Formula 1 launches have been hidden in mystery this year, but young sensation Oscar Piastri has an explanation.

With the grid shaping up for 2024 ahead of testing on February 21, teams have been keeping a low-profile, limiting their normally high-profile launches to online content.

McLaren are one of those said teams, unveiling the MCL38 at Silverstone behind closed doors, and photoshopping changes of their image releases.

Asked why they and others are limiting exposure so much this season, British star Lando Norris told the media: “Because we can.

“It’s a game of performance and why would you ever want to give away anything? You’ve seen what the car looks like and in two weeks you’ll see the rest, so be patient.”

Piastri added: “I mean at least we showed our car before it went on track, unlike others…”

The Australian also joked about what they’ve been hiding, “We’re going to come with rockets on the sidepods,” he said.

McLaren started 2023 at the back of the grid and ended the year barely off of the podium.

If that trajectory continues this year, they could well challenge Max Verstappen and Red Bull for wins, and Norris is hopeful.

He explained: “If you say ‘are they beatable?’ We have to say yes and we want to believe that.

“We were very close at certain times and we did beat them at certain times, the challenge is can we beat them over a season and [although] that’s going to be very difficult, I’m optimistic.”

Team principal Andrea Stella added: “My expectation is that at the start of the season Red Bull will continue enjoying a competitive advantage because they didn’t develop the car much last year and I would think it’s reasonable to expect that they would have gained some knowledge and development last year that they can capitalise on.

“Looking at ourselves if we keep the development rate that we kept in 2023 hopefully we can add to that and I think we can be in a strong position. We think that this is a strong development rate and it’s up to us to consolidate that.”