McLaren Racing (mah-CLA-ren) are a British constructor currently competing in Formula One. Founded in 1963 by Bruce McLaren, the team entered the Formula One World Championship in 1966 and have competed every season since.
The team are among the most successful in Formula One history, having won 9 constructors titles and produced 7 World Drivers' champions, winning 12 Drivers' Championships in total.
After three unsuccessful years in their renewed partnership with Honda since 2015, the team used Renault engines from 2018 to 2020,[1] before going back to Mercedes engines.
As of the 2023 season, their drivers are Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
History[]
Before F1[]
In 1962, F1 driver, Bruce McLaren announced his intention to make a racing team that he himself would race in the lower racing levels when he was not participating in F1. That year he met up with Timmy and Teddy Mayer, two American brothers who had migrated to Europe wanting to perform in the racing events there. The younger of the two Timmy was a racing driver while his three year older brother, Teddy acted as his race engineer. McLaren met up with the two at the 1962 United States Grand Prix where Timmy was participating in a one-off event with the Cooper F1 Team, a team McLaren was racing for at the time in F1. This race the trio agreed to create the McLaren Racing Team for the 1963 season.
Participating in Formula 2 events in Australia and New Zealand, Teddy Mayer and Bruce McLaren were Team Principals while McLaren also acted as race driver as well with Timmy Mayer alongside him. McLaren was only able to participate on occasion due to his F1 commitments, so it was left to the Mayer brothers to run the team usually. The team used Cooper F2 chassis to race with which Bruce bought from his F1 boss and friend, John Cooper, the trio labelled the car the M1.
The 1964 season was tragically marred by the death of Timmy Mayer who was killed while racing the McLaren M1 in the Tasman Series in Tasmania, Australia. This was a setback for the team as they had lost their main driver and with Bruce only able to race on occasion meaning the team could only race part time in 1964. The following season however, the team had found a replacement with a fellow Kiwi to Bruce McLaren, Chris Amon, another F1 driver who in 1965 was left without an F1 drive for most of the season except for a few occasions where he was able to participate on one off appearances with some of the smaller teams.
Bruce also intended to enter the F1 Championship for the 1966 season and employed young designer, Robin Herd to design the M2 chassis which would be used for the 1966 season.
Key Personnel[]
| Role | Name | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| President of McLaren | Ron Dennis | 2009–2016 |
| CEO of McLaren Racing | Zak Brown | 2018-present |
| Team Principal | Timmy Mayer | 1963–1964 |
| Bruce McLaren | 1963–1970 | |
| Teddy Mayer | 1963–1982 | |
| Ron Dennis | 1980–2009 | |
| Martin Whitmarsh | 2009–2014 | |
| Eric Boullier | 2014-2018 | |
| Andreas Seidl | 2018-2022 | |
| Andrea Stella | 2022-present | |
| Technical Director | Robin Herd | 1966–1968 |
| Joe Marquat | 1969–1971 | |
| Gordon Coppuck | 1972–1979 | |
| John Barnard | 1972–1975 | |
| 1980–1986 | ||
| Gordon Murray | 1987–1991 | |
| Neil Oatley | 1992–2003 (as chief designer)
2003-present (as executive director of engineering) | |
| Adrian Newey | 1997–2005 | |
| Paddy Lowe | 2005–2013 | |
| Tim Goss | 2014-2018 | |
| James Key | 2018-present |
McLaren Young Driver Programme[]
The McLaren Young Driver Programme (formerly known as the McLaren Driver Development Programme, the McLaren-Mercedes Young Driver Support Programme, and the McLaren-Honda Young Driver Programme) is a driver development program operated by McLaren. It is intended to offer year-by-year guidance, assistance and endorsement to help promising young racers climb the motorsport ladder.
The most notable participant in the programme is Lewis Hamilton, who joined the programme while karting and eventually graduated to the McLaren F1 team. He has subsequently won the Formula One Drivers' Championship 7 times between 2008 and 2020.
As of the 2022 season, 4 drivers have graduated from the programme to the McLaren F1 team; Hamilton in 2007, Kevin Magnussen in 2014, Stoffel Vandoorne in 2016, and Lando Norris in 2019.
From 2019 to 2021, no drivers were part of the program, which McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown said was due to the team's "very targeted" approach and already stable F1 line-up, meaning it would be difficult for any young drivers to find a place in Formula One.[2][3]
In March 2021, American karting driver Ugo Ugochukwu was recruited into the programme.[4]
Current Drivers[]
Ugo Ugochukwu (2021 -
Pato O'Ward (2023 -
Brando Badoer (2024 -- Alex Dunne (2024 -
- Dries van Langendonck (2024 -
- Martinius Stenshorne (2024 -
- Ella Lloyd (2025 -
Past Drivers[]
- Lewis Hamilton (2000 - 2006)
- Cheng Congfu (2003 - 2006)
- Giedo van der Garde (2006 - 2010)
- Oliver Rowland (2007 - 2010)
- Alexander Albon (2010)
- Jack Harvey (2010)
- Petri Suvanto (2010)
- Oliver Turvey (2010 - 2011)
- Kevin Magnussen (2010 - 2013)
- Ben Barnicoat (2010 - 2015)
- Nyck de Vries (2010 - 2018)
- Tom Blomqvist (2012)
- Stoffel Vandoorne (2013 - 2016)
- Nobuharu Matsushita (2015 - 2017)
- Lando Norris (2017 - 2018)
- Carlos Sainz (2019 - 2020)
- Sérgio Sette Câmara (2019)
Formula One Record[]
Team names[]
| Year(s) | Name |
|---|---|
| 1966–1971 | Bruce McLaren Motor Racing |
| 1972–1974 | Yardley Team McLaren |
| 1974 | Marlboro Team Texaco |
| 1975–1980 | Marlboro Team McLaren |
| 1979 | Löwenbräu Team McLaren |
| 1981–1987 | Marlboro McLaren International |
| 1988–1992 | Honda Marlboro McLaren |
| 1993 | Marlboro McLaren |
| 1994 | Marlboro McLaren Peugeot |
| 1995–1996 | Marlboro McLaren Mercedes |
| 1997–2005 | West McLaren Mercedes |
| 2005–2006 | Team McLaren Mercedes |
| 2007–2013 | Vodafone McLaren Mercedes |
| 2014 | McLaren Mercedes |
| 2015–2017 | McLaren Honda |
| 2018–present | McLaren F1 Team |
Year-by-year[]
Drivers' Champions in bold.
† McLaren were excluded from the 2007 championship by the World Motorsport Council as a result of the espionage controversy. They were initially classified second, by one point to Ferrari.
‡ McLaren lost their points from the 2007 Hungarian Grand Prix due to team infringements, although the drivers kept their points and Fernando Alonso was deducted five places on the grid. Without this, McLaren would have finished with 218 points. Without this and the exclusion, McLaren would have won the constructors' title.
Complete Formula One record[]
- Main article: McLaren Racing/Results
| Complete Formula One Results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Year | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | Pts | Pos | |
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| MCL40 |  Norris
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1stP | 2nd | 2nd | 3rd | 3rd | 2nd | 2nd | 1stP | 2nd | 18th† | 1stP | 1st | 2ndP | 1st | 18th† | 2nd | 7th | 3rd | 2nd | 1stP | 1stP | 756 | 1st | |||
 Piastri
|
9th | 1stP | 3rd | 1stP | 1st | 1st | 3rdP | 3rd | 1stP | 4th | 2nd | 2nd | 1st | 2nd | 1stP | 3rd | Ret | 4th | 5th | 5th | 5th |
| |||||
| Key | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Symbol | Meaning | Symbol | Meaning | ||
| 1st | Winner | Ret | Retired | ||
| 2nd | Podium finish | DSQ | Disqualified | ||
| 3rd | DNQ | Did not qualify | |||
| 5th | Points finish | DNPQ | Did not pre-qualify | ||
| 14th | Non-points finish | TD | Test driver | ||
| Italics | Fastest Lap | DNS | Did not start | ||
| 18th† | Classified finish (retired with >90% race distance) | NC | Non-classified finish (<90% race distance) | ||
| 4thP | Qualified for pole position | [+] More Symbols | |||
Milestone Wins[]
- Main article: McLaren/Race Wins
| No. | Race | Driver |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1968 Belgium |  Bruce McLaren
|
| 25 | 1981 Britain | John Watson
|
| 50 | 1986 Monaco |  Alain Prost
|
| 75 | 1989 France | Alain Prost
|
| 100 | 1993 Brazil |  Ayrton Senna
|
| 125 | 2000 Spain |  Mika Häkkinen
|
| 150 | 2007 Monaco |  Fernando Alonso
|
| 175 | 2011 Abu Dhabi | Lewis Hamilton
|
| 200 | 2025 Hungary | Lando Norris
|
Top successful circuits:[]
| Position | Circuit | Number of wins |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Monaco Grand Prix | 16 |
| 2 | British Grand Prix | 13 |
| Belgian Grand Prix | 13 | |
| Hungarian Grand Prix | 13 | |
| Brazilian Grand Prix | 13 | |
| Canadian Grand Prix | 13 | |
| 3 | Australian Grand Prix | 12 |
| 4 | Hungarian Grand Prix | 11 |
| 5 | Japanese Grand Prix | 9 |
| Spanish Grand Prix | 9 | |
| 6 | German Grand Prix | 8 |
| 7 | Austrian Grand Prix | 7 |
McLaren Driver Grand Prix Count[]
Notes[]
- ↑ "McLaren-Honda split after three years of troubled partnership". BBC Sport. 15 September 2017. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/41248320. Retrieved 16 September 2017.
- ↑ Brown: Lack of McLaren young drivers due to 'different philosophy', accessed on 14 Jan 2021
- ↑ McLaren sticking to "targeted" approach for F1 young driver programme, accessed on 14 Jan 2021
- ↑ McLaren sign long-term deal with 13-year-old American karting ace Ugo Ugochukwu, Formula 1 official website, accessed on 22 March 2021
- ↑ Andrew Benson, 'McLaren: Sergio Sette Camara signs as test and development driver', bbc.co.uk/sport, (British Broadcasting Company, 06/11/2018), https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/46111253, (Accessed 01/12/2018)
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Motorsport.com: Di Resta on standby as McLaren F1 reserve
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Motorsport.com: Piastri joins pool of McLaren F1 reserves for 2022 season, accessed on 15 Mar 2022
| V T E | List of World Constructors' Champions | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950: none 1951: none 1952: none 1953: none 1954: none 1955: none 1956: none 1957: none 1958: Vanwall 1959: Cooper-Climax 1960: Cooper-Climax 1961: Ferrari 1962: BRM 1963: Lotus-Climax 1964: Ferrari 1965: Lotus-Climax 1966: Brabham-Repco 1967: Brabham-Repco 1968: Lotus-Ford Cosworth 1969: Matra-Ford Cosworth |
1970: Lotus-Ford Cosworth 1971: Tyrrell-Ford Cosworth 1972: Lotus-Ford Cosworth 1973: Lotus-Ford Cosworth 1974: McLaren-Ford Cosworth 1975: Ferrari 1976: Ferrari 1977: Ferrari 1978: Lotus-Ford Cosworth 1979: Ferrari 1980: Williams-Ford Cosworth 1981: Williams-Ford Cosworth 1982: Ferrari 1983: Ferrari 1984: McLaren-TAG 1985: McLaren-TAG 1986: Williams-Honda 1987: Williams-Honda 1988: McLaren-Honda 1989: McLaren-Honda |
1990: McLaren-Honda 1991: McLaren-Honda 1992: Williams-Renault 1993: Williams-Renault 1994: Williams-Renault 1995: Benetton-Renault 1996: Williams-Renault 1997: Williams-Renault 1998: McLaren-Mercedes 1999: Ferrari 2000: Ferrari 2001: Ferrari 2002: Ferrari 2003: Ferrari 2004: Ferrari 2005: Renault 2006: Renault 2007: Ferrari 2008: Ferrari 2009: Brawn-Mercedes |
2010: Red Bull-Renault 2011: Red Bull-Renault 2012: Red Bull-Renault 2013: Red Bull-Renault 2014: Mercedes 2015: Mercedes 2016: Mercedes 2017: Mercedes 2018: Mercedes 2019: Mercedes 2020: Mercedes 2021: Mercedes 2022: Red Bull-RBPT 2023: Red Bull-Honda RBPT 2024: McLaren-Mercedes | ||
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