McLaren

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Nick (talk | contribs) at 15:25, 6 July 2007 (Reverted edits by 80.104.88.107 (talk) to last version by Mark83). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

This article is about the racing team, for other McLaren businesses see McLaren Group and McLaren Automotive. For people named McLaren, see McLaren (surname).

Template:F1 team

McLaren, founded in 1963 by New Zealander Bruce McLaren (1937–1970), is a motor racing team based in Woking, Surrey, UK. McLaren 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 races. The current team was formed by the merger of the original Bruce McLaren Racing Team with the Project 4 team in 1981 and is currently managed by Ron Dennis as part of McLaren Racing, a member of the McLaren Group, which also controls companies such as the McLaren Automotive road car division.

McLaren is the second most successful team in Formula One, having won more Grands Prix than any constructor except Ferrari and numerous World Drivers' and World Constructors' Championships.

1960s

Bruce McLaren driving the McLaren M7C at the Nürburgring in 1969.

Bruce McLaren Motor Racing was founded in 1963 by New Zealander Bruce McLaren.[1] The Kiwi made the team’s Grand Prix debut at the 1966 Monaco race.[1] However, Bruce’s race was rather short-lived due to a terminal oil leak on the car. The 1966 programme was hampered by a poor choice of engines—Bruce had selected a short-stroke version of the 4.2 litre Ford Indy engine, which generated a lot of noise but very little power and was big and bulky. Ironically, Jack Brabham had adopted a Repco-developed engine based on a similar Oldsmobile block to the one Bruce was using in his early sports cars and his team took the 1966 and 1967 world championships.

Bruce abandoned the Ford in favour of a woefully underpowered but at least reliable Serenissima V8 (a descendant of the old ATS V8) to score the team's first point. In 1967 he initially turned to a slightly enlarged M4 Formula Two car powered by a two-litre BRM V8 before building a similar but slightly larger car called the M5 for the BRM V12. This was quick but had reliability problems and Bruce soon decided that the team had to adopt the Cosworth DFV engine.

File:McLaren logo (original).gif
Original McLaren kiwi logo; a New Zealand icon.

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 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 with the Cosworth powered M7 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

The McLaren M19C, with its distinctive Yardley sponsorship, being demonstrated during the 2004 Canadian GP weekend.

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. Bruce's business partner Teddy Mayer took over effective control of the team.

On 2 June 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 with the M19C. 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.

Emerson Fittipaldi in a M23 at the 1974 British Grand Prix.

The McLaren M23, designed by Gordon Coppuck, was the team's new car for the 1973 Formula One season. It was described by Coppuck as being essentially the front of an M16 and the back of an M19. It was a wedge-shaped car following the same concept as the Lotus 72 but with more conventional suspension and up to date aerodynamics. 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 Emerson Fittipaldi joined McLaren, now under the direction of Teddy Mayer, from Lotus to become their lead driver. The team achieved their first Formula One World Constructors' and World Drivers' Championship (with Fittipaldi) and their first Indianapolis 500 win (with Johnny Rutherford). The year also saw Yardley cosmetics replaced as Formula One sponsor by Marlboro cigarettes (although one Yardley car was run by an ostensibly separate team for the year alongside the two Marlboro entries), 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 1980. Project Four was also backed by Marlboro, and had designer John Barnard and an innovative carbon-fibre F1 chassis design but no money and inadequate facilities for F1; McLaren had the facilities but were at the end of a long losing streak. John Hogan, a Philip Morris executive, forced McLaren chairman Teddy Mayer to accept the merger with Dennis' Project 4. This was in effect a reverse takeover with the Formula One constructor becoming McLaren International.[2]

In 1981 Dennis and his business partners bought out the other McLaren shareholders, Mayer and Tyler Alexander. In 1983 Dennis persuaded then Williams backer, Mansour Ojjeh to become a partner in McLaren International. Ojjeh invested in Porsche built turbo-charged engines which carried the name of his company, Techniques d'Avant Garde (TAG).[3]

The nomenclature for McLaren's F1 cars since the merger has caused some confusion among fans of the sport, as all McLaren cars since 1981 have carried designations of the form "MP4/x", or latterly "MP4-x", where x is the generation of the chassis (e.g. MP4/1,MP4-22). In fact, "MP4" stood initially for "Marlboro Project 4", so that the full title of the cars (McLaren MP4/x) reflected not only the historical name of the team, but also the names of the team's major sponsor and its new component part. The team's cars still use the same nomenclature, but since the change of title sponsor for the 1997 season, MP4 is now, rather conveniently, said to stand for McLaren-Project 4.[4] At no time has the "MP4" prefix reflected the particular generation of the chassis.

Alain Prost in his McLaren MP4/2B at the 1985 German Grand Prix.

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, designed and built to Barnard's specifications. 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 naturally-aspirated engine designed by Honda, McLaren again won both titles with the McLaren MP4/5, with Alain Prost clinching it at the Japanese Grand Prix 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

Mika Häkkinen driving the unsuccessful McLaren-Peugeot in 1994.

Beginning in 1992, McLaren's dominance began to be eroded by the ascendant Renault-powered Williams, a drop in form that was compounded by the departure of Honda from Formula One at the end of that season.

McLaren switched to customer Ford engines for the 1993 season. While these proved competitive 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. Senna had played a game of brinkmanship with Dennis over his contract at the start of the season, but as it became obvious that the MP4/8 was competitive he agreed to complete the season. During 1993 McLaren experimented with a Lamborghini V12 which Senna reckoned was worth racing; Dennis chose a works deal with Peugeot instead, Lamborghini's owners Chrysler pulled the plug on the F1 programme and Senna departed for Williams at the end of the season.

For 1994 Martin Brundle joined Häkkinen in new Peugeot-powered cars. The results and the engine were unimpressive, and Peugeot was dropped after a single year in favour of the promising new Mercedes-Benz (Ilmor) 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 with Mark Blundell taking his place.

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 Reemtsma's West branding and a silver Mercedes livery in 1997.

Late 1990s return to form

While Williams dominated F1 in 1996 and 1997, McLaren made slow, careful strides with its Mercedes-Ilmor 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.

At the 1997 Austrian Grand Prix, Darren Heath, an F1 Racing photographer, noticed that the rear brakes of the McLarens were glowing red in an acceleration zone of the track. The magazine discovered through investigation that McLaren had installed a second brake pedal, selectable by the driver to act on one of the rear wheels. This allowed the driver to eliminate understeer and reduce wheelspin when exiting slow corners, or more usefully as slowing one half of the car to turn the car into a corner and so brake later deep into the heart of the turn. This system was not entirely legal, but was an innovation, and hence gave McLaren an advantage. As the system allowed one side of the car to be retarded compared to the other the system was considered a type of 4-wheel steering which was banned in F1. One notable backer of this complaint was Jackie Stewart; on the grid at Brazil in 1998 he aired this view in an interview with ITV. While F1 Racing suspected what McLaren were doing, they required proof to publish the story. At the Luxembourg Grand Prix the two McLarens retired from the race. This allowed Heath to take a picture of the footwell of Häkkinen's car and the second brake pedal. The story was run in the November issue of F1 Racing and lead to the system being dubbed "brake steer". Ferrari's protestations to the FIA lead to the system being banned at the 1998 Brazilian Grand Prix.[5]

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 allowed McLaren to mount a strong challenge in 1998, with one source[6] even stating that McLaren had built such a strong team that the only way to increase their championship hopes was to hire double world champion Michael Schumacher. In 1998 the McLaren was once again able to regularly challenge for Grand Prix victories, winning nine grands prix that year. Häkkinen won 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 despite an injured Schumacher.

2000s

Members of the McLaren Formula One team push driver Kimi Räikkönen's MP4-19 into the garage during qualifying for the US Grand Prix at Indianapolis in 2004.

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 and reliability 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 while rivals Ferrari won all but two races.

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. This was realised when Räikkönen won the 2004 Belgian Grand Prix ahead of the seemingly unstoppable Ferrari of Michael Schumacher, who won 13 of the 18 races that year, currently the record for most wins in a single season.

2005

Kimi Räikkönen nearly won the Drivers' Championship in 2005.

Colombian driver and former CART champion Juan Pablo Montoya was named as Coulthard's replacement for the 2005 season, partnering Räikkönen. Montoya had to be replaced for two races by test drivers Pedro de la Rosa and Alexander Wurz after sustaining an injury. In the first few races of 2005 McLaren lost a lot of ground to Renault in both championships. At the San Marino Grand Prix McLaren seemed to have the quickest car on the grid, however while leading Räikkönen was subject to a driveshaft failure.

While McLaren were generally able to maintain this distinct speed advantage for most of 2005, the general unreliability of the car cost them a number of race victories when Räikkönen had been leading or in contention to win. Renault (and Fernando Alonso in particular) were able to capitalise on the McLarens' breakdowns. However, after Alonso clinched the Driver's title in Brazil, he and the Renault team abandoned their conservative approach; 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 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."[7]

On 19 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.[8]

2006

The 2006 McLaren-Mercedes car, the MP4-21, proved to be less successful than its predecessor.

The 2006 season saw McLaren introduce a new, chrome livery for their MP4-21. The team was positive about its chances in the upcoming championship after the performances in the latter half of 2005. However, in winter testing it became clear that the Mercedes engine was lacking in power. Mercedes responded by introducing a new spec engine which offered far improved performance.

The first race weekend of the season at Bahrain began badly with Kimi Räikkönen suffering a suspension failure in qualifying, resulting in him crashing out and having to start from the back of the grid. However Räikkönen was able to make his way up to third and a podium, along with Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso. McLaren team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya finished fifth, complaining of car setup problems. Juan Pablo Montoya parted company acrimoniously with the team after the United States Grand Prix, in which he ended both his and team mate Räikkönen's hopes for the race by crashing into him at the start. He announced he was departing to race NASCAR for Chip Ganassi Racing, and was provisionally replaced by Pedro de la Rosa, which in the end lasted for the remainder of the season.

Following the 2006 Italian Grand Prix, Ferrari confirmed that they had signed Räikkönen as a replacement for the retiring Michael Schumacher. The season continued with the McLarens being near the top of the field, but the superior reliability and speed of the Ferraris and Renaults prevented the team from gaining any race victories from 2006, something not seen for a decade at McLaren. Kimi Räikkönen finished his final race for the team at Interlagos, Brazil, in fifth place.

In 2007, Steve Matchett argued that the poor reliabilty of McLaren in 2006 and recent previous years was due to a lack of team continuity and stability.[9] His cited examples of instability are logistical challenges related to the move to the McLaren Technology Centre, Adrian Newey's aborted move to Jaguar and later move to Red Bull and the subsequent move of Newey's deputy to Red Bull. He also cites major upheavals at Ilmor which may have contributed to the "lamentable string of engine failures"; the piecemeal buyout by Mercedes-Benz, the resultant departure of co-founder Mario Illien, the appointment of Mercedes-Benz engineer Markus Deusmann to head the renamed Mercedes-Benz High Performance Engines and the departure of Deusmann a year later to BMW.[9]

2007

In Malaysia, Fernando Alonso scored his first victory for McLaren.

The 2007 season saw Fernando Alonso replace Kimi Räikkönen, Lewis Hamilton replace Juan Pablo Montoya and Vodafone join as title sponsor. As Vodafone McLaren Mercedes the team launched their new car, the MP4-22, and driver line-up on 15 January 2007 in Valencia, Spain.

During the winter testing period, the MP4-22 remained consistently near the top of the timesheets for all circuits involved. All round reliability of the car also appeared to have improved, with, according to the team, just one engine failure (which occurred after the end of its operational lifespan).[citation needed]

The MP4-22 appeared promising in the early part of the season, with Fernando Alonso driving it to victory in his second race for Vodafone McLaren Mercedes. This was the first race win for the team since the Japanese Grand Prix in October 2005 and the 41st one-two victory for McLaren.

After coming second in the Bahrain Grand Prix and Spanish Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton became the only driver in history to score podium finishes in each of his first four World Championship Formula 1 races. The Bahrain race was the first in which he finished ahead of his multiple title-winning team-mate, who struggled throughout the Grand Prix and finished 5th. He repeated this effort at the Spanish Grand Prix but this time, Alonso finished 3rd while Hamilton finished second. The race was won by Felipe Massa, driving for the Scuderia Ferrari team.

Hamilton continued to demonstrate his aggressiveness and talents on the race track. After the Spanish Grand Prix he became the youngest man ever to lead the Formula One World Championship, a record previously held by McLaren team founder Bruce McLaren.[10]

At the Monaco Grand Prix Alonso won and Hamilton was second, giving McLaren its 150th grand prix win. This left them both with 38 points to head the F1 championship (but Alonso was considered to be leader by virtue of his two wins), and established McLaren as leader in the teams' ranking with 76 points, 20 more than Ferrari. Following the race, the FIA launched an investigation into whether McLaren Mercedes had breached the International Sporting Code by ordering Hamilton not to challenge Alonso for the lead.[11] However, on 30 May 2007, the FIA ended the investigation after studying the team to driver communications during the Grand Prix. It said McLaren "did nothing which could be described as interfering with the race result."[12]

At the Canadian Grand Prix Hamilton won his first Grand Prix after securing pole position in qualifying, and took the lead in the championship with 48 points. Alonso started slowly, and suffered a 10 second drive-through penalty, but managed seventh for two points to go to 40 points. McLaren maintained the lead in the constructors' championship with 88 points, comfortably ahead of Ferrari on 60 points.

A week later, Hamilton won the United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis, his second GP, again from pole position. Alonso challenged strongly, particularly during lap 38 when the cars were side-by-side, but Hamilton defended the lead to give McLaren its third one-two of the season. That took Hamilton 10 points clear of Alonso, and McLaren 35 points ahead in the Constructors' Championship.

On the 3 July, McLaren suspended a senior member of its technical staff. It was discovered that an individual received a package of confidential technical information from a Scuderia Ferrari employee at the end of April.[13] A Scuderia Ferrari press release said "Ferrari announces it has recently presented a case against Nigel Stepney and an engineer from the Vodafone McLaren-Mercedes team (named by Autosport.com as Mike Coughlan[14]) with the Modena Tribunal, concerning the theft of technical information. Furthermore, legal action has been instigated in England and a search warrant has been issued concerning the engineer. This produced a positive outcome."[15] Stepney's dismissal from Ferrari had been announced earlier the same day.[16] On 4 July McLaren announced it had conducted an investigation and concluded that "no Ferrari intellectual property has been passed to any other members of the team or incorporated into [our] cars." The team also invited the FIA to inspect its cars to confirm these facts; "In order to address some of the speculation McLaren has invited the FIA to conduct a full review of its cars to satisfy itself that the team has not benefited from any intellectual property of another competitor."[17]

Formula 1 Statistics

  • Number of races: 622
  • Grand Prix victories: 152
  • Formula One Drivers' World Championships: 11
  • Formula One Constructors' World Championships: 8
  • Most wins (season): 15 (tied with Ferrari)
  • Pole Positions: 128
  • Podiums: 406
  • Double Wins (1-2s): 43
  • Fastest Laps: 133

Sponsorship

The team has had title sponsorship from four brands in its history: Yardley (1971-1973), Marlboro (1974-1996), West (1997-2005) and Vodafone (2007-present).

It was originally called Bruce McLaren Motor Racing, although it had early title sponsorship from Yardley cosmetics. 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, after which, (from the 1997 season on), Marlboro chose to exclusively sponsor Ferrari.

Reemtsma (through its West brand) was the title sponsor of McLaren from 1997 until 29 July 2005, after which McLaren were obliged to seek a new principal sponsor due to a European Union directive banning tobacco advertising. The team was therefore known as Team McLaren Mercedes until the end of 2006.

The current title sponsor is Vodafone, with the official team name for the 2007 season being Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, as announced in December 2005.[18]

Aside from title sponsors, other current sponsors include Diageo plc (Johnnie Walker whisky brand), aigo, Hugo Boss, Hilton Hotels, Mutua Madrileña and Santander.[19][20] Emirates Airline was a major sponsor of the team for the 2006 season in a one-year deal (announced on 8 March 2006) reportedly worth between $20-$25 Million.[1]

Statistics

Season Name Car Tires Engine Oil Drivers WCC Position
2007 Vodafone McLaren Mercedes MP4-22 Bridgestone Mercedes-Benz Mobil Fernando Alonso
Lewis Hamilton[21]
1st (114 points)
2006 Team McLaren Mercedes MP4-21 Michelin Mercedes-Benz Mobil Kimi Räikkönen
Juan Pablo Montoya1
Pedro de la Rosa1
3rd (110 points)
2005 Team McLaren Mercedes /
West McLaren Mercedes
MP4-20 Michelin Mercedes-Benz Mobil Kimi Räikkönen
Juan Pablo Montoya
Pedro de la Rosa
Alexander Wurz
2nd (182 points)
2004 West McLaren Mercedes MP4-19
MP4-19B
Michelin Mercedes-Benz Mobil David Coulthard
Kimi Räikkönen
5th (69 pts)
2003 West McLaren Mercedes MP4-17D Michelin Mercedes-Benz Mobil David Coulthard
Kimi Räikkönen
3rd (142 pts)
2002 West McLaren Mercedes MP4-17 Michelin Mercedes-Benz Mobil David Coulthard
Kimi Räikkönen
3rd (65 pts)
2001 West McLaren Mercedes MP4-16 Bridgestone Mercedes-Benz Mobil Mika Häkkinen
David Coulthard
2nd (102 pts)
2000 West McLaren Mercedes MP4-15 Bridgestone Mercedes-Benz Mobil Mika Häkkinen
David Coulthard
2nd (152 pts)
1999 West McLaren Mercedes MP4-14 Bridgestone Mercedes-Benz Mobil Mika Häkkinen
David Coulthard
2nd (124 pts)
1998 West McLaren Mercedes MP4-13 Bridgestone Mercedes-Benz Mobil Mika Häkkinen
David Coulthard
Champion (156 pts)
1997 West McLaren Mercedes MP4-12 Goodyear Mercedes-Benz Mobil Mika Häkkinen
David Coulthard
4th (63 pts)
1996 Marlboro McLaren Mercedes MP4/11 Goodyear Mercedes-Benz Mobil Mika Häkkinen
David Coulthard
4th (49 pts)
1995 Marlboro McLaren Mercedes MP4/10
MP4/10B
MP4/10C
Goodyear Mercedes-Benz Mobil Mika Häkkinen
Nigel Mansell
Mark Blundell
Jan Magnussen
4th (30 pts)
1994 Marlboro McLaren Peugeot MP4/9 Goodyear Peugeot Shell Mika Häkkinen
Martin Brundle
Philippe Alliot
4th (42 pts)
1993 Marlboro McLaren MP4/8 Goodyear Ford Shell Ayrton Senna
Michael Andretti
Mika Häkkinen
2nd (84 pts)
1992 Honda Marlboro McLaren MP4/6B
MP4/7A
Goodyear Honda Shell Ayrton Senna
Gerhard Berger
2nd (99 pts)
1991 Honda Marlboro McLaren MP4/6 Goodyear Honda Shell Ayrton Senna
Gerhard Berger
Champion (139 pts)
1990 Honda Marlboro McLaren MP4/5B Goodyear Honda Shell Ayrton Senna
Gerhard Berger
Champion (121 pts)
1989 Honda Marlboro McLaren MP4/5 Goodyear Honda Shell Ayrton Senna
Alain Prost
Champion (141 pts)
1988 Honda Marlboro McLaren MP4/4 Goodyear Honda Shell Alain Prost
Ayrton Senna
Champion (199 pts)
1987 Marlboro McLaren International MP4/3 Goodyear TAG (Porsche) Shell Alain Prost
Stefan Johansson
2nd (76 pts)
1986 Marlboro McLaren International MP4/2C Goodyear TAG (Porsche) Shell Alain Prost
Keke Rosberg
2nd (96 pts)
1985 Marlboro McLaren International MP4/2B Goodyear TAG (Porsche) Shell Niki Lauda
Alain Prost
John Watson
Champion (90 pts)
1984 Marlboro McLaren International MP4/2 Michelin TAG (Porsche) Shell Niki Lauda
Alain Prost
Champion (143.5 pts)
1983 Marlboro McLaren International MP4/1C
MP4/1E
Michelin Ford
TAG (Porsche)
Unipart Niki Lauda
John Watson
5th (43 pts)
1982 Marlboro McLaren International MP4/1B Michelin Ford Unipart Niki Lauda
John Watson
2nd (69 pts)
1981 Marlboro McLaren International M29C
M29F
MP4/1
Michelin Ford Unipart John Watson
Andrea de Cesaris
6th (28 pts)
1980 Marlboro Team McLaren M29B
M29C
M30
Goodyear Ford Castrol John Watson
Alain Prost
Stephen South
8th (11 pts)
1979 Marlboro Team McLaren
Löwenbräu Team McLaren
M26
M28
M28B
M28C
M29
Goodyear Ford Castrol John Watson
Patrick Tambay
7th (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
8th (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
3rd (60 pts)
1976 Marlboro Team McLaren M23 Goodyear Ford Texaco James Hunt
Jochen Mass
2nd (75 pts)
1975 Marlboro Team Texaco
Lucky Strike Racing
M23 Goodyear Ford Texaco Emerson Fittipaldi
Jochen Mass
Dave Charlton
3rd (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
Champion (73 pts)
1973 Yardley Team McLaren M19A
M19C
M23
Goodyear Ford Gulf Denny Hulme
Peter Revson
Jody Scheckter
Jacky Ickx
3rd (58 pts)
1972 Yardley Team McLaren M19A
M19C
Goodyear Ford Gulf Denny Hulme
Peter Revson
Jody Scheckter
Brian Redman
3rd (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
6th (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
4th (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
4th (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
2nd (51 pts)
1967 Bruce McLaren Motor Racing M4B
M5A
M7A
Goodyear BRM Shell Bruce McLaren 8th (3 pts)
1966 Bruce McLaren Motor Racing M2B Firestone Ford
Serenissima
? Bruce McLaren 8th (3 pts)

Recent Formula One results

(key) (results in bold indicate pole position)

Year Chassis Engine Tyres Drivers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Points WCC
2005 McLaren MP4-20 Mercedes FO 110R 3.0 V10 M AUS MAL BHR SMR ESP MON EUR CAN USA FRA GBR GER HUN TUR ITA BEL BRA JPN CHN 182 2nd
Kimi Räikkönen 8 9 3 Ret 1 1 11 1 DNS 2 3 Ret 1 1 4 1 2 1 2
Juan Pablo Montoya 6 4 INJ INJ 7 5 7 DSQ DNS Ret 1 2 Ret 3 1 14 1 Ret Ret
Pedro de la Rosa 5
Alexander Wurz 3
2006 McLaren MP4-21 Mercedes FO 108S 2.4 V8 M BHR MAL AUS SMR EUR ESP MON GBR CAN USA FRA GER HUN TUR ITA CHN JPN BRA 110 3rd
Kimi Räikkönen 3 Ret 2 5 4 5 Ret 3 3 Ret 5 3 Ret Ret 2 Ret 5 5
Juan Pablo Montoya 5 4 Ret 3 Ret Ret 2 6 Ret Ret
Pedro de la Rosa 7 Ret 2 5 Ret 5 11 8
2007 McLaren MP4-22 Mercedes FO 108T 2.4 V8 B AUS MAL BHR ESP MON CAN USA FRA GBR EUR HUN TUR ITA BEL JPN CHN BRA 114* 1st*
Fernando Alonso 2 1 5 3 1 7 2 7
Lewis Hamilton 3 2 2 2 2 1 1 3

Notes

  1. On 11 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 drove the number 4 car for the rest of 2006.[2]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "McLAREN IN FORMULA 1". Retrieved 2007-04-12.
  2. ^ Henry, Alan (2003-02-25). "Motor Racing: Jaguar land Crocodile's brother". The Guardian. Guardian Newspapers. p. 31. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  3. ^ Blundsden, John (1988-07-07). "Dennis confronts the difficulties of his own success". The Times. Times Newspapers. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  4. ^ "Formula One Teams Profile: McLaren". ESPN. Retrieved 2007-04-12.
  5. ^ Bishop, Matt. "Pedal to Metal". The Best of F1 Racing 1996-2006. Haymarket Magazines. p. 66. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  6. ^ F1 Racing Magazine - December 1997 Issue
  7. ^ "Briatore says team spirit was key". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 2005-10-16. Retrieved 2007-04-12.
  8. ^ Moffitt, Alastair (2005-12-20). "Alonso to make shock switch from Renault to McLaren". The Independent. Independent News and Media Limited. Retrieved 2007-04-12.
  9. ^ a b Matchett, Steve (June 2007). "No-catch 22". F1 Racing. Haymarket Publishing. pp. 58–63. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  10. ^ BBC - Spanish Grand Prix
  11. ^ "FIA: McLaren under Investigation following victory at 2007 Grand Prix de Monaco". Forumula1.net. Forumula1.net. 2007-05-28. Retrieved 2007-05-28.
  12. ^ McLaren cleared over team order charges itv-f1.com ITV Network Limited 2007-05-30
  13. ^ "McLaren suspend employee in Ferrari probe". itv-f1.com. ITV Network Limited. 2007-07-03. Retrieved 2007-07-03.
  14. ^ Noble, Jonathan (2007-07-03). "McLaren suspect is Mike Coughlan". www.autosport.com. Haymarket. Retrieved 2007-07-03. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  15. ^ Noble, Jonathan (2007-07-03). "Ferrari confirm action against McLaren man". www.autosport.com. Haymarket. Retrieved 2007-07-03. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  16. ^ "Ferrari dismisses Nigel Stepney". www.itv-f1.com. ITV Network. 2007-07-03. Retrieved 2007-07-03.
  17. ^ "McLaren moves to allay spy case concerns". www.itv-f1.com. ITV Network. 2007-07-04. Retrieved 2007-07-04.
  18. ^ "McLaren seal deal with Vodafone". BBC News. BBC. 2005-12-14. Retrieved 2007-04-12.
  19. ^ "Whisky brand to sponsor McLaren". BBC News. BBC. 2005-02-22. Retrieved 2007-04-12.
  20. ^ "Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Corporate Partners". www.mclaren.com. Retrieved 2007-04-12.
  21. ^ BBC Radio 5 Live, 2006-11-24

External links

Preceded by Formula One Constructors' Champion
1974
Succeeded by
Preceded by Formula One Constructors' Champion
1984-1985
Succeeded by
Preceded by Formula One Constructors' Champion
1988-1991
Succeeded by
Preceded by Formula One Constructors' Champion
1998
Succeeded by