Mclaren Senna

2019 McLaren Senna (Ultimate Guide)

When it was first unveiled in late 2017, the Senna proclaimed itself as the ultimate street-legal McLaren. We can go back as early as the 1990s when tracing the Senna’s lineage, with the McLaren F1 pioneering the first production car with full carbon-fibre construction. More than two decades later, its predecessor – the McLaren P1 – gave the British automaker a refreshed sense of supremacy with its redesigned flagship car.

Fast forward into the current era of automobiles, and the Senna epitomizes a collaboration of the latest and greatest technologies, while paying tribute to a legend of the past – not so much to a car, as much as it is to a driver; none other than the late F1 driver Ayrton Senna. The Brazilian’s namesake is shared with the car as a salute to his tenure as a McLaren Formula One driver. Though he is not with us anymore, one would be confident stating in his place that this is an automobile that Mr. Senna would be proud to have named after him.

2019 McLaren Senna

The McLaren Senna is the pinnacle of McLaren performance. It combines the three principal matters of a high performance vehicle – aerodynamics, chassis and power – in an unrivaled manner. As a purpose-built track car, it still manages to be road-legal; but don’t expect to have a chance encounter with it at any race tracks or on the street.

Due to its spartan interior and physically demanding nature, the car precludes mostly any sense of ‘daily use’ and will require an experienced and capable driver behind the wheel to push the car over seven-tenths on a road course. The car is also a bit of a unicorn with all 500 units having been spoken for.

With a starting price of $959,000 USD – for better or for worse – we are all unlikely to see owners braving the perils of a potential trackday incident or a fender bender in a mall parking lot. The cars are inevitable collectors items, and will be mainly limited to brief cameos at posh private gatherings and events, while their value continues to appreciate.

McLaren’s marketing team accurately sums things up, stating “The McLaren Senna is the personification of McLaren’s DNA at its most extreme, creating the purest connection between car and driver. It is the most track-focused road car we have ever built, and it will set the fastest lap times of any McLaren to date. That is what has driven us to build a track car that is unashamedly without compromise. One that is legalised for road use, but not sanitised to suit it. Nothing else matters but to deliver the most intense driving experience around a circuit.”