2013 McLaren P1: more details

The McLaren P1, the successor to the mighty F1, will go on sale a year from now McLaren has confirmed.

Expected to cost in the region of £800k, the flagship hypercar is said to have 600kg of downforce though McLaren won't be drawn in to commenting at what speed this occurs.

Testing is already underway at Italian proving ground Nardo by McLaren's chief test driver Chris Goodwin but the current development phase is taking place on the intricate handling circuit rather than the high-speed bowl.

McLaren says it isn't trying to break any top speed records, but instead build something that can lap a track faster than any other road car.

The P1 will be unveiled in production form at the Detroit Motor Show in January 2013 and McLaren says that while the show car isn't final, it is very close to how the finished product will look.

Potential customers have seen the P1 even before it appeared at the Paris Motor Show. Among the lucky visitors to McLaren's HQ in Woking to see the new car was Rowan Atkinson who is rumoured to have said the P1 is 'astounding'.

It faces tough competition with both Ferrari and Porsche launching hypercars at around the same time. By the middle of this decade McLaren aims to have a three-model line-up - that means we should see a Porsche 911 rival before 2015.

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