Indeed, writing for Road & Track, IndyCar driver JR Hildebrand described the Senna as “capable in ways that modern racecars could only wish to be. There’s no misunderstanding the McLaren Senna. It is not a road car. It’s not for the Texas Mile or hauling ass from LA to Vegas; for Cars and Coffee or Instagram. It’s not an evolution of the P1 nor is it the big brother of the 720S. It is the beginning of something new, ... a breed of hyper-focused hypercar built for an excessive experience rather than just excessive performance, free of anyone’s rules and regulations.”

While the Senna is road legal, even a brief drive in the car makes its single-mindedness clear. While the phrase “race car for the road” is thrown around so often as to be meaningless, that ethos overpowers the occupants of the Senna while it is in motion. It is loud; you hear not just the engine and road noise, but the suspension and chassis going about their work as well. The focus on light weight is clear outside the car as well: the body panels and even the fuel flap feel pared down to the barest minimum. When the car is idling, the fenders vibrate visibly. While a 720S feels refined, civilized and as effortless to drive around town as a Toyota Camry, the Senna is raw, alive, and visceral, evoking the supercars that invented the genre in the 1960s and 70s.