The birth of McLaren
Despite excellent results at Cooper's team, young Bruce McLaren decided to appear at the start of the 1966 Monaco Grand Prix in a car from his own team, McLaren. It was not until the switch to Cosworth engines that McLaren took their first victory. The New Zealander was also credited with the Canadian GP, but the team finished just short of the title.
McLaren did not win any titles in Formula 1, but the team did excel in other classes. The Can-Am class was a regular outing for Bruce and his team. In 1970, McLaren was testing the new Can-Am car for the upcoming season, but part of the car broke off. It caused the car to spin and crash into the wall. The New Zealander did not survive the crash, but the McLaren name remained linked to the team.
Four years after McLaren's death, the racing team of the same name won their first championship. The team signed Emerson Fittipaldi after two successful years at Lotus. He also won the title with the British team. The party was short-lived, as Niki Lauda and his Ferrari team made their move the year after McLaren's first championship. In 1976, James Hunt took the title with McLaren, but the constructors' title went to Ferrari once again.
McLaren at the top
With Ron Dennis at the helm, there was a big change in 1983 after years of not-too-good results. McLaren traded in the engines of Ford for those of Porsche. With the Lauda-Prost duo, McLaren had all the ingredients to achieve success. They took the title in 1984, as they did in 1985: the first time with Lauda, the second time with Prost.
Although the Porsche engine seemed to provide a boost for McLaren, the fun was already over in 1986. Williams, with an engine from Honda in the back of their cars, achieved better results. McLaren, therefore, decided to also race with a Honda engine. The decision led to one title after another from 1988 with Senna and Prost as the driving duo. Although the two drivers did not get along well, the successes for McLaren was more dominant than ever. Even after Prost left the team (after yet another clash with Senna), the Brazilian continued to rake in the victories.
It wasn't until 1992 that the tide turned, and Honda's engine proved to have been overtaken by other manufacturers. In 1994, Senna also left the team to join the better-performing Williams. It was a career change that would eventually lead to his death during the San Marino GP.
Return to the top
The Woking-based team drove from 1996 with the duo of Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard while a Mercedes engine growled in the back of the cars. Although McLaren managed to score podiums and the occasional victory with the Anglo-Finnish driver duo, it was not until 1998 that they won the constructors' title again. That year Hakkinen also won his first drivers' title, with number two a year later.
In 2001, one Finn left the team and another came on board. Kimi Raikkonen replaced Hakkinen, but it did not bring better results. Despite some victories, it was Fernando Alonso who won both titles with Renault in 2005, closely followed by Raikkonen in his McLaren. Two years later, Alonso tried to do the same with Mclaren by switching to the British team. However, the season would not turn out as the Spaniard had hoped.
A scandal over detailed plans for the 2007 Ferrari meant a strike against the constructors' title. The championship also went the way of Raikkonen at Ferrari in the final race. Alonso left McLaren after one year, while rookie Lewis Hamilton had to settle for P2.
One year later, Hamilton won the championship with McLaren. The constructors' title went to Ferrari, but the Briton had his first title in his pocket. 2009 was the only year that Brawn GP competed, but it was also the year that Jenson Button won both titles. The Brit would sit alongside his compatriot a year later at McLaren, but the return of the glory days was not forthcoming: Red Bull Racing dominated Formula 1 from 2010.
Honda-Alonso era 2.0
Hamilton's departure to Mercedes in 2013 began another period of musical chairs at McLaren. First Sergio Perez took his seat. Then it replaced the Mexican with Magnussen. The Dane was allowed to leave after one race in 2015 due to the recruitment of Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard would stay longer this time, but again left disappointed.
In the same year that Alonso returned to McLaren, the team switched from engines from Mercedes to those from Honda. After selling the factory team to Ross Brawn (who renamed it Brawn GP, which later became Mercedes' factory team again), the Japanese manufacturer turned its back on Formula 1, until 2015 when Honda returned as a supplier. However, McLaren did not achieve any major successes. 2017 was a low point for McLaren and Honda. Team boss Eric Boullier also failed to turn the tide in 2018 after they sidelined Honda and brought in Renault as a supplier.
Moving forward
With Zak Brown as the CEO, McLaren started to move forward. In 2018, the team finished 6th with 62 points. In 2019, they moved to 4th with 145 points and beat the factory Renault team. In 2020, they proved they could challenge for the podium places if either Red Bull, Mercedes or Ferrari had an off day. Ferrari missed the mark in 2020, and McLaren stood on the podium twice. They even managed to finish as high as third in the standings.
After switching to Mercedes engines in 2021, Daniel Ricciardo gave McLaren their first race win since 2012. He won the Italian Grand Prix. They dropped back behind Ferrari in the standings but still remained the best of the rest. With the new rules and regulations in 2022, they dropped back behind Renault and Ricciardo was forced out. Rookie Oscar Piastri joined the team. Andrea Stella became the team principal for the 2023 season. It started out rough and looked like they were going to be fighting with Williams, Alfa Romeo and Haas, but a major upgrade turned things around.
McLaren in 2024
With Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris in fine form, McLaren were able to become the closest team to Red Bull. They scored nine podiums last season. In 2024, McLaren will be hoping for more and those wishes came true in the 2024 Miami Grand Prix. Norris got lucky with a safety car, but the British driver held off Verstappen at the restart and then completed almost half of the race in the lead.
Who will drive for McLaren in Formula 1?
Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris seemed to be the dream duo, but it did not work out the way they envisaged. Ricciardo could not find his feet in the McLaren car and was shown the door early to clear the way for Oscar Piastri.
Norris, meanwhile, is an experienced driver at McLaren. He is entering his fifth season in Formula 1 and seems ready for the young Australian's challenge.
A soap opera played out around Piastri's arrival. Actually, Alpine wanted to put the junior driver in another team (Williams) and continue with Fernando Alonso for another year, but the two-time world champion did not agree to that. He opted for a multi-year contract with Aston Martin, which led Alpine to decide to give Piastri a permanent seat from 2023. However, it turned out the team no longer had a claim on the driver and Piastri had since signed with McLaren.
Which engine will McLaren use?
For 2024, McLaren will use the Mercedes engine.
