Based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, England, McLaren Racing is better known as a Formula One constructor and as the second oldest and second most successful F1 team after Ferrari.
Current McLaren Drivers
Lando Norris
F1 Debut 2019 Australian Grand Prix
Current/Last Team McLaren
Oscar Piastri
F1 Debut 2023 Bahrain Grand Prix
Current/Last Team McLaren
Full Team Name: McLaren Formula 1 Team
Base: Woking, United Kingdom
Team Chief: Andrea Stella
Technical Chief: Peter Prodromou / Neil Houldey
First Team Entry: 1966
World Championships: 10
McLaren has won over 200 races, 12 Drivers’ Championships, and secured 10 Constructors’ Championships. McLaren also boasts a rich history of American open-wheel racing, competing as both an entrant and a chassis constructor, and winning the Canadian-American Challenge Cup (Can-Am) sports car racing championship.
The team was founded in 1963 by New Zealander Bruce McLaren. Although they won their first Grand Prix at the 1968 Belgian Grand Prix, McLaren’s greatest initial success was in Can-Am, which they dominated from 1967 to 1971. The team continued to win big in America, with Indianapolis 500 wins in McLaren cars for Mark Donohue in 1972 and Johnny Rutherford in 1974 and 1976. After Bruce McLaren’s untimely death in a testing accident in 1970, Teddy Mayer took over and led the team to their first Formula One Constructors’ Championship in 1974, with Emerson Fittipaldi and James Hunt winning the Drivers’ Championship in 1974 and 1976, respectively. The start of a long-standing sponsorship by the Marlboro cigarette brand also occurred in 1974.
In 1981, McLaren merged with Ron Dennis’ Project Four Racing. Dennis took over as team principal and organised a buyout of the original McLaren shareholders to take full control of the team, beginning the team’s most successful era.
With Porsche and Honda engines, Niki Lauda, Alain Prost, and Ayrton Senna won seven Drivers’ Championships between them, and the team took six Constructors’ Championships. The combination of Prost and Senna was particularly dominant, as they won all but one race in 1988, but later, their rivalry soured, and Prost left for Ferrari.
During this period, the Williams team provided the most consistent challenge, with the two teams winning every constructors’ title between 1984 and 1994. However, by the mid-1990s, Honda had withdrawn from Formula One, Senna had moved to Williams, and the team went three seasons without a win.
With Mercedes-Benz engines, West sponsorship, and former Williams designer Adrian Newey, the team secured further championships in 1998 and 1999 with driver Mika Häkkinen and throughout the 2000s, the team remained consistent front-runners, with driver Lewis Hamilton taking their latest title in 2008.
Ron Dennis retired as McLaren team principal in 2009, handing over to long-time McLaren employee Martin Whitmarsh. At the end of 2013, after the team’s worst season since 2004, Whitmarsh was ousted. McLaren announced in 2013 that they would be using Honda engines from 2015 onwards, replacing Mercedes-Benz. The team raced as McLaren Honda for the first time since 1992 at the 2015 Australian Grand Prix. In September 2017, McLaren announced they had agreed on an engine supply with Renault from 2018 to 2020. From 2021, McLaren reverted to Mercedes-Benz engines until at least 2024.
Away from F1, McLaren has expanded into other racing series, entering the electric off-road racing series Extreme E in 2022 and joining Formula E in the 2022-23 season.
2025
McLaren sealed the 2025 Constructors’ Championship with six races still to go, wrapping it up at the 2025 Singapore Grand Prix after a strong result from Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. The win guaranteed their dominance in the current era, coming off the back of their 2024 triumph, which had already ended a 26-year drought since their previous constructors’ title in 1998.
This 2025 success made it back-to-back Constructors’ Championships for McLaren, a historic return to when the team boasted multiple titles through the 1980s and early 1990s. It was the first time since 1991 that they had successfully defended a Constructors’ crown.
At the final race of the season, the 2025 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, McLaren driver Lando Norris took his maiden World Championship title—F1’s 35th World Champion, 11th from Britain, and 8th for the McLaren team. From a recovery after his DNF in Zandvoort, he was 34 points behind his teammate Oscar Piastri, closed the gap, never gave up, and took the title for McLaren, ending Max Verstappen’s hold on the Championship that he had secured four years in a row. But Lando Norris — finally, deservedly — was a Formula 1 world champion.
McLaren Drivers’ Champions
The following drivers won the Formula One Drivers’ Championship for McLaren.
| Driver | Nationality | Championship Year |
|---|---|---|
| Emerson Fittipaldi | Brazilian | 1974 |
| James Hunt | British | 1976 |
| Niki Lauda | Austrian | 1984 |
| Alain Prost | French | 1985 |
| Alain Prost | French | 1986 |
| Ayrton Senna | Brazilian | 1988 |
| Alain Prost | French | 1989 |
| Ayrton Senna | Brazilian | 1990 |
| Ayrton Senna | Brazilian | 1991 |
| Mika Häkkinen | Finnish | 1998 |
| Mika Häkkinen | Finnish | 1999 |
| Lewis Hamilton | British | 2008 |
| Lando Norris | British | 2025 |
Milestone Wins
| No. | Race | Driver |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1968 Belgian Grand Prix | Bruce McLaren |
| 25 | 1981 British Grand Prix | John Watson |
| 50 | 1986 Monaco Grand Prix | Alain Prost |
| 75 | 1989 French Grand Prix | Alain Prost |
| 100 | 1993 Brazilian Grand Prix | Ayrton Senna |
| 125 | 2000 Spainish Grand Prix | Mika Hakkinen |
| 150 | 2007 Monaco Grand Prix | Fernando Alonso |
| 175 | 2011 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix | Lewis Hamilton |
| 200 | 2025 Hungarian Grand Prix | Lando Norris |
F1 teams with the most front-row lockouts
Qualifying has always been fiercely competitive, making front-row lockouts—when one team secures both first and second place in qualifying—a strong indicator of dominance. Though increasingly rare outside top teams, a few constructors have consistently achieved them throughout F1 history. While grid layouts varied before 1973, the modern two-by-two formation has since defined the front row, with certain teams mastering the art. Alongside 1-2 race finishes, the teams with the most front-row lockouts highlight the sport’s most dominant constructors. Red Bull Racing currently has a total of 68 front-row lockouts.
