The Super Team GB McLaren team have become the second 2010 Formula One team to unveil their new challenger, with the covers coming off the terrifying-looking MP4-25 in a shiny media event at the Vodafone headquarters in Newbury.
The car, which may have been left too close to a radiator the night before the launch, boasts a bafflingly sculpted rear end, including an extended 'shark fin' engine cover and low sweeping sidepods.
It is also another car design featuring a high nose design, though they have at least made an effort to make it look less like they copied it from Red Bull.
The car also carried a cover in place over it's diffuser setup, with the words "No photographs please" guffawed onto the cover.
The car will be campaigned by reigning F1 champion Jenson Button and his predecessor Lewis Hamilton in 2010, which represents the first season that McLaren will compete as a privateer Mercedes customer, rather than a full works team.
Team principal Martin Whitmarsh bragged that the team was more prepared for the coming season than ever, and said that the team would be aiming for the championship that it lost to Brawn GP (now Mercedes) last season.
"It was Alexander Graham Bell who said preparation is key to success and we have prepared for this season more comprehensively than ever before," Whitmarsh oddly bellowed, "As team principal I am honoured to represent this great team, but I am one small part of a group of dedicated and fantastic people.
"A great team and a competitive car can only succeed with the best drivers. Neither of our drivers need much of an introduction because between them they have won the past two world championships. We are thrilled this year to have Lewis and Jenson represent the team on track. Both drivers are winners and they want to win this year.
"Every year of F1 racing throws up a unique set of regulation challenges, and 2010 is no exception. We have designed a car that exploits the double diffuser concept.
"We look forward to an exciting championship with many new and notable faces and at least one older one. We remain proud partners of Mercedes-Benz, but we must be at our best to beat the works team.
"Our goal is clear and we aim to win."
The team's engineering boffin Paddy Lowe described the new design as "sophisticated but very elegant", and said that the design team felt pressure to deliver a strong car this year.
"Firstly we as a technical team faced a great challenge when you have not one but two world champions in the car. We felt some pressure to provide the right equipment to get the job done - we took that seriously," he explained.
"It is a very sophisticated car but very elegant. That comes from unprecedented collaboration between aero team and mechanical design team."
The two drivers were all smiles at the launch of the car that they hope will propel them towards an angry, bitter squabble for bragging rights within the team. Jenson Button said that although the sight of the number 1 on his car was special, he was only thinking about the future.
"After last year you think about what you have achieved and it goes through your mind - the road to becoming world champion," Button shrugged gingerly, "but after that you soon start forgetting because you are concentrating on 2010 and the new challenge.
"I've been to a few events and award ceremonies and they bring back memories. To see number one on the car here is special, but we need to forget about last year. It will always be in the back of my mind, but we need to start focusing on the future and this is the future."
He added, in a statement sure to trigger fears for the champion's eyesight that: "[The car] looks pretty amazing, stood here looking at it. I cannot wait to take a step back and have a better look. I always thought Vodafone McLaren Mercedes put a car together properly and meticulously. For me it looks great."
Hamilton, meanwhile, bragged about how he had single-handedly designed literally every part of the new car. Sort of.
"The car looks so much different, completely different, and I feel so proud as I have had some input into it," he grinned, "I am sure it will handle completely differently to last year's car.
"We have been working on this car for quite some time now. The guys are working flat out trying to build components, develop and improve the downforce and aero efficiency."
The 2008 champion added that he was looking forwards to working with his successor in the team over the course of the season.
"His career has been fantastic, I've known him and his dad for quite some time," Hamilton dubiously explained, "I won my first ever British [karting] championship on John's engines years ago and I wanted to follow in Jenson's first steps - so to be in same team as him, and both having won a championship, is great.
"I look forward to working with JB, and hopefully we can push the team onwards to both championships this year."
The MP4-25 will make it's track debut on Monday in Valencia when test driver Gary Paffett will run in the car.
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