McLaren MCL38 - Miami Grand Prix 2024

McLaren Racing’s competitor for the 2024 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season, the McLaren MCL38 seeks to build on the platform of its predecessor, the multiple podium-achieving MCL60. In the hands of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, in their sixth and second seasons with the team respectively, the MCL38 is set to surpass the total number of podiums and points achieved in 2023, having already won the Miami Grand Prix with Lando Norris at the wheel.

Following the extraordinary turnaround in fortunes during the 2023 season, after the team introduced a number of upgrades to the car, early development work on the MCL38 focused on improving aerodynamic efficiency, mechanical grip, and tyre performance. In the car's early races, it exhibited strong performance in medium- and high-speed corners and proved a significant improvement over the early-season MCL60. However, it also displayed a less competitive top speed, a more inefficient drag reduction system, and poorer performance in longer corners than its competitors at Red Bull and Ferrari. A raft of major upgrades was introduced in Miami to address these concerns which immediately worked wonders, allowing Lando Norris to take his maiden Formula 1 victory, and McLaren’s first success since Daniel Ricciardo three years prior.

Since that recent victory, Norris and Oscar Piastri have been consistently fighting for race victories and podiums, generating growing anticipation among Formula 1 fans that McLaren may be poised to challenge for their first championship title in 16 years.

These fine 1:8 scale models are of the McLaren MCL38 as raced to first and thirteenth positions by Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri in the Formula 1 Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix at Miami International Autodrome on the 5th of May 2024. McLaren arrived in Miami armed with a new upgrade package, including a new front wing, new front suspension geometry and updated rear suspension, revised front and rear brake ducts and winglets, a new floor, revised sidepod inlets, and a new engine cover and bodywork including a new louvre arrangement. Aside from these performance upgrades, the car also featured a circuit-specific beam wing. The pace improvement was noticeable immediately, as Norris topped the first two segments of Sprint Qualification, though was unable to match this pace in Q3, qualifying ninth. Piastri claimed sixth on the grid. Norris was unable to make it past Turn 1, left with terminal damage getting caught in the midst of an incident with the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and Aston Martin’s of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll. Piastri finished the sprint race sixth, unable to pass Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari or the Racing Bull of Daniel Ricciardo.

Despite the damage sustained in the Sprint race, Norris’ car was ready for qualifying, and the McLarens locked out the third row, Norris qualifying fifth and Piastri sixth for the main event on the Sunday, behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen, the Ferrari pair of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz and the other Red Bull of Sergio Pérez. Piastri was the quicker starter, taking full advantage of a major lock up from Pérez, passing three cars around the outside of Turn 1 and slotting into third place. Norris made it through the first corner cleanly despite the near-incident ahead, closely following the recovering Pérez. A couple of laps later, Piastri overtook Leclerc using the Drag Reduction System on the lengthy run between Turns 16 and 17 to take second place, as race leader Verstappen continued to extend his lead. Pérez was the first of the front-runners to pit on Lap 18, releasing Norris into clean air, whilst Leclerc followed on Lap 20, increasing the pressure on Piastri in second. Verstappen clipped a bollard at the Turn 14/15 chicane, prompting a short Virtual Safety Car to retrieve the debris, before stopping for his own pit stop on Lap 23. Piastri, Sainz and Norris all continued up front for a few more laps before McLaren and Ferrari both pitted their leading drivers on Lap 27, leaving Norris in the race lead, though still needing to make his own stop. Moments later, the yellow flags flew, and a full Safety Car was deployed, for an incident involving the Haas of Kevin Magnussen and Williams’ Logan Sargeant, playing brilliantly into the hands of Norris, who was now able to complete his pit stop with a much smaller time loss, returning to the track at the head of the field. Verstappen followed, ahead of Leclerc, Piastri, Sainz and Pérez. At the end of Lap 32, the Safety Car returned to the pits, as Norris had to go defensive under strong pressure from Verstappen behind. The Dutchman then made an error, giving the Briton some breathing space, after which he pumped in a series of rapid sector times to move out of DRS range. Piastri, meanwhile, tangled with Sainz at Turn 11, sustaining damage to his front wing, necessitating a pit stop for a new one, which dropped him to the back of the field and out of the points. He ultimately finished 13th, the skirmish proving costly. Norris, however, driving with plenty of confidence and maturity, continued to edge away from Verstappen as the laps ticked by, expertly managing the final few laps to become a Grand Prix winner for the very first time, while earning McLaren their first win in almost three years. Norris became Formula 1’s 114th race winner, and the 21st British driver to achieve the feat, on his 110th start for McLaren.

The McLaren MCL38 Miami Grand Prix is limited to just 99 pieces per driver.

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This model is a part of the McLaren MCL38 Collection.

Discover the McLaren MCL38 Collection >