McLaren P1 review

It feels a bit like a beautifully made Lotus, light and agile and clear. The tech all works: press the EV-mode button and the motor dies and you can drive around on just electric (we managed seven miles on the motorway at 80mph in Europe and more in town). And when you let everything off the leash? It’ll shatter your idea of what fast really means. Warp time. 

In fact, driving the P1 on the road is an exercise in restraint. If we’re honest you can’t really push the thing and remain legal, because it produces superbike-bashing acceleration and cornering G. The rest of the world just isn’t geared up to cope. Get to a racetrack, engage ‘Race mode’ – a process that takes 30 seconds, as the wing rises and the suspension drops 50mm. You can feel the active aero and all the time, the P1 is feeding information at you, hands, bottom, ears, eyes. It’s flat, no body roll, but – weird word to use – sensual. It’s a thing of beauty, and fear. Utterly brilliant.