OPINION: McLaren's W1 is slower than the F1, and I couldn't care less

In fact, with 1,275PS (938kW) going through the rear wheels only – when the likes of the Bugatti Chiron, super-fast EVs and even the new Ferrari F80 are all-wheel drive – we reckon 'exciting' might be an understatement. 

But McLaren's refusal to engage in mission creep is the most exciting part. Four-wheel drive would have made its new car faster off the line, McLaren knows it and so do we. But where's the excitement in slamming your foot on the loud pedal and letting traction do the rest? There isn't much. That's why I sold my grippy old Mercedes C43 (I should have got the V8 63) and replaced it with a GT86 that had lots of things, none of which were grip. 

Obviously, electronics can still peg the W1 back, and depending on your chosen mode they will do so. But even with the torque held back in the lower gears, McLaren admits the parameters have been set so the new V8 can always overawe the back tyres. Why? Because it is fun. 

And the good news keeps coming, because without an electric motor on the front axle McLaren can keep its hydraulic power steering, sending the texture of the road to your fingertips like a braille-translating megaphone. This a car that should speak to you even when you're not 'on it' – mundane drives can be memorable, too.

Objectively, McLaren is rarely outgunned by Ferrari. Woking's finest tend to have more power and – courtesy of the carbon tub fitted to each one – are stiffer and lighter. Yet, they often emerge in second place after a bruising encounter with Maranello because, subjectively, they don't look as good, sound as good, or twang your heartstrings quite so well. 

By this point, you've probably all seen the F80, a car that looks like it hit every branch of the ugly tree before rolling along the last branch and falling into a smaller ugly tree sprouting from beneath the canopy. Round one to the McLaren that looks prettier the more you look. 

Will the W1 sound better? That remains to be heard. We've yet to experience either in anger, but given that the F80 is a turbocharged V6 strangled by more filters than Gordon Ramsey pre-the watershed, McLaren may never get a better chance. And it knows it. We don't remember the company putting more emphasis on words like 'theatre' and 'engagement'.

The W1 revs to more than 9,000rpm because it wants to, not because it has to. The exhaust manifolds are long to make it sound better, the valve gear has been moved to the back of the engine to keep the noise pure, and there's absolutely no digital enhancement.  

So, when McLaren announced the W1 would be no faster (flat out) than the P1 and actually quite a bit slower than the F1, I cheered, because it doesn't need to be. McLaren has lacked heart in the past but the W1 doesn't look to be making the same mistake twice. 

Yes, the McLaren F1 and P1 had all the heart and more, but often that didn't trickle down to the ladder's lower rungs. The W1 is different. Its new V8 will make its way into the next 750S, and we'd imagine other models besides; even if they don't get the engine, this new ethos will likely be there to see and feel. 

A McLaren with the heart of a Ferrari? Sounds perfect to me.