When the McLaren P1 first came out almost seven years ago, it broke all the rules. It was introduced as the fastest modern day Mclaren to ever be built besides the F1 in the 90’s. This car introduced a never before seen hybrid engine that was put into a hypercar. As this car was the pinnacle of McLarens success story, achieving a top speed of 220mph, and setting lap records, we were all surprised to see that the new Senna would not be faster than the P1, yet boasted better numbers. Here’s why.
The McLaren Senna is a track focused car. Now you may be saying, “So is the P1”, but not to this extreme level. The P1 is track focused but the McLaren Senna is fully dedicated to performance. It is one of the few cars where you can actually feel the downforce as you are driving. The shape, unlike the P1 was not meant to be pretty in any way, just functional. But the functionality of the Senna does make it faster.
In a straight line, sure the P1 will win without a sweat, but on the track, the Senna destroys it. Analysts have said that around the track, the Mclaren Senna can go at most 9mph faster around the corners than the P1 without sliding. This is not very big, but as a track has many corners, the time starts to add up.
To clearly view what Mclaren had in mind for the Senna, we have to look at yet another model, the Speedtail. Mclaren could not have made the Senna their fastest car, because they wanted the Speedtail to follow in the footsteps of the F1 with its three seater interior. With the P1, it is a perfect mix of speed and track performance. It really just depends on what you want from the car.
In conclusion, overall the P1 is the faster car, but on the track, the Senna beats all. There is really no telling as to which car is better, it all just depends on whether or not you like the style of the car.
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but top speed of p1 was still the typical 217mph