McLaren

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McLaren :: McLaren-Mercedes :: McLaren_Flat :: McLaren_Vale :: McLaren,_Kyle

McLaren, founded in 1963 by New Zealander Bruce McLaren (1937–1970), is a racing team based in Woking, England, which is best known as a Formula One constructor but has also competed in the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, Canadian-American Challenge Cup, and 24 Hours of Le Mans. Its original title was Marlboro Mclaren and from 1997-2005 West Mclaren Mercedes and now its full title is currently Team McLaren Mercedes and will become Vodafone McLaren Mercedes from January 2007 following a sponsorship deal announced in December 2005. The team is managed by Ron Dennis and is controlled by McLaren Racing, a member of the McLaren Group.

In 1990 McLaren Cars was founded to produce road going cars based on the team's racing expertise.

McLaren is one of the most successful teams in Formula One, having won more Grands Prix than any constructor except Ferrari and numerous World Drivers' and World Constructors' Championships. When account is taken of the period of competition, McLaren emerge as the most successful team with 11 drivers' and 8 constructors' championships since 1966.

1960s

Bruce McLaren Motor Racing was founded in 1963 by New Zealander Bruce McLaren. The amiable Kiwi made the team’s Grand Prix debut at the 1966 Monaco race. However, Bruce’s race was rather short lived due to a terminal oil leak on the car.

In 1966 and 1967, the team raced only one car in the Championship with Bruce behind the wheel. In addition to his Grand Prix duties, Bruce also contested the Can Am Championship that year and alongside team mate Denny Hulme, the pair won five out of the season’s six races.

In 1968 the team consisted of two drivers including reigning Formula One World Champion Denny Hulme who also drove for McLaren in Can Am that year. Bruce won the non-championship Race of Champions at the Brands Hatch circuit, then the Belgian Grand Prix was the scene of the team's first Championship win. Hulme won the Italian Grand Prix and Canadian Grand Prix later in the year.

A further three podium finishes followed for Bruce in 1969, but the team's fifth win had to wait until the last race of the 1969 championship when Hulme won the Mexican Grand Prix. In Can Am the McLaren team won all eleven races. Bruce McLaren won six races, Hulme five, and Bruce won the driver's championship.

1970s

As a team, McLaren had a disastrous beginning to the decade. The team entered the Indianapolis 500 for the first time, but Hulme was severely burned on the hands in an incident in practice. Peter Revson replaced Hulme but retired from the race.

On June 2nd 1970 Bruce McLaren was killed in a crash at Goodwood while testing the new M8D Can Am car. While travelling at 170 mph a fastener for the rear bodywork failed and the entire rear piece detached from the car. The car spun into a concrete marshal post and McLaren was killed instantly. Twelve days after Bruce McLaren's death Dan Gurney won the opening Can Am race of 1970 at Mosport for McLaren. The McLaren M8D won nine of the ten races in 1970 and Hulme won the championship. In 1971 the team saw off the challenge of 1969 World Champion Jackie Stewart in the Lola T260, winning eight races, with Peter Revson taking the title.

McLaren went winless in Formula 1 in 1970 and 1971, years dominated by Jochen Rindt and Jackie Stewart respectively. Hulme took the team's first F1 win since Bruce's death in the 1972 South African Grand Prix. Hulme also won three Can Am races in 1972 but the McLaren M20 was vanquished by the Porsche 917/10s of Mark Donohue and George Follmer. McLaren decided to abandon the Can Am series at the end 1972, focussing solely on Formula 1 and USAC. The original Can Am series itself ceased at the end of 1974, with McLaren by far the most successful constructor with forty-three wins.

In USAC competition Peter Revson had won pole position for the 1971 Indianapolis 500 in a McLaren M16. The M16 introduced to USAC competition the concept of mounting the car's engine entirely ahead of the rear axle, rather than partly over it, as was the standard at the time. The car also wore prominent front and rear wings, another practice not common in American racing. Revson finished second in 1971, and Mark Donohue won the '500' in 1972 driving a McLaren-Offenhauser run by Roger Penske.

The McLaren M23, designed by Gordon Coppuck, was the team's new car for the 1973 Formula One season. Hulme won with it in Sweden and Revson took the only Grand Prix wins of his career in Britain and Canada. At Indianapolis, Johnny Rutherford took pole position in the 'works' M16C.

In 1974 the team achieved their first Formula One World Constructors' and World Drivers' Championship (with Emerson Fittipaldi) and their first Indianapolis 500 win (with Johnny Rutherford). The year also saw Yardley cosmetics replaced as Formula One sponsor by Marlboro cigarettes, a deal that was to last until 1997. 1975 was a less successful year for the team. Fittipaldi was second in the championship behind Niki Lauda. Jochen Mass took his sole GP win in Spain, and Rutherford was second at Indianapolis. At the end of 1975 Fittipaldi left McLaren to join his brother's Fittipaldi/Copersucar team.

The Drivers' Championship would come McLaren's way again in 1976 with Fittipaldi's replacement, James Hunt beating Niki Lauda by a single point. Meanwhile Johnny Rutherford scored McLaren's second Indianapolis 500 victory, with the team becoming the first team to twice accomplish both feats in the same year. Hunt won three time in F1 in 1977, but these would prove to be McLaren's last GP wins of the decade. The M23's replacement, the M26 was a troublesome car, and subsequent models were even less successful. McLaren ended their American involvement at the end of the 1979 CART season after increasingly poor returns from the series.

1980s dominance

The current McLaren F1 team resulted from a merger of the McLaren team and Ron Dennis' personal Formula 2 team, called Project 4, in 1981. This has caused some confusion among fans of the sport, as all McLaren cars since 1981 have carried the designation "MP4-xx." In this case the "P4" comes from Project 4, and has no relation to the generation of chassis.

In fact, "MP4" stood for 'Marlboro Project 4', so that the full title of the cars 'McLaren MP4-xx' reflected not only the historical name of the team, but also the names of the team's major sponsor and the team's new component part. The team's cars still carry the MP4 tag, and it is worth noting that in their post-tobacco era, (and, more surprisingly perhaps, even when sponsored by rival tobacco brand West), there is still a vestige of that Marlboro sponsorship. It delimited in the slash "/" before 1996(MP4/11), and it came to delimit by the hyphen "-" after 1997(MP4-12).

The most successful period in McLaren's history came under the early leadership of Ron Dennis. John Barnard designed the revolutionary McLaren MP4/2 chassis, the first F1 chassis made entirely of carbon-fibre composites, which proved very strong when mated to the TAG / Porsche turbo engine. A succession of strong drivers helped, with Niki Lauda, Alain Prost, Keke Rosberg, and Stefan Johansson driving for the team in this period. McLaren-Porsche won the Constructors' title in 1984 (with Lauda taking the Drivers' crown), and 1985 (with Prost winning his first world title). McLaren did not win the Constructors' Championship in 1986, although Prost took the drivers' title again.

After losing the previous two Constructors titles to Williams in 1986 and 1987, McLaren was able to convince Honda to switch its backing from Williams starting in 1988. The McLaren-Honda MP4/4 won an amazing 15 of 16 races that year and leading all but 27 laps, achieving a staggering and unbeaten record to this date. (Senna had been leading comfortably at Monza, but collided with back-marker Jean-Louis Schlesser's Williams.) Ayrton Senna took the driver's title that season, his first with the Woking marque. The next year, using a new 3.5L atmospheric engine designed by Honda, McLaren again won both titles with the McLaren MP4/5, with Alain Prost clinching it in Japan after a highly-controversial collision with his teammate Senna. This was the culmination of a vitriolic feud between the two men.

Alain Prost left to join the Ferrari team in 1990. Nevertheless, McLaren continued to dominate Formula One for the next two seasons, with Senna winning the World Drivers' Championship in 1990 and 1991, using the MP4/6 V12. McLaren also won the constructors title in both of those years. New teammate Gerhard Berger helped to ensure this double success.

Mid-1990s decline

From 1992 onwards, McLaren fell into a decline. After the thorough dominance of the Renault-powered Williams in 1992, Honda left Formula One. McLaren switched to Ford engines. While these proved suitable in the hands of Senna, American Michael Andretti's season was a disaster, scoring only a handful of points. He was replaced before the end of the year by Finnish youngster Mika Häkkinen. In 1994, Senna departed for Williams, and Martin Brundle joined Häkkinen in new Peugeot-powered cars. The results were unimpressive, and Peugeot was dropped after a single year in favour of the promising new Mercedes-Benz engine. But 1995 was even worse than 1994, with the radical MP4/10 proving to be too heavy and slow. Former world-champion Nigel Mansell came to the team in 1995, but had a torrid time - he was unable to fit into the car at first - and retired after just two races.

1996 was the end of an era for McLaren, as they parted company with long-term sponsors Marlboro, and the famous red and white McLaren livery disappeared from Formula One to be replaced with West branding and a silver Mercedes livery.

Late 1990s return to form

Despite the struggles of 1996, the Mercedes engine came good in the end. While Williams dominated F1 in 1996 and 1997, McLaren made slow, careful strides with its Mercedes engine and drivers Häkkinen and David Coulthard. Coulthard made a promising start to the 1997 Formula One season by winning the Australian Grand Prix. The car was not good enough to consistently win grands prix, although Coulthard also won the Italian Grand Prix. During 1997 McLaren poached Williams' talented designer, Adrian Newey. Then Mika Häkkinen offered a taste of things to come with his victory in the final race of the 1997 season, the European Grand Prix.

The fact that McLaren now had Adrian Newey on board, coupled with the withdrawal of Renault at the end of 1997, meant that McLaren was now perfectly positioned to strike. In 1998 the McLaren was once again able to regularly challenge for Grand Prix victories, winning nine grands prix that year. Häkkinen took the Drivers' Championship in 1998, scoring 100 points, and McLaren took the Constructors' Championship in 1998. Häkkinen took the title again in 1999, but the season was more difficult for the team who lost the Constructors' Championship to Ferrari.

2000s

2000 was another closely-fought season, but ultimately Ferrari's Michael Schumacher prevailed.

Since 2000, McLaren has struggled somewhat to regain its place at the top of Formula One, partly due to a perceived lack of pace from the Mercedes engine. In 2001, Mika Häkkinen dropped off the pace in comparison with Coulthard, although neither driver could compete with the now dominant combination of Michael Schumacher and Ferrari. In 2002 Häkkinen took a sabbatical (which turned into retirement), opening the way for promising compatriot Kimi Räikkönen to take his place. McLaren only captured four wins over the following three seasons. 2002 saw just a single win at Monaco for Coulthard.

2003 started very promisingly, with wins at the two first grands prix of the year, one each for Coulthard and Räikkönen. However, rival teams soon caught up as McLaren was severely hampered in by the development of the MP4-18, a radical new design which due to reliability problems never raced in anger. This forced the team to use the year-old MP4-17D, a very severe handicap in modern Formula One racing. However, despite this, Räikkönen finished in the points consistently and challenged Michael Schumacher for the championship all the way up to the very last race, eventually losing the title by only 2 points.

The team began the 2004 Formula One season with the MP4-19, which technical director Adrian Newey described as a "debugged version of the MP4-18." This proved to be anything but the case, and a new car was required by mid-season. The MP4-19B was basically an all new car with a radically redesigned aerodynamic package. The fact that Coulthard qualified third for its first race, the French Grand Prix, gave the team hope of a better end to the season which was realised when Räikkönen took a famous victory at the 2004 Belgian Grand Prix ahead of Michael Schumacher.

2005

Colombian driver and former CART champion Juan Pablo Montoya was named as Coulthard's replacement for the 2005 season, partnering the ever more impressive Räikkönen. Montoya's season didn't get off to a dream start, as he had to be replaced for two races by test drivers Pedro de la Rosa and Alexander Wurz after sustaining an injury. McLaren were comparatively lacklustre in the first few races of 2005, losing a lot of ground to Renault in both championships. This was, however, to change at the San Marino Grand Prix, where McLaren seemed to have the quickest car on the grid. Sadly Raikkonen was subject to a driveshaft failure to let through Fernando Alonso to win the race.

While McLaren were able to maintain this distinct speed advantage over the Renaults for most of 2005, the general reliability of the car proved to be a thorn in the team's side, costing them a number of race victories when Raikkonen had been leading or in contention to win. Renault (and Fernando Alonso in particular) were able to capitalise on the McLarens' breakdowns, proving the advantage of reliability over raw speed. However, after Alonso clinched the Driver's title in Brazil, he and the Renault team abandoned their conservative approach and vowed to take the fight to McLaren for the Constructors' crown. By common consent the Renault R-25 was a close match for the McLaren MP4-20 at the penultimate Japanese Grand Prix and at the Chinese Grand Prix, where the unfortunate Montoya hit a loose drain cover and retired from the race, effectively ending McLaren's chances of winning the Constructors' World Championship title.

Reflecting on an exciting and competitive but ultimately frustrating season for the team, Ron Dennis remarked that "We feel our championship efforts were thwarted by our conservative approach to the first four races."

On the 19th of December 2005, the team announced the signing of the 2005 World Drivers' Champion Fernando Alonso to drive for the team from the 2007 Formula One season...Kimi has been related to Ferrari but speculation says that he will stay with the Mclaren side for 2007^*. Should he go, it has been speculated that British driver Lewis Hamilton, current leader of the GP2 Series will line up alongside Alonso.

Records

Most constructor championships: 8
Most driver championships: 11
Most wins (all-time): 148
Most wins (season): 15
Double Wins (1-2s): 40
Most podiums (all-time): 390
Most pole positions (all-time): 122
Most points (all-time): 3223
Most points (season): 199

Sponsorship

McLaren had one of the longest standing title sponsorship arrangements in sport with Philip Morris through their Marlboro brand. The relationship dated back to 1974 and was continuous from 1981 to 1996, when Marlboro chose to exclusively sponsor Ferrari. Imperial Tobacco (through its West brand) was the title sponsor of McLaren from 1997 until July 29 2005, after which McLaren were obliged to seek a new principal sponsor due to a European Union directive banning tobacco advertising.

On February 22 2005 Diageo plc and Team McLaren announced that Diageo would become principal sponsor of the team through its Johnnie Walker brand, the most popular brand of whisky worldwide. "Johnnie Walker" titles and "walking man" images were applied to the team's cars (either side of the air intake) for the Hungarian Grand Prix, however "Johnnie Walker" is not to be part of the team name. The team will therefore be known as 'Team McLaren Mercedes' until the end of 2006. Following the announcement of a title sponsorship deal in December 2005 the team will be known as 'Vodafone McLaren Mercedes' from the 2007 season [http://newsonf1.net/2005/news/12/dec14mc.htm.

On March 8 2006, Team McLaren Mercedes announced that Emirates Airline would join McLaren for the 2006 Formula One Season in a one-year deal. This deal was reportedly worth between $20-$25 Million. ^*

Statistics

Season	Name	Car	Tires	Engine	Oil	Drivers	Position
2006	Team McLaren-Mercedes	MP4-21	Michelin	Mercedes-Benz	Mobil	Kimi Räikkönen Juan Pablo Montoya¹ Pedro de la Rosa¹ Gary Paffett	N/A
2005	Team McLaren-Mercedes / West McLaren Mercedes	MP4-20	Michelin	Mercedes-Benz	Mobil	Kimi Räikkönen Juan Pablo Montoya Pedro de la Rosa Alexander Wurz	2 (182 points)
2004	West McLaren Mercedes	MP4-19 MP4-19B	Michelin	Mercedes-Benz	Mobil	David Coulthard Kimi Räikkönen	5 (69 pts)
2003	West McLaren Mercedes	MP4-17D	Michelin	Mercedes-Benz	Mobil	David Coulthard Kimi Räikkönen	3 (142 pts)
2002	West McLaren Mercedes	MP4-17	Michelin	Mercedes-Benz	Mobil	David Coulthard Kimi Räikkönen	3 (65 pts)
2001	West McLaren-Mercedes	MP4-16	Bridgestone	Mercedes-Benz	Mobil	Mika Häkkinen David Coulthard	2 (102 pts)
2000	West McLaren-Mercedes	MP4-15	Bridgestone	Mercedes-Benz	Mobil	Mika Häkkinen David Coulthard	2 (152 pts)
1999	West McLaren-Mercedes	MP4-14	Bridgestone	Mercedes-Benz	Mobil	Mika Häkkinen David Coulthard	2 (124 pts)
1998	West McLaren-Mercedes	MP4-13	Bridgestone	Mercedes-Benz	Mobil	Mika Häkkinen David Coulthard	1 (156 pts)
1997	West McLaren-Mercedes	MP4-12	Goodyear	Mercedes-Benz	Mobil	Mika Häkkinen David Coulthard	4 (63 pts)
1996	Marlboro McLaren-Mercedes	MP4/11	Goodyear	Mercedes-Benz	Mobil	Mika Häkkinen David Coulthard	4 (49 pts)
1995	Marlboro McLaren-Mercedes	MP4/10 MP4/10B MP4/10C	Goodyear	Mercedes-Benz	Mobil	Mika Häkkinen Nigel Mansell Mark Blundell Jan Magnussen	4 (30 pts)
1994	Marlboro McLaren-Peugeot	MP4/9	Goodyear	Peugeot	Shell	Mika Häkkinen Martin Brundle Philippe Alliot	4 (42 pts)
1993	Marlboro McLaren	MP4/8	Goodyear	Ford	Shell	Ayrton Senna Michael Andretti Mika Häkkinen	2 (84 pts)
1992	Honda Marlboro McLaren	MP4/6B MP4/7A	Goodyear	Honda	Shell	Ayrton Senna Gerhard Berger	2 (99 pts)
1991	Honda Marlboro McLaren	MP4/6	Goodyear	Honda	Shell	Ayrton Senna Gerhard Berger	1 (139 pts)
1990	Honda Marlboro McLaren	MP4/5B	Goodyear	Honda	Shell	Ayrton Senna Gerhard Berger	1 (121 pts)
1989	Honda Marlboro McLaren	MP4/5	Goodyear	Honda	Shell	Ayrton Senna Alain Prost	1 (141 pts)
1988	Honda Marlboro McLaren	MP4/4	Goodyear	Honda	Shell	Alain Prost Ayrton Senna	1 (199 pts)
1987	Marlboro McLaren International	MP4/3	Goodyear	TAG (Porsche)	Shell	Alain Prost Stefan Johansson	2 (76 pts)
1986	Marlboro McLaren International	MP4/2C	Goodyear	TAG (Porsche)	Shell	Alain Prost Keke Rosberg	2 (96 pts)
1985	Marlboro McLaren International	MP4/2B	Goodyear	TAG (Porsche)	Shell	Niki Lauda Alain Prost John Watson	1 (90 pts)
1984	Marlboro McLaren International	MP4/2	Michelin	TAG (Porsche)	Shell	Niki Lauda Alain Prost	1 (143,5 pts)
1983	Marlboro McLaren International	MP4/1C MP4/1E	Michelin	Ford TAG	Unipart	Niki Lauda John Watson	5 (43 pts)
1982	Marlboro McLaren International	MP4/1B	Michelin	Ford	Unipart	Niki Lauda John Watson	2 (69 pts)
1981	Marlboro McLaren International	M29C M29F MP4/1	Michelin	Ford	Unipart	John Watson Andrea de Cesaris	6 (28 pts)
1980	Marlboro Team McLaren	M29B M29C M30	Goodyear	Ford	Castrol	John Watson Alain Prost Stephen South	8 (11 pts)
1979	Marlboro Team McLaren Lowenbrau Team McLaren	M26 M28 M28B M28C M29	Goodyear	Ford	Castrol	John Watson Patrick Tambay	7 (15 pts)
1978	Marlboro Team McLaren Liggett Group/BS Fabrications Centro Asegurador F1 Melchester Racing	M23 M26	Goodyear	Ford	Texaco	James Hunt Patrick Tambay Bruno Giacomelli Brett Lunger Nelson Piquet Emilio de Villota Tony Trimmer	8 (15 pts)
1977	Marlboro Team McLaren Chesterfield Racing Iberia Airlines	M23 M26	Goodyear	Ford	Texaco	James Hunt Jochen Mass Gilles Villeneuve Bruno Giacomelli Brett Lunger Emilio de Villota	3 (60 pts)
1976	Marlboro Team McLaren	M23	Goodyear	Ford	Texaco	James Hunt Jochen Mass	2 (75 pts)
1975	Marlboro Team Texaco Lucky Strike Racing	M23	Goodyear	Ford	Texaco	Emerson Fittipaldi Jochen Mass Dave Charlton	3 (63 pts)
1974	Marlboro Team Texaco Yardley Team McLaren Scribante Lucky Strike Racing	M23	Goodyear	Ford	Texaco Sasol	Emerson Fittipaldi Denny Hulme Mike Hailwood Jochen Mass David Hobbs Dave Charlton	1 (73 pts)
1973	Yardley Team McLaren	M19A M19C M23	Goodyear	Ford	Gulf	Denny Hulme Peter Revson Jody Scheckter Jacky Ickx	3 (58 pts)
1972	Yardley Team McLaren	M19A M19C	Goodyear	Ford	Gulf	Denny Hulme Peter Revson Jody Scheckter Brian Redman	3 (47 pts)
1971	Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Ecurie Bonnier Penske-White Racing	M7C M14A M19A	Goodyear	Ford	Gulf	Denny Hulme Peter Gethin Jackie Oliver Jo Bonnier Helmut Marko Mark Donohue	6 (10 pts)
1970	Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Team Surtees Ecurie Bonnier	M7C M14A M7D M14D	Goodyear Firestone	Ford Alfa Romeo	Gulf	Denny Hulme Bruce McLaren Peter Gethin Dan Gurney Andrea de Adamich Nanni Galli John Surtees Jo Bonnier	4 (34 pts)
1969	Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Team Lawson Antique Automobiles / Colin Crabbe Racing	M7A M7B M7C M9A	Goodyear Dunlop	Ford	Shell Gulf	Denny Hulme Bruce McLaren Derek Bell Basil van Rooyen Vic Elford	4 (38 pts)
1968	Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Joakim Bonnier Racing Team Anglo American Racers	M5A M7A	Goodyear	Ford BRM	Shell	Denny Hulme Bruce McLaren Jo Bonnier Dan Gurney	2 (51 pts)
1967	Bruce McLaren Motor Racing	M4B M5A / M7A	Goodyear	BRM	Shell	Bruce McLaren	8 (3 pts)
1966	Bruce McLaren Motor Racing	M2B	Firestone	Ford Serenissima	?	Bruce McLaren	8 (3 pts)

Notes

On 11th July 2006 Juan Pablo Montoya left McLaren to start a career in NASCAR in the US. This was to allow him time to prepare for the 2007 season. Pedro de la Rosa (who was previously the 3rd driver at McLaren) took his race seat and starts for the team at the French GP.^*

External links

1963 establishments | Formula One constructors

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