Profile: McLaren - Britain's most successful F1 team

McLaren recently turned 50 years old and will celebrate the milestone over the Italian Grand Prix weekend, but how did it all start out and how did they rise to the top?

(c) Octane Photographic

Here I profile Britain’s most successful Formula 1 team, giving you an insight and overview of their history in the sport. 

It all started off in 1963 when Bruce McLaren Motor Racing was founded, Bruce wanted to compete in the Australasian Tasman Challenge but the team that he was racing for, Cooper, disagreed on which engine to use. So he left and set up his own squad, finding success in 1963 before winning in 1964 and competing in 1965. All this was happening while Bruce competed in Formula 1 for Cooper, before his own team broke made their F1 debut in 1966 at the Monaco Grand Prix, with founder McLaren driving the sole M2B.

 It was a difficult first season plagued by unreliability and problems with the car. 1967 fared little better despite the switch to BRM engines powering the orange-liveried cars. However the arrival of a second driver in 1968 – Denny Hulme – and a heavily improved car saw the team score their first win at the Belgian Grand Prix, with Bruce taking the victory. Hulme managed two further victories to propel the team to second in the constructors.

(c) Vodafone McLaren Mercedes

They scored the odd win or two over the next few seasons, failing to reach the highs of 1968 until their breakthrough in 1974. However, Bruce McLaren was killed whilst testing a Can-Am car in 1970. It shook the team with Teddy Mayer taking over control of the team. 

By the 1974 season, McLaren had ditched the orange livery – which would still be used in later years as test liveries and used on their cars in in other series – for the iconic white and red thanks to Malboro sponsorship. Running three cars during that championship season and with the talented Emerson Fittipaldi at the wheel, the team went on to win the constructors title. Fittipaldi also scored the drivers title in that same year, his second and final F1 title.

The success continued over the next three seasons with James Hunt winning the drivers’ title at the wheel of the McLaren M26, after a dramatic battle with Niki Lauda in 1976. However they dropped down the order and failed to take a race win over the next three seasons; 1980 failed to deliver a single podium finish. 

With the team’s form diminishing, the 80s started with a merger between McLaren and Ron Dennis’s Project Four Formula Two team. They moved bases from Colnbrook to Woking shortly after and their success started to build up once again, finishing second in the 1982 world championship and collecting a number of race wins. 

The pace of their story picked up once again with Alain Prost partnering Niki Lauda – who came out of retirement to race for them in 1982 - in 1984. With TAG branded Porsche Turbo’s for the first full season, they powered to 12 race wins, the title for Lauda and took their second constructors crown. They won it once again in 1985 with Prost taking his first of four world titles in that season, making it the double 12 months later. 

(c) 3oneseven

Then came the iconic Honda partnership and the epic Senna vs. Prost rivalry that brought the team two more constructors’ titles and one title apiece for each driver during that dominant two seasons of racing, a titanic battle and unforgettable era for those fortunate enough to watch it unfold. Prost left at the end of ‘89 but the team was still as strong as ever, winning the constructors crown in 1990 and 1991 with Senna taking two more drivers crowns. 

With Williams taking the next two titles and Benetton rising to the fore, McLaren dropped to the mid-field battle and barely scrapped podium finishes for the likes of Hakkinen, Martin Brundle and David Coulthard in the early 90s. 1995 was the Woking teams first year with Mercedes engines and progress started slowly. However by 1997, they were back to winning with Coulthard taking two victories and Hakkinen taking his first ever race win in that year’s season finale. This was also their first season since 1973 without the white and red Malboro livery, a new silver and black colour scheme debuted thanks to sponsorship by Reemtsma West.

(c) Octane Photographic

After gaining Adrian Newey from Williams, McLaren returned to challenging for titles in the late 90’s with Hakkinen winning the drivers’ championship in 1998 and 1999. They took the constructors win in ’98 but missed out in ’99 thanks to unreliability on Coulthard’s side of the garage. 2000 and 2001 were successful seasons but yielded no titles before the Ferrari dominance took hold in 2002 and 2003. 

By that time there was a new star in town: Kimi Raikkonen. The Finn joined the squad in 2002 and consistently outshone Coulthard in his first season for the British squad. He took his first win in 2003 and won the 2004 Belgian Grand Prix, the team’s only race win due to the tricky MP4-19. 

2005 saw McLaren challenging for titles once again but unreliability cost Raikkonen the crown. Juan Pablo Montoya had joined the team in that season and proved a strong contender for race wins, taking three victories. However his title challenge was halted by an early injury and a handful of DNFs. 

The MP4-21 driven by Raikkonen, Montoya and De La Rosa (after the middle of the trio left Formula 1 mid-season) in 2006 was a strong car but it just couldn’t take the challenge to Renault and Ferrari for race victories. With Raikkonen off to Ferrari, there was an all-new driver line-up for 2007 with double champion Alonso being joined by rookie Lewis Hamilton. There was also a new chrome and red livery to coincide with their new title sponsor Vodafone.

(c) Vodafone McLaren Mercedes

The latter took the sport by storm and challenged for the title throughout the season. Both drivers did, but they both missed out at the final hurdle with the title going to Raikkonen. The team was excluded from the constructor’s championship after the infamous “Spygate” controversy and after a tense season of inter-term unrest, Alonso left the team in 2008 with Heikki Kovalainen replacing him. 

2008 was Hamilton’s year. The Brit drove brilliantly all season and got the most out of the car, one that was equally matched by Ferrari’s title challenger. It was a dramatic last lap pass in Brazil that gifted him the title but 2009 wasn’t as successful. The MP4-24 was off the pace with a handful of points finishes early on and a painful pointless four-race run. 

The team managed to turn it around with a stunning win for Hamilton in Hungary and a handful of podiums after that – including another win in Singapore – before Kovalainen’s departure at the end of 2009. He was replaced by 2009 champion Jenson Button, the Brit winning in his second race for the team. Both drivers challenged for race wins but the car was out-paced by Red Bull’s RB6. 

It was the same old story in 2011 and 2012 with a collection of race wins but no titles in sight. The dominance of Red Bull and Sebastian Vettel meant it was difficult for the Woking based squad to challenge, despite starting the 2012 season with the fastest car. 

2013 has so far proved to be their worst season in 33 years, with no podiums and a handful of point’s scores for both Button and new team-mate Sergio Perez. The car is improving race by race but will they run out of time and resources as focus switches to 2014?

However McLaren’s 50 year history isn’t all about Formula 1. The team found huge success in Can-Am – a Canadian-American sportscar series that started in 1966. They won the title in 1967, 1968 and 1969 in dominant fashion with the orange livery really become iconic during those successful first few years.

Bruce McLaren was unfortunately killed in 1970 while testing the car that the team would contest the Can-Am title with that season. The team continued to race in the series and continued to succeed and win titles until the end of 1972 when the team decided to concentrate on their open-wheel racing. When the original Can-Am series closed two years later, McLaren were by far the most successful manufacturer helped by private teams competing with McLaren machinery as well.

(c) Vodafone McLaren Mercedes

They also found plenty of success in the Indianapolis 500, making their race debut in 1970. They won their first race in 1974 with Johnny Rutherford at the wheel, finishing on the podium a number of times as well before ending their involvement in 1979.

Obviously McLaren are also known for their supercars, the F1 and more recently the MP4-12C. The F1 GTR took a stunning victory in the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans with the other four McLaren’s competing finishing in third, fourth, fifth and 13^th respectively. Meanwhile the MP4-12C has found success in GT series including taking its first victory last year in the FIA GT1 World Championship.