Mclaren does not build many cars like the McLaren MCL33 with Renault R.E.18 V6 1.6, made in small numbers. Its designer of record is Tim Goss / Matt Morris / Peter Prodromou / Mark Ingham / Stefano Sordo / Guillaume Cattelani.
How it came about
The McLaren MCL33 is a Formula One racing car designed and constructed by McLaren to compete in the 2018 FIA Formula One World Championship. The car was driven by two-time World Drivers' Champion Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne, with additional testing and development work carried out by the 2025 Formula One World Champion Lando Norris and McLaren's regular test driver Oliver Turvey. The MCL33 is the first car built by McLaren to use a customer Renault engine after the team terminated its engine supply deal with Honda after three years and also first McLaren car to utilize a French-licensed engine manufacturer since the Peugeot-powered MP4/9 in 1994. It made its competitive debut at the Australian Grand Prix. The car was launched with an orange and blue livery designed as a tribute to some of the team's earliest cars.
After criticising their engine supplier in the previous seasons, a switch to customer Renault engines in 2018 exposed issues with the McLaren chassis. The car could manage just two top 10 qualifying times throughout the season, both by Fernando Alonso, and the team's drivers were eliminated 21 times in the first qualifying session. McLaren had the second worst average qualifying ranking of any team in 2018, only ahead of Williams. Reliability however was improved from the previous year, and the team greatly benefitted from their rivals' problems to score points from the early races. The team finished sixth in the constructors' championship after Force India's points from the first 12 races were excluded. Alonso retired from Formula One at the end of the
The hardware
Under the skin sits Renault R.E.18 V6 1.6. Kerb weight is 733 kg. The wheelbase is 3580 mm with -/+25 mm adjustable by adjusting the toe depending on circuit layout. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Family and rivals
Where it sits in Mclaren's history is not in doubt: the McLaren MCL32 came before it; the McLaren MCL34 followed it. Its Mclaren stablemates include the McLaren M15 and the McLaren M16.