot of energy management going on here. The W1 settles into a surprisingly raw sounding idle, a timbre that promises much without being especially sonorous. But what an engine this is. McLaren spent four years developing the mill, and designed it from the outset to operate as the heart of an electrified power train. It’s an all-new 4.0-liter, twin-turbo V-8 with all manner of high-grade, motorsport-inspired technical solutions. It revs to 9,200 rpm, higher than any previous McLaren engine, with 664 ft lbs of peak torque on its own, while contributing to 988 ft lbs in total.

Then there’s the electric component. The E-module is mounted to the side of the transmission and consists of a radial flux e-motor that can spin to 24,000 rpm and adds a whopping 342 hp to the mix. It’s fed by a 1.384 kWh battery, and the whole thing is housed in a cavity within the W1’s monocoque, fully protected but mounted as low as possible to maintain an optimum center of gravity.

The W1 will do 1.6 miles in electric mode, but there’s always enough power in the battery to start the engine and enable reverse gear. The quoted dry weight is 3,084 pounds, so it’s lighter than its arch rival, the Ferrari F80. Hybridizing the car adds weight and complexity, of course, but better to focus on the power-to-weight ratio: almost 899 hp per ton is senior indeed.

Yet the W1 makes it all thrillingly accessible. McLaren says the aero is the most advanced the company has ever developed for a road car. It uses full ground effect, which makes the W1 only the second road-legal car to do so, the other being the Aston Martin Valkyrie. In essence, this means it gets better the faster you go. Believe that the car can do whatever you ask, and the rest is up to you.

Credit, too, to the bespoke Pirelli Trofeo RS tires, the rear two of which have the task of transmitting all 1,258 hp to the road or track, albeit with traction control on-side. Yes, McLaren has defied the new hypercar orthodoxy by making the W1 rear-drive only. There’s no torque vectoring or front-axle assistance here, a pushback on hi-tech trends and a decision designed to give the car the purest possible feel.

Where others have adopted for fully electric steering systems, the W1 has a hydraulic setup, which is arguably the best fitted to any road car and redefines linearity and feel. The W1 is physical, and you’re aware of the forces being exerted on your body, but there’s nuance and detail, too. On track, in Dynamic mode, you can get the car sliding if you’re brave enough to try, and feel it load and unload as you really start working its tires. There’s texture and feel here that’s truly special for a car of this potency. There’s also variable drift control, which gives you the option of 15 different levels of ESP intervention. Rarely has so much power felt so exploitable. For the record, it’ll accelerate to 124 mph from a standstill in 5.8 seconds, and reach 186 mph in less than 12.7 seconds (.3 seconds faster than Ferrari’s F80). That’s intergalactic pace.

The suspension has Comfort, Sport, and Race modes, and race-bred active “heave damping” for maximum dynamic control. Then there’s the aero. In Race mode, the ride height drops by 1.45 inches at the front and .66 inches at the rear, hunkering the car down and giving it even more visual menace. Its active front wing delivers a level of performance that’s similar to the rear wing on most supercars.

The Active Long Tail extends rearwards by up to 11.81 inches through a 180-degree arc, far beyond the edge of the W1’s body. Four e-motors move the wing up or down and alter its angle; it also works as a drag reduction system (DRS) and an airbrake. The visual transformation is worthy of a Marvel movie, and there are definite vibes of Tony Stark. More importantly, it also pumps up the downforce, with 2,205 pounds available at 173 mph. For reference, the Ferrari F80 generates nearly 2,315 pounds at 155 mph.

By the end of the allotted track time, we’re seeing 193 mph at the end of the straight, powering on over the little crest that’s level with Mugello’s pit exit, even as your brain is screaming at you to stand on the brake pedal. The W1 uses the McLaren Carbon Ceramic-Racing+ setup, with 390 mm discs front and rear that feature an extra ceramic layer, with six-piston calipers on the front and four-piston ones on the rear. The way this thing sheds speed is almost as brain-scrambling as the manner in which it accelerates.

If anything, the W1 is actually more impressive on the road than it is on the circuit. Collins tells me that the car’s bandwidth is what he’s most proud of, and you can only agree. Not once does its chassis run out of answers, the suspension allowing the car to breathe even as Tuscany’s hillside roads accentuate the rollercoaster effect. And that’s a relief on a seven-figure motor car made largely of extremely expensive, high-grade carbon fiber. (There is a nose lift for speed bumps.) The gearbox is absolutely sensational to use, the full-size paddle-shifters working with a satisfyingly mechanical click, which epitomizes the W1’s commitment to feel and feedback.

Cars like this, and indeed the Ferrari F80 and Aston Martin Valkyrie, are big game for automotive trophy hunters and wily investors. On which basis, you could usually be tempted to question their relevance and function in a world beset by challenges. Not with the Mclaren W1. It’s truly a monumental achievement, and a machine that deserves to be driven. 

Click here for more photos of the McLaren W1 hypercar.