Founding
In 1963, Bruce McLaren Motor Racing was founded. Bruce was a factory driver for the Cooper Car Company in Formula One. His own racing company's history in F1 began in 1966 at the Monaco GP, which was held on may 22nd, after Bruce decided the worsening results for his team (Cooper Car Company) were not satisfying for him as a driver.
First tests
Initially denying that they were building a Formula One competitor, McLaren's company started to build their first development car: the M2A. This chassis was used for testing (by December 1965, the M2A had completed 3,200 km), and the engines from testing were installed into the two new chassis of the Model M2B. Among others, Bruce McLaren tested the car at Goodwood Circuit (close to the south coast of the UK) and in California, US, in December 1965 and February 1966.
1966 Formula One season
Three months later, the Formula One World Championship was set to begin at Monaco, where McLaren decided to use a "Ford 406 3.0 V8"-engined car. While qualifying for tenth and driving to sixth place within the first laps, he had to stop the car in the ninth lap due to an oil leak. The engine-change to a "Serenissima M166 3.0 V8" for the next round, which would take place in Belgium. This engine, however, would not be able to hold up to McLaren's dreams, either: after the bearings were terminally damaged in FP, Bruce DNS the race.
These problems would continue over the whole season, the only three points of the season were scored by Bruce McLaren in rounds 4 (GBR) and 8 (USA) ending sixth and fifth, respectively. All other races ended early for the McLaren crew, or they did not start at all.
After both M4B and M5A cars, built for the 1967 season, did not result in great success (the best result in 1967 was the Monaco Grand Prix, where McLaren failed the podium with fourth place).
1968-1983: Ford-Cosworth DFV engines
For the 1968 season, Denny Hulme joined the McLaren F1 team after having raced for the company in Can-Am (in the years of 1967-1971, where McLaren cars were obviously unbeatable, crushing the competition with multiple 1-2-3-finishes, due to which Can-Am was, during that period, later called "The Bruce and Denny show").
After two non-championship races won by the drivers, one by Hulme and one by Bruce, respectively, they finally got to celebrate their first championship win at race 4 of 12, as Bruce McLaren won the 1968 Belgian Grand Prix. With two further victories by Hulme (round 8 and 10, Italian and Canadian GP), they claimed second place in the constructor's championship.
The 1969 championship was less victorious than 1968, with McLaren-Ford finishing fourth, behind all three other manufacturers using the "Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8"-engine. At the end of the season, they had used four different chassis (the M7A, M7B, M7C as well as the four-wheel-drive M9A, the last mentioned only used at McLaren's home Grand Prix (British GP) by Derek Bell).
1972-1982
In 1972, Bruce McLaren died mid-season while testing the new M8D Can-Am car. Teddy Mayer took over effective control of the team, and Hulme continued the season with Dan Gurney and Peter Gethin partnering him.
The only remarkable season for McLaren between 1972 and 1982 was 1974, marking the first Constructor's and the first Driver's championship for McLaren at the same time, as Emerson Fittipaldi, who had joined the team for the same season, after winning the World Drivers' Championship title with Lotus two years prior, in 1972.
The 1974 McLaren chassis was the M23, which is the first car resembling modern F1 cars, while previous cars were rather round-shaped.
TAG-Porsche 1.5 litres V6 engines (1983-1987)
Since the early 1980s, Ferrari, Renault and Brabham favored 1.5-litre turbocharged engines over the N/A engines, which then established to become the new standard. While 1983 presented only one special victory for McLaren (Watson winning from 22nd on the grid after qualifying), 1984 would be a turning point:
Having left the team after his debut season in Formula 1, in 1980, Alain Prost returned to drive for McLaren Racing in 1984 to partner double world champion Niki Lauda in the McLaren MP 4/2. The drivers held 12 victories in total, and although Lauda was responsible for only 5 of them, he won the Driver's World Championship by half a point, against Prost. Having by far the two best drivers of the field (according to the official points and statistics, anyway), it was no surprise that they claimed the Constructor's Championship a second time, with two-and-a-half times as many constructors' points as Ferrari, their nearest rival. After the season, McLaren switched from Michelin to The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company as tyre supplier.
McLaren Racing's dominance did not stop at the end of the 1984 season: the 1985 season brought McLaren's third Constructors Championship, with Prost winning the Drivers' Championship.
After the two dominant seasons for McLaren Racing, the Williams Grand Prix Engineering took the Constructors' Championship with Honda engines, while the Drivers' trophy was once again lifted by Prost, who remained at the team in contrast to Niki Lauda, who retired a second time (after his first retirement (1979) as a consequence to his heavy crash nine years prior in a Ferrari at the 1976 German Grand Prix (Nürburgring)). In 1987, the MP4/3 could not hold up to the dreams of claiming another Championship against the Honda-powered Williams.
Honda-engined dominance (1988-1991)
Ron Dennis signed the Brazilian Ayrton Senna as driver to partner Alain Prost, and the turbocharged Honda-engine in the MP4/4 provided best chances to satisfy both the drivers and Dennis. Actually, the McLaren drivers were battling each other very hardly, and while winning 15 out of the 16 races that season, the hard-fighting Senna took the title at Suzuka Circuit (round 15). Prost though complained about Senna, who had squeezed him against the pit wall.
The next year did not better the drivers' relation, as Prost felt like Senna was favoured by Dennis and Honda, and announced to leave to Ferrari for the next season. Anyway, he won the Drivers' title in Suzuka, after a crash for which Senna was disqualified, as McLaren earned their fifth Constructors' Championship win.
The margin to the next team, though, became smaller each year, with Ferrari (1990) and Williams (1991) were the winners' closest challengers. Twice again, Senna won the Driver's Championship, making him three-times Formula One World Champion (1988, 1990, 1991). McLaren continued to earn two titles, thus having a four-year run as champion.
1992-1994: Honda, Ford, Lamborghini and Peugeot engines
In 1992, Williams overtook McLaren in terms of points, leaving the team on second place, twice in a row, with a Honda engine in 1992 (Honda withdrew from the sport at the end of that same season) and a Ford engine in 1993. Finally, at the end of the 1993 season, Senna left McLaren to sign with Williams.
Mika Häkkinen was promoted to the race team in 1994 after having moved to McLaren as a test driver in 1993. Ahead of the next season, McLaren used a Lamborghini V12 engine before choosing Peugeot as their engine supplier for 1994. After just one season, McLaren dropped Peugeot due to unreliability.
Mercedes engines (1995-2014)
After the 1995 season, which was very unsuccessful for McLaren, David Coulthard entered the team alongside Mika Häkkinen for 1996. During his first season at McLaren, however, he did not manage to win a single race, and neither did Häkkinen, marking a third successive year without a single win.
The 1997 season started much better: Coulthard won the season-opener in Australia, and both drivers scored another win during the season. Their biggest issue was the technical unreliability of the bolides, as Häkkinen had to give up before crossing the finish line while racing in first place twice during the season.
As Williams lost the works Renault engines in 1998 and a set of new technical regulations was introduced, the team managed to win a sixth Constructors' Championship, and Häkkinen won the Drivers' trophy. The subsequent season again brought a combination of drive errors and mechanical failures, and despite Häkkinen's second Drivers' Championship in a row, the team was not able to finish at the top of the Constructors' standings in 1999.
The next years did not provide any chance to beat Ferrari and Michael Schumacher, although Kimi Räikkönen won multiple races in his early years in Formula 1, as he replaced fellow Finn Mika Häkkinen. After finishing fifth in the Drivers' Championship in 2006, Räikkönen left the team for a contract with Ferrari, where he would become World Champion in 2007.
Lewis Hamilton started his Formula One career alongside Fernando Alonso in the 2007 season, which would become a very controversial season for both the drivers and the team: Alonso had issues with the competitiveness of Lewis Hamilton, and although both scored four wins each, Kimi Räikkönen in the Ferrari would claim the trophy after winning the final race in Brazil and ending up one point ahead of both McLaren drivers. Alonso left McLaren for the 2008 season.
While both drivers were fighting each other, the team was found guilty and fined $100 Million for having technical blueprints of Ferrari's car, after the management had blamed one single "rogue engineer" at the first hearing.
2008 proved to be a successful year for Lewis Hamilton who would claim first place in the overall standings over some controversies and a dramatic overtake in the final corner of the season. His teammate, Heikki Kovalainen, did not manage to win more than one Grand prix and only finished seventh.
After Ron Dennis had retired ahead of the season, 2009 proved to still be more catastrophic; the MP4-24 was clearly off the pace, and despite winning two Grand Prix late-season and placing himself first on the grid four times, Hamilton finished fifth in the Drivers' standings, with Kovalainen finding himself far off pace only scoring 22 points (12th) over the whole season.
For the 2010 season, McLaren-Mercedes lost its status as Mercedes works team, but they have continued using customer Mercedes-Benz engines for five more years until 2014. Jenson Button replaced Kovalainen after disappointing results. Despite scoring five wins in total, McLaren lost the championships to Red Bull and Sebastian Vettel, with Lewis and Jenson only finishing P4 and P5 respectively.
In 2011, the team stayed second with Red Bull in first place, but Button finished ahead of his teammate in second place, while Hamilton dropped to fifth.
The 2012 season ended with Hamilton and Button in fourth and fifth, while the team was overtaken by Ferrari and Kimi Räikkönen (P3).
The 2013 season was the first since 1980 that McLaren did not score a single podium finish. Sergio Pérez, who had come to replace Hamilton (he signed with Mercedes, where he currently drives for the tenth season), lost his driver place after a disappointing season ending in P11 for him. His teammate Button struggled with the car, too, and finished in P9, only two spots higher.
Although Ron Dennis returned as CEO, they had a rather unsuccessful season with Kevin Magnussen replacing Pérez, and thus switched from Mercedes back to Honda engines.
Return to Honda (2015-2017)
Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button were appointed race drivers from 2015-2016, while Magnussen was demoted to test driver. McLaren Racing finished in ninth place in the Constructors' Championship, which was the team's worst performance since 1980, and the following season saw them climbing up three places to sixth in the constructors' standings.
In 2017, Button stepped down from his racing seat, and reserve driver Stoffel Vandoorne took his place alongside Alonso for the 2017 season. The driver pairing again failed to score many points, with the best result over the whole season being sixth for Fernando Alonso at the Hungarian Grand Prix. In total, they collected only 30 points, leaving them in P9 in the constructors' standings. Jenson Button returned once in the season to replace Fernando Alonso for the Monaco GP who himself participated in the Indianapolis 500, an IndyCar series.
Renault's three year-deal (2018-2020)
For 2018, radical changes were needed and they turned to Renault as engine supplier for a three-year deal. The driver pairing of Alonso and Vandoorne, however, was set to remain. Lando Norris, a British young driver who signed in February 2017 to McLaren's Young Driver Programme, was set to be test and reserve driver. As the drivers did not achieve their goal of fighting Red Bull, ending up at a little more than one sixth of the declared opponent's points, leaving them in sixth place overall.
2019, they replaced Alonso who initially retired from F1 after the four years with McLaren with Lando Norris, and Carlos Sainz was offered a contract after his employment first at Toro Rosso (2015-2017) and Renault (2018 season). While Carlos has stayed with the team for two years, Lando is still driving for McLaren in his fourth Formula One season.
The 2019 season turned out to end positively for McLaren establishing themselves as "Best of the Rest" (P4 in Constructors' Championship behind Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari). Sainz scored a podium, which had not happened since 2014.
The 2020 season, ended once more one place higher than the year before: scoring 202 points in the shortened season (CoVid-19), they placed themselves in P3, ahead of Racing-Point (Ferrari had a catastrophic season that ended in P6 with only 131 points). In total, they secured two podiums, and held the award for the fastest lap in three races, showing that the new McLaren-Renault team was competitive again, after years of internal crises.
Mercedes engines (2021-present)
Carlos Sainz left the team to Ferrari and was replaced by Daniel Ricciardo (Renault) to drive the new MCL35M. The season proved to be quite successful for the team with the only 1-2-finish for any team during the season at the Italian Grand Prix at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza. Despite this victory they lost the battle for third place in the Constructors' Championship against Ferrari, with Mercedes dominating the whole season and Red Bull, who built the car for World Champion Max Verstappen, second with a margin of 252 championship points.
For 2022, the FIA brought quite a few new regulations, read more about this season.
