McLaren P1 supercar (2012) first official pictures

Forget the abstract fluorescent light show teaser released earlier this month, because we’ve got official pictures of McLaren's latest supercar challenger.

It's called the P1 and it certainly gives food for thought to those who were disappointed by the MP4-12C's styling. The F1 successor was formally codenamed the P12 ahead of its official release, but it seems McLaren is confident the P1 will put it in pole position among the super sports cars on the way from Ferrari and Porsche.

Those headlights mirror the McLaren logo, while the front gills a la Jaguar XKR-S are the tip of an aerodynamic iceberg. There's a faintly double-bubble roof with F1-alike roof scoop, while at the rear there's a giant diffuser and tunnel-sized exhaust, thin strips of LED lights (Ron Dennis hates regular lights - too much clutter) and of course the obligatory airbrake needed to rein in the car's no doubt stonking performance.

McLaren simply state the P1 has one goal: ‘to be the best driver’s car in the world on road and on track.’ Not exactly a 'simple' task by any means, but McLaren claim the P1 takes much of its technological and spiritual inspiration from the company’s racing division, so with a bit of luck it’ll hopefully blow us away when it goes into production later next year.

More details are to follow with the official release later this month, but McLaren are keen to point out that the P1 will sit above the 12C and that car's open-top Spider variant. Expect a tuned-up version of the 12C's 3.8-litre V8 and an F1-style KERS unit to boost power above 800bhp.

In the meantime, we’ve got these long-awaited glossy pictures of the P1. Are you impressed? If you hope everything we see here makes it into production for 2013, tell us in the comments below.

By Rory Smith