At this time of the year, F1 teams are generally working on making the perfect car for upcoming races. But McLaren F1’s sister, McLaren Applied Technologies, has imagined what F1 in 2050 would look like and has already developed a concept. Talk about being visionaries! Moniker’d the MCLExtreme, this concept looks very interesting, and we are already hyped up about it. For starters, the cars will be all-electric and ripping the tracks with speeds up to 310 miles per hour!

How Cool Is That?

Despite the whole ongoing EV and autonomous revolution, McLaren still believes that F1 cars will be human-driven. Although kind of obvious, it makes sense to have human drivers race in machines rather than watching cars race themselves. The cars will more or less stick to the same shape as well – with driver in the middle, four open wheels, side pods, and wings on either end.

A Little Too Techie-Techie?

We do have the Formula E currently, but that is a silent affair (pun intended). Considering that McLaren has supplied electric motors and batteries to Formula E, it has a fairly clear idea of how things could be in the future. The MCLExtreme will have a high-density battery and inductive charging through either wireless connections or coils in the tires to ensure the MCLExtreme does not run out of juice during a race. Closed cockpits will ensure the drivers stay protected and helmets will feed information in the heads-up display. Ironman feels, anyone? Because of cars’ increased capabilities, McLaren also predicts that the venues will change wherein the bankings will be greater, and turns will be tighter.

Expert Opinion

Karl Surmacz, head of modeling and decision science at McLaren Applied Technologies, said, "In the future, we could get to the point where human ingenuity is replaced with an AI algorithm. " He also added, "Take enough examples of our creative processes and outcomes, and this could be codified into an algorithm which would enable AI to make creative decisions consistent with those of a human counterpart."

If there was anything you could change from the aforementioned things, what would it be? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below.

Further reading

Read our full review on the 1993 McLaren F1.