Graphic: Silver arrow - McLaren MP4-23

This time last year McLaren Mercedes pulled out all the stops with an elaborate presentation of their new race car in Valencia in a ceremony before hundreds of invited guests that cost millions to stage. At that point the team were introducing Lewis Hamilton as a Formula One driver for the first time alongside Fernando Alonso, their big new signing and the reigning world champion.

As the drivers took pictures of each other with their mobile phones that night in Spain, little could anyone have known what a traumatic experience the team were about to endure as the pair’s relationship fell apart.

One year on, battered, bruised, heavily fined for cheating and, most painful of all, without a championship title to their name, McLaren are a far less confident team as they try to put the horrors of 2007 behind them and focus on a new season.

No surprise, then, that yesterday’s launch of the 2008 car, featuring Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen, his new 26-year-old Finnish teammate, was a low-key affair in the grey concrete tower that is home to the Mercedes-Benz museum in Stuttgart and features vehicles built for everyone from Hitler to Hamilton.

Accompanied by a thumping beat and a video presentation showing how the machine was put together at the team’s futuristic headquarters near Woking, Surrey, the MP4-23 duly appeared. While Ron Dennis, the team principal, looked uneasy and confined himself to a short introduction during which he emphasised that the team are not dwelling on the past but looking ahead, it was left to Martin Whitmarsh, the chief executive, to talk through the new challenger.

Whitmarsh said that he is confident that the MP4-23 – which, like the new Ferrari F2008, is an evolutionary step rather than a radical rethink – is quicker than its predecessor and that it will be quicker still when it races for the first time at the Australian Grand Prix in March. He said he was confident that the McLaren will prove competitive this year, notwithstanding the fact that its design and evolution have been subject to investigation by the FIA, the sport’s governing body, or that in three areas the team have agreed to a permanent suspension of their technical development.

“We came up with those three areas,” Whitmarsh said. “We do not believe that we are handicapped by that. We’re in there with hopefully a competitive car, to compete and win races.”

If the mood around McLaren is downbeat, the same could not be said of Hamilton, who is champing at the bit to get his second season in Formula One under way. Although Whitmarsh was quoted before Christmas as saying that “Lewis is already the main focus” for 2008, Hamilton and Kovalainen were preaching the traditional McLaren message of equal opportunity for the two drivers.

“We expect to have exactly the same opportunity and I’m sure that will be given to us,” Hamilton, whose falling-out with Alonso centred on the Spaniard’s belief that, as world champion, he should be accorded preferential treatment, said. “As teammates we are going to push to beat each other and push the team forward and we both want to win the World Championship.”

Just as 12 months ago, the McLaren drivers put on a concerted show of friendliness. However, unlike last year, yesterday’s bonhomie between Hamilton and Kovalainen felt more realistic and more likely to withstand the pressures that will develop as the season progresses.

“Me and Heikki, we have known each other for a while and our friendship has grown over the years and I find it easy to get on with him,” Hamilton said. Kovalainen echoed that view. “Whatever happens in the races, we can laugh about it afterwards,” he said. “I get on very well with Lewis – we can push things forward and we won’t have any problems.”

McLaren's new car - click here to see the MP4-23

McLaren Mercedes are convinced that the new MP4-23 is faster than the car it replaced at last year’s Brazilian Grand Prix, in October, and that by the time it appears in the first race this season, in Melbourne in March, it will be faster still...

Technical specification:

— Moulded carbon-fibre/ aluminium honeycomb composite chassis with integral safety fuel cell

— All-new carbon-fibre gear-box – semi-automatic sequential

— No of gears: seven plus reverse

— Clutch: hand-operated

— Ventilated carbon-fibre disc brakes

— Independent suspension – push-rod and bell crank torsion bar damper system with double-wishbone arrangement, front and rear

— Engine: Mercedes-Benz FO 108V Capacity: 2.4 litre Maximum rpm: 19,000 (FIA regulatory limit) No of cylinders: eight

— No of valves: 32

— Piston bore: 98mm

— Weight: 95kg (minimum FIA regulation weight)

— Fuel: Mobil 1 Unleaded (5.75 per cent bio fuel)

— Lubricant: Mobil 1

— Tyres: Bridgestone

— Personnel: 14,000 man hours in development and a similar amount in production. 150 engineers were involved in the project

As with all cars for the 2008 season, there is no traction control, no engine braking system and no electronic launch control