Pretty it definitely isn’t, but the Senna is McLaren’s most extreme road-going model to date. Part of the Ultimate Series but not a replacement for the P1 hypercar, the P15 is limited to 500 examples, each priced at £750,000, and every single one of them has been sold or auctioned off.
First of all, let’s talk about the name. F1, MP4-12C, 650S, P1, 570S, 720S, notice anything with the Woking-based automaker’s nomenclature? McLaren never used someone’s name to baptize its cars, let alone the name of its most celebrated driver of them all: the iconic Ayrton Senna.
“Does this mean the next generation of the most extreme McLaren road car is going to be called Prost? Or Hakkinen? Or Hunt?” That’s a good question for all the obvious reasons. It must be highlighted, however, that Bruno Senna had a lot to do with the development of the P15, and Senna’s family agreed with McLaren to use the Brazilian driver’s name.
When it comes to design, the Senna is the most faithful interpretation of the “form follows function” aphorism. The see-through glass in the doors is there for maximizing visibility, though it’s optional and heavier than the carbon fiber panels that come as standard. The composite material is present by the bucketload in the cockpit, where you’ll notice that the engine start/stop button is located in a console above the driver’s head.
The 2018 McLaren Senna shares many of its oily bits with the 720S, including the 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8. Codenamed M840TR in this setup, the engine develops 800 PS (789 horsepower) and 800 Nm (590 pound-feet), translating to the most powerful engine ever created by McLaren.
Performance figures have yet to be made official by the British automaker, but McLaren did slip one detail about what’s in the offing. And that is the choice of words consisting of “suitably savage.” Considering it tips the scales at 1,198 kilograms (2,641 pounds; dry), the performance should be as over the top as possibily imaginable considering the Senna is the lightest McLaren since the F1.
“Our family is extremely proud of the naming of the new Ultimate Series McLaren Senna. This is the first project that really connects with Ayrton’s racing spirit and performance,” declared Bruno Senna, racing driver and McLaren Ambassador.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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