WATCH: McLaren hit 'key milestone’ with fire-up of MCL38 F1 car

McLaren have hit a “key milestone” in their preparations for the 2024 F1 season by firing up their new challenger for the first time.

The Mercedes-powered MCL38 was heard roaring into life in a post shared by McLaren on their social media channels on Tuesday, as excitement builds ahead of the new campaign.

The social media post was accompanied with the caption: “Roaring into life... We've fired-up for the first time in 2024! A key milestone in the car build process."

McLaren have already revealed their livery for the F1 2024 season and their MCL38 is set to break cover for the first time on February during an initial shakedown run at Silverstone.

That is the same day that Mercedes will unveil their eagerly-anticipated W15 car, which will also clock its first kilometres at the British Grand Prix venue.

Highly-rated pairing Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri will complete an unchanged driver line-up for McLaren in 2024 as the team looks to build on their fourth-placed finish in the constructors’ championship last year.

Norris has just committed to a new contract that will keep him at McLaren “until at least the end of 2026” as the team look to ward off interest in their star driver from rivals.

There have been major changes behind the scenes at Woking, with McLaren bolstering their technical department with two key signings.

Rob Marshall has joined from Red Bull, while Ferrari aerodynamic chief David Sanchez has been poached from Ferrari. Both started work at McLaren earlier this month. 

Pre-season testing gets underway in Bahrain on February 21-23, before the season-opening race on March 2.