Look, we run an EV site, and the McLaren W1 is a plug-in hybrid with a 1.4 kWh battery, which is roughly the energy of a beefy power tool pack. There is an electric motor in here though, lifted straight from Formula E, and we are nothing if not easily persuaded by an electric motor. So we are bending the daily rules for this one. Auto Focus called the W1 the best car it has ever driven, the successor to the F1 and P1, and the numbers explain the excitement: a twin-turbo 4.0-liter V8 making over 900 horsepower on its own, an electric system adding 342 more, and a combined figure north of 1,200. You and I are not buying one. Neither is roughly everyone else. Enjoy it anyway.
The W1 slots into a lineage McLaren has built since the 1990s, and it lands in a moment when nearly every hypercar has gone hybrid for the same reason: electric assist fills the torque gap while a turbo spools, so the car feels instant. The reference point buyers reach for is the trio from the middle of the last decade, the McLaren P1, Ferrari LaFerrari, and Porsche 918 Spyder, which the Auto Focus host calls the first hybrid supercar trinity. Against newer electric hardware, the comparison the video keeps returning to is the Rimac Nevera, which it grants is still quicker in a straight line. What sets the W1 apart, and what an enthusiast should care about, is the path McLaren did not take. Rather than piling on motors and weight to win a drag race, it stayed light and rear-wheel drive with old-school hydraulic steering, betting that feel matters more than a launch-control number. The video treats the bodywork as one long aerodynamic exercise, from an active front splitter that opens for a drag reduction system to a large rear diffuser, with the host saying air leaves the back of the car about twice as fast as it enters the front.
According to Auto Focus, the W1's real trick is how little it weighs for the power. McLaren quotes a dry weight of 1,399 kg, and even with fluids the host pegs it under 3,200 pounds. The video reports a 0 to 186 mph time of 12.7 seconds, against about 22 for a Porsche 911 Turbo S, and an eight-speed gearbox with no reverse gear, since the electric motors handle backing up. On track at Mugello, the host says the car hit over 190 mph at the end of the main straight, which he notes matches the speed Lewis Hamilton reached there during the 2020 Tuscan Grand Prix. The active rear wing extends so far in race mode that the video says the setup is no longer street legal, because it pushes past the rear bumper. The host credits the aero and a set of Trofeo RS tires for keeping the car planted, and says it only felt loose under heavy braking from around 190 mph into the first corner. Inside, the seats are fixed into the carbon fiber structure, so you move the pedals and wheel to you rather than the seat, and a floating display runs wired Apple CarPlay the host suspects most owners will ignore. McLaren is building 399 of them at north of two million dollars each.
Bottom line: This is a poster on a wall, not a purchase, and that is the point of a car like this. If you care about how electrification actually changes driving, the W1 is instructive: the interesting move is not the horsepower, it is using a tiny Formula E-derived motor to delete turbo lag while keeping the car featherweight and rear-driven. Most 1,200 horsepower hybrids chase all-wheel-drive launch numbers. This one chased feel. We will never drive one either, but we are glad it exists, and glad it technically has a plug.
Commentary on a third-party video. Figures and claims are as presented in the source and have not been independently verified. Spotted an error? Tell us and we will correct it.