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
4
Lando
Norris
2019 Australian Grand Prix F1 Debut
McLaren Current/Last Team
Oscar
Piastri
2023 Bahrain Grand Prix F1 Debut
McLaren Current/Last Team
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: 8
McLaren has won over 180 races, 12 Drivers’ Championships, and 8 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 However, by the mid-1990s, Honda had withdrawn from Formula One, Senna had moved to Williams, and the team went three seasons without a win.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.
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 |
