McLaren

This article is about the Formula One team. For the parent company, see McLaren Group. For other uses, see McLaren (disambiguation).

McLaren-Mercedes

Full name	Vodafone McLaren Mercedes
Base	Woking, Surrey, United Kingdom 51°20′45″N 0°32′52″W
Team principal(s)	Martin Whitmarsh
Technical director/s	Paddy Lowe Neil Oatley
Formula One World Championship career
First entry	1966 Monaco Grand Prix
Last entry	2024 Belgian Grand Prix
Races entered	668
Constructors' Championships	8 (1974, 1984, 1985, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1998)
Drivers' Championships	12 (1974, 1976, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1998, 1999, 2008)
Race victories	165
Pole positions	145
Fastest laps	137
2009 position	3rd (71 points)

McLaren Racing Limited, trading as Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, is a Formula One team based in Woking, Surrey, United Kingdom. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor but has also competed in the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race and Canadian-American Challenge Cup (Can-Am). The team is the second oldest and one of the most successful teams in Formula One, having won 165 races, 12 Drivers' Championships and 8 Constructors' Championships.

Founded in 1963 by New Zealander Bruce McLaren, the team won its first Grand Prix at the 1968 Belgian Grand Prix but their greatest initial success was in Can-Am, where they dominated from 1967 to 1971. Further American triumph followed, with Indianapolis 500 wins in McLaren cars for Mark Donohue in 1972 and Johnny Rutherford in 1974 and 1976. After Bruce McLaren died 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. 1974 also marked the start of a long standing sponsorship by Phillip Morris' Marlboro cigarette brand.

In 1981 McLaren merged with Ron Dennis' Project Four Racing; Dennis took over as team principal and shortly after organised a buyout of the original McLaren shareholders to take full control of the team. This began the team's most successful era: with Porsche and Honda engines, drivers Niki Lauda, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna took between them seven Drivers' Championships and McLaren six Constructors' Championships. The combination of Prost and Senna was particularly dominant—together they won all but one race in 1988—but later their rivalry soured and Prost left for Ferrari. Fellow English team Williams offered the most consistent challenge during this period, the two 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, further championships came in 1998 and 1999 and during the 2000s the team were consistent front-runners, driver Lewis Hamilton taking their latest title in 2008. In 2009 Dennis retired as team principal and as chairman of the McLaren Group, of which the racing team is part, handing the former role to longtime McLaren employee Martin Whitmarsh.

Origins

Bruce McLaren founded McLaren and was team principal from 1966 to 1970

Bruce McLaren Motor Racing was founded in 1963 by New Zealander Bruce McLaren. Bruce was works driver for the Cooper Formula One team with whom he had won three Grands Prix and come second in the 1960 World Championship. Wanting to compete in the Australasian Tasman Series, Bruce approached his employers, but when team owner Charles Cooper insisted on using 1.5 litre Formula One-spec engines instead of the 2.5 litre motors permitted by the Tasman rules, Bruce decided to set-up his own team to run him and young team mate Timmy Mayer with custom-built Cooper cars. Bruce won the 1964 series, but Mayer was killed in practice for the final race, prompting his brother and manager Teddy Mayer to become involved with the running of the team.

Racing history: Formula One

1960s

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

Bruce McLaren made the team’s Grand Prix debut at the 1966 Monaco race driving the M2B. 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: a 3.0 litre version of Ford's Indy engine and a Serenissima V8 (a descendant of the old ATS V8) were both used, the latter scoring the team's first point in Britain, but both were underpowered and unreliable. For 1967 Bruce decided to use a British Racing Motors V12 engine, but due to delays with the engine, was forced initially to use a modified Formula Two car called the M4B powered by a 2.1 litre BRM V8, later building a similar but slightly larger car called the M5A for the V12. Neither car brought any great success, the best result being a fourth at Monaco.

Original McLaren kiwi logo; a New Zealand icon.

For 1968, after driving McLaren's sole entry for the previous two years, Bruce was joined by 1967 champion and fellow New Zealander Denny Hulme in the new M7A. This car was powered by Cosworth's new DFV engine which would go on to be used by McLaren until 1983. Bruce won the Race of Champions at the Brands Hatch circuit and Hulme won the International Trophy at Silverstone, before Bruce took the team's first Championship win at the Belgian Grand Prix. Hulme also won the Italian Grand Prix and Canadian Grand Prix later in the year, helping the team to second in the constructors' championship. 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. That year McLaren experimented with four-wheel drive in the M9A but the car had only a single outing driven by Derek Bell at the British Grand Prix; Bruce described driving it as like "trying to write your signature with somebody jogging your elbow".

1970s

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

In June 1970, Bruce McLaren was killed in a crash at Goodwood while testing the new M8D Can-Am car. After his death, Teddy Mayer took over effective control of the team. McLaren went winless in Formula One 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.

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.

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) 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. 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. Hunt won three times 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.

1980s and early 1990s dominance

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

The current McLaren team resulted from a merger of the McLaren team and Ron Dennis' personal Formula Two team, called Project Four Racing, 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, pressured McLaren chairman Teddy Mayer to accept the merger with Dennis' team. This was in effect a reverse takeover with the Formula One constructor becoming McLaren International.

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 turbocharged engines which carried the name of his company, Techniques d'Avant Garde (TAG).

Equipped with Honda power and the driving strength of Prost and Ayrton Senna for 1988, McLaren dominated the season, winning all but one race. Senna won his first world championship after a season-long battle with Prost.

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 convinced Honda to switch its backing from Williams starting in 1988. The McLaren-Honda MP4/4 won 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 3.5 L naturally-aspirated Honda engine, 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. Believing that Honda and Ron Dennis viewed Senna as the future of the team, Prost announced in July that he would not remain with the team. By Suzuka, the Brazilian had two cars and 20 people around him, while the Frenchman had one car with maybe four or five mechanics. In support of Senna, who had finished the race first but was subsequently disqualified, McLaren appealed unsuccessfully.

Alain Prost left to join the Ferrari team in 1990. Nevertheless, McLaren continued to top Formula One for the next two seasons. Despite stiff challenges from Prost and Nigel Mansell in the Ferraris, Senna won the Drivers' Championship in 1990 using the MP4/5 and again in 1991 using the V12 MP4/6. McLaren also won the constructors title in both of those years. New teammate Gerhard Berger helped to ensure this double success and the McLaren drivers often played pranks on each other to lighten the atmosphere.

Mid-1990s decline

By 1993, Honda had withdrawn from F1 and the team used underpowered Ford V8 engines to power the MP4/8. Although Ayrton Senna (pictured at the German GP) won five races, McLaren was not a match for the dominant Williams team. After the 1993 Australian Grand Prix, the team failed to win a race until 1997.

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 after scoring his solitary podium at Monza. Senna initially agreed only to a race-by-race contract, 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 after winning the final two races of the year. Concluding the season on a high, McLaren announced they were to begin a challenge for the land speed record. However, as results began to decline in the following seasons the plan was quietly shelved.

At the end of the 1993 season, McLaren took part in a seven part BBC Two series called A Season With McLaren, detailing the team's 1993 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-branded, Ilmor-designed engine. But 1995 was even worse, with the radical MP4/10 proving to be too heavy and slow. Former world-champion Nigel Mansell came to the team, 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.

Late 1990s return to form

Mika Häkkinen won the 1998 and 1999 world drivers' championships for McLaren, with the team also taking the constructors' crown in 1998. He is shown here at the 1999 Canadian Grand Prix, an event which he won.

While Williams dominated F1 in 1996 and 1997, McLaren made slow, careful strides with its Mercedes engine and drivers Häkkinen and David Coulthard. Coulthard made a promising start to the 1997 season by winning the Australian Grand Prix, and Coulthard and Häkkinen won another race each before the end of the year, whilst in August, highly-rated designer Adrian Newey joined from Williams. Despite the car's improved pace, unreliability proved costly throughout the season, with retirements at Britain and Luxembourg occurring whilst leading the race.

The fact that McLaren now had Newey on board, along with the withdrawal of Renault at the end of 1997 and the new regulations allowed McLaren to mount a strong challenge in 1998, with one source 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. A system that McLaren had developed the previous year that allowed individual rear brakes to be operated on the own in order to reduce understeer was banned at the second race in Brazil after a protest by Ferrari. Häkkinen won the Drivers' Championship 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.

Ron Dennis, team principal 1980–2009, at the 2000 Monaco Grand Prix

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 one win each for Coulthard and Räikkönen at the first two grands prix. 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. This forced the team to use the year-old MP4-17D, a very severe handicap in modern Formula One racing. Despite this, Räikkönen finished in the points consistently and challenged Michael Schumacher for the championship up to the very last race, eventually losing by only two 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.

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 a shoulder injury while allegedly playing tennis. The general unreliability of the car cost McLaren 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 and win both titles. Reflecting on an competitive but ultimately unsuccessful season for the team, Ron Dennis remarked that "We feel our championship efforts were thwarted by our conservative approach to the first four races."

2006

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

In 2006 the team failed to build on their good form from the latter half of 2005. Despite being near the top of the field, the superior reliability and speed of the Ferraris and Renaults prevented the team from gaining any race victories that year, something not seen for a decade at McLaren. 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 replaced by test driver Pedro de la Rosa 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.

In 2007, Steve Matchett argued that the poor reliability of McLaren in 2006 and recent previous years was due to a lack of team continuity and stability. 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.

2007

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

The 2007 season saw Fernando Alonso, who had been contracted over a year previously, join the team alongside F1 rookie and long-time McLaren protege Lewis Hamilton. Alonso and Hamilton scored four race wins each over the course of the season, with Hamilton finishing on the podium for his first 9 races including his maiden win at the Canadian Grand Prix. The team were also involved in a number of controversies during the season. Alonso was judged to have deliberately impeded his team-mate during qualifying at the Hungarian Grand Prix, and the FIA ruled that the team should not be allowed to score constructors points at the event. More seriously, the team were found guilty of obtaining a rival team's technical information and after two hearings by the governing body, were disqualified from the constructors' championship.

The drivers were allowed to continue without penalty, and Hamilton led the drivers' championship heading into the final race in Brazil, with Alonso also still in contention, four points adrift. In the end, neither driver was able to clinch the title; Räikkönen won the race and the drivers' championship in the Ferrari. In November, Alonso and McLaren agreed to terminate their by mutual consent with neither party paying a financial penalty.

2008

Hamilton won the season-opening race in Australia; he went on to win the title.

For 2008, Heikki Kovalainen moved from Renault to replace Alonso in the second seat alongside Hamilton. The season provided a close fight between Hamilton and the Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Räikkönen. By the midway point of the season, the three were equal on points, Hamilton having won in Australia, Monaco and Britain (his first on home soil). A win at the following Grand Prix at the Hockenheimring meant Hamilton led the championship whilst, despite crossing the finish line first, at the Belgian Grand Prix he was deemed to have gained an illegal advantage by cutting a chicane during an overtake and was controversially demoted to third. Two more podiums and a win in China gave Hamilton a seven point lead over Massa going into the final race in Brazil, where he dramatically clinched his first Drivers' Championship and McLaren's twelfth and their first in nine years by moving into the necessary fifth position at the final corner of the race. Despite winning his first Grand Prix in Hungary, Kovalainen finished the season only seventh in the overall standings, allowing Massa and Räikkönen to take Ferrari to the constructors' title.

2009

Lewis Hamilton driving for McLaren at the 2009 Turkish Grand Prix.

Before the start of the 2009 season, Dennis retired from his position as team principal, handing responsibility to Martin Whitmarsh. But the year started badly: the MP4-24 car was off the pace, and the team was given a three race suspended ban after having been deemed to have misled stewards at the Australian and Malaysian Grands Prix. In April, Dennis also retired as chairman of the McLaren Group, ostensibly to concentrate on McLaren Automotive, although there speculation that it was in order to placate the FIA in their judgement about the Australian Grand Prix. Despite these early problems, a late revival saw Hamilton score wins at the Hungarian and Singapore Grands Prix and the team finished third in the constructors' championship.

Throughout the first half of the year McLaren, along with all other members of Formula One Teams Association (FOTA), were involved in a dispute over regulations for the following season. Whilst they initially threatened to leave Formula One and form a rival series, the dispute was eventually resolved with the signing of a new Concorde Agreement in August.

2010

Jenson Button driving for McLaren at the 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix.

For 2010, reigning world champion Jenson Button replaced Kovalainen alongside Hamilton. This gives them the distinction of having the two most-recent World Champions, and the sport's first double-champion driver line-up since Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost – also driving for McLaren – in 1989.

Following Mercedes' acquisition of a 75.1% stake in Brawn GP, which is being re-branded as Mercedes GP for the 2010 Formula One season, the McLaren Group will rebuy the 40% stake owned by Daimler in phases that will be completed in 2011. Mercedes will continue as a sponsor and engine supplier to McLaren until 2015. One of the reasons for the split was McLaren's plan to increase its share in the roadcar market with the McLaren MP4-12C which will be launched in 2011.

The 2010 car was launched on 29 January 2010 in Vodafone's Headquarters in Newbury. The 2010 car will be called the MP4-25.

Racing history: other series

Can-Am

The McLaren M1A sports car of 1964 was the team's first self-designed car.

McLaren's first Can-Am entrant was the M1B, which debuted in the series' inaugral, 1966 season, driven by Bruce and Chris Amon. The following year Denny Hulme partnered Bruce in the purpose-designed M6A, the first cars in McLaren orange, and the pair won five out of six races on the way to Bruce winning the championship, setting the pattern for the next four years. In 1968 with the new M8 car they repeated their feat of winning five from six but this time Hulme was victorious overall, whilst in 1969 they went even further by winning all eleven races. Bruce McLaren won six races, Hulme five, and Bruce won the driver's championship.

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. Hulme also won three Can-Am races in 1972 but the McLaren M20 was defeated by the Porsche 917/10s of Mark Donohue and George Follmer. McLaren decided to abandon the Can-Am series at the end of 1972, focussing solely on Formula One and USAC. When the original Can-Am series ceased at the end of 1974, McLaren were by far the most successful constructor with 43 wins.

Indianapolis 500

The McLaren M16C was driven by Peter Revson in the 1973 Indianapolis 500

McLaren first contested the Indianapolis 500 at the 1970 event. Hulme was severely burned on the hands in an incident in practice. Peter Revson replaced Hulme but retired from the race. The following year Revson qualified on pole position 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, whilst in 1972 Johnny Rutherford took pole position in the "works" M16C and Mark Donohue won the race driving a McLaren-Offenhauser run by Roger Penske. 1974 marked their first Indianapolis 500 win, again with Rutherford at the wheel. The McLaren/Rutherford combination took second in 1975 and won again in 1976, making McLaren the first team to twice win the Indianapolis 500 and the Formula One World Championship in the same year. McLaren ended their American involvement at the end of the 1979 CART season after increasingly poor returns from the series.

Sponsorship, naming and livery

McLaren's Formula One team was originally called Bruce McLaren Motor Racing and for their first season ran white-and-green coloured cars as a result of a deal with the makers of the film Grand Prix. The most famous livery in the early years was the all-orange one of 1968–1971, also used in Can-Am and at the Indianapolis 500 and revived ocassionally for pre-season testing in later years. In 1972, Yardley cosmetics company became the title sponsor and the colour scheme changed to a predominantly white one. In 1974, Philip Morris joined as title sponsor through their Marlboro cigarette brand, whilst one car continued to run — ostensibly by a separate team — with Yardley livery for the year. Marlboro's red-and-white branding lasted until 1996, during which time the team went by various names incorporating the word "Marlboro", making it the then longest running Formula One sponsorhip (now surpassed by Hugo Boss's 1981–present deal with McLaren). It was then replaced by Reemtsma's West branding and a silver-and-black livery in 1997, the official name becoming West McLaren Mercedes.

By mid-2005, a European Union directive banning tobacco advertising caused McLaren to end its assosciation with West. For the 2006 season a red-and-silver colour scheme was adopted as they went without a title sponsor and were known simply as Team McLaren Mercedes, before the start of their current deal with Vodafone in 2007, since when the official team name has been Vodafone McLaren Mercedes. Aside from title sponsors, other current sponsors and suppliers include Diageo (Johnnie Walker whisky brand), Aigo, FedEx, Hugo Boss, H&R, Hilton Hotels, Mobil 1, Santander, SAP, Lenovo, Sparco, X-Trade Brokers and Reebok.

McLaren's early cars were named simply with the letter M followed by a number and sometimes a letter denoting the model. Since the 1981 merger with Project 4, the cars have been called "MP4/x", or since 2001 "MP4-x", where x is the generation of the chassis (e.g. MP4/1, MP4-22). "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 in 1997, MP4 is now, rather conveniently, said to stand for McLaren-Project 4.

Formula One results

Main article: McLaren Grand Prix results

(italics indicates non-works entries; bold indicates championships won)

Season	Name	Car	Tyres	Engine	Oil	Drivers	WCC Position
2010	Vodafone McLaren Mercedes	MP4-25	B	Mercedes-Benz	Mobil	Jenson Button Lewis Hamilton	2nd (54 pts)*
2009	Vodafone McLaren Mercedes	MP4-24	B	Mercedes-Benz	Mobil	Lewis Hamilton Heikki Kovalainen	3rd (71 pts)
2008	Vodafone McLaren Mercedes	MP4-23	B	Mercedes-Benz	Mobil	Lewis Hamilton Heikki Kovalainen	2nd (151 pts)
2007	Vodafone McLaren Mercedes	MP4-22	B	Mercedes-Benz	Mobil	Fernando Alonso Lewis Hamilton	Excluded† (203‡/218 pts) (2nd‡/1st)
2006	Team McLaren Mercedes	MP4-21	M	Mercedes-Benz	Mobil	Kimi Räikkönen Juan Pablo Montoya Pedro de la Rosa	3rd (110 pts)
2005	Team McLaren Mercedes / West McLaren Mercedes	MP4-20	M	Mercedes-Benz	Mobil	Kimi Räikkönen Juan Pablo Montoya Pedro de la Rosa Alexander Wurz	2nd (182 pts)
2004	West McLaren Mercedes	MP4-19 MP4-19B	M	Mercedes-Benz	Mobil	David Coulthard Kimi Räikkönen	5th (69 pts)
2003	West McLaren Mercedes	MP4-17D	M	Mercedes-Benz	Mobil	David Coulthard Kimi Räikkönen	3rd (142 pts)
2002	West McLaren Mercedes	MP4-17	M	Mercedes-Benz	Mobil	David Coulthard Kimi Räikkönen	3rd (65 pts)
2001	West McLaren Mercedes	MP4-16	B	Mercedes-Benz	Mobil	Mika Häkkinen David Coulthard	2nd (102 pts)
2000	West McLaren Mercedes	MP4/15	B	Mercedes-Benz	Mobil	Mika Häkkinen David Coulthard	2nd (152 pts)
1999	West McLaren Mercedes	MP4/14	B	Mercedes-Benz	Mobil	Mika Häkkinen David Coulthard	2nd (124 pts)
1998	West McLaren Mercedes	MP4/13	B	Mercedes-Benz	Mobil	Mika Häkkinen David Coulthard	Champion (156 pts)
1997	West McLaren Mercedes	MP4/12	G	Mercedes-Benz	Mobil	Mika Häkkinen David Coulthard	4th (63 pts)
1996	Marlboro McLaren Mercedes	MP4/11	G	Mercedes-Benz	Mobil	Mika Häkkinen David Coulthard	4th (49 pts)
1995	Marlboro McLaren Mercedes	MP4/10 MP4/10B MP4/10C	G	Mercedes-Benz	Mobil	Mika Häkkinen Nigel Mansell Mark Blundell Jan Magnussen	4th (30 pts)
1994	Marlboro McLaren Peugeot	MP4/9	G	Peugeot	Shell	Mika Häkkinen Martin Brundle Philippe Alliot	4th (42 pts)
1993	Marlboro McLaren	MP4/8	G	Ford	Shell	Ayrton Senna Michael Andretti Mika Häkkinen	2nd (84 pts)
1992	Honda Marlboro McLaren	MP4/6B MP4/7A	G	Honda	Shell	Ayrton Senna Gerhard Berger	2nd (99 pts)
1991	Honda Marlboro McLaren	MP4/6	G	Honda	Shell	Ayrton Senna Gerhard Berger	Champion (139 pts)
1990	Honda Marlboro McLaren	MP4/5B	G	Honda	Shell	Ayrton Senna Gerhard Berger	Champion (121 pts)
1989	Honda Marlboro McLaren	MP4/5	G	Honda	Shell	Ayrton Senna Alain Prost	Champion (141 pts)
1988	Honda Marlboro McLaren	MP4/4	G	Honda	Shell	Alain Prost Ayrton Senna	Champion (199 pts)
1987	Marlboro McLaren International	MP4/3	G	TAG (Porsche)	Shell	Alain Prost Stefan Johansson	2nd (76 pts)
1986	Marlboro McLaren International	MP4/2C	G	TAG (Porsche)	Shell	Alain Prost Keke Rosberg	2nd (96 pts)
1985	Marlboro McLaren International	MP4/2B	G	TAG (Porsche)	Shell	Niki Lauda Alain Prost John Watson	Champion (90 pts)
1984	Marlboro McLaren International	MP4/2	M	TAG (Porsche)	Shell	Niki Lauda Alain Prost	Champion (143.5 pts)
1983	Marlboro McLaren International	MP4/1C MP4/1E	M	Ford TAG (Porsche)	Unipart	Niki Lauda John Watson	5th (43 pts)
1982	Marlboro McLaren International	MP4/1B	M	Ford	Unipart	Niki Lauda John Watson	2nd (69 pts)
1981	Marlboro McLaren International	M29C M29F MP4/1	M	Ford	Unipart	John Watson Andrea de Cesaris	6th (28 pts)
1980	Marlboro Team McLaren	M29B M29C M30	G	Ford	Castrol	John Watson Alain Prost Stephen South	8th (11 pts)
1979	Marlboro Team McLaren Löwenbräu Team McLaren	M26 M28 M28B M28C M29	G	Ford	Castrol	John Watson Patrick Tambay	7th (15 pts)
1978	Marlboro Team McLaren Liggett Group/BS Fabrications Centro Asegurador F1 Melchester Racing	M23 M26	G	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	G	Ford	Texaco	James Hunt Jochen Mass Gilles Villeneuve Bruno Giacomelli Brett Lunger Emilio de Villota	3rd (60 pts)
1976	Marlboro Team McLaren	M23	G	Ford	Texaco	James Hunt Jochen Mass	2nd (75 pts)
1975	Marlboro Team Texaco Lucky Strike Racing	M23	G	Ford	Texaco	Emerson Fittipaldi Jochen Mass Dave Charlton	3rd (63 pts)
1974	Marlboro Team Texaco Yardley Team McLaren Scribante Lucky Strike Racing	M23	G	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	G	Ford	Gulf	Denny Hulme Peter Revson Jody Scheckter Jacky Ickx	3rd (58 pts)
1972	Yardley Team McLaren	M19A M19C	G	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	G	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	G F	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	G D	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	G	Ford BRM	Shell	Denny Hulme Bruce McLaren Jo Bonnier Dan Gurney	2nd (49 pts) 10th (3 pts)
1967	Bruce McLaren Motor Racing	M4B M5A M7A	G	BRM	Shell	Bruce McLaren	8th (3 pts)
1966	Bruce McLaren Motor Racing	M2B	F	Ford Serenissima	Europa	Bruce McLaren	9th (2 pts) 11th (1 pt)

^* Season in progress.
^† Excluded due to breach of Article 151(c) of the International Sporting Code.
^‡ Not awarded points for 2007 Hungarian Grand Prix.

References

Bibliography

• Henry, Alan (1999). McLaren: Formula 1 Racing Team. Haynes. ISBN 1-85960-425-0. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Rubython, Tom (2006-10-14). The Life of Senna (1st softback ed.). BusinessF1 Books. ISBN 0-9546857-3-3. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Tremayne, David; Hughes, Mark (1998). The Concise Encyclopedia of Formula One. Dempsey Parr. ISBN 1-84084-037-4. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

External links

• The official site of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes F1 Racing Team
• @TheFifthDriver: McLaren's official Twitter page
• Bruce McLaren Trust
• McLaren's statistics in Formula One