The McLaren MP4-23 for early January

The 2008 McLaren car, which is to be driven by Lewis Hamilton and his yet unknown teammate, will be available in the second week of January.

Team boss Ron Dennis disclosed the information on Saturday afternoon during the Stars and Cars event in Stuttgart, where partner Mercedes-Benz, which supplies the engines for the Silver Arrows, was present.

This official announcement follows the report presented by the FIA regarding the espionage case. Furthermore, it will closely monitor McLaren Mercedes to ensure that the cars do not feature any Ferrari intellectual property.

The FIA will study the issue at a meeting on December 7.

« We will do everything in our power to ensure that the McLarens have no element of intellectual property belonging to Ferrari. If that is the case, we will have to make a decision, » said FIA President Max Mosley.

A spokesperson for McLaren responded: « We have no further comment other than to say that we will fully cooperate with the FIA. »

In Stuttgart, in the meantime, Dennis added that the team has been working on the MP4-23 since July and is now focused on 2008, with the final chapter of the Fernando Alonso saga.

« We are very confident about the level of performance we will achieve next year, » he added.

Dennis insists that even with the year 2007, which turned out to be disastrous in terms of relationships, nothing can change his philosophy where each driver has a different status. He will therefore continue to favor one driver in the future.

Hamilton revealed to Stars and Cars that Nico Rosberg, Adrian Sutil, and Heikki Kovalainen are the main contenders for the second seat at McLaren.

Dennis stated: « We are a team, and if someone does not want to play the role that their team has assigned to them, then they should not be part of the team. »