Mclaren team was founded in 1963 by New Zealander Bruce Mclaren, is a Formula One team from England. Mclaren is known as a formula one constructor but has also competed in Indianapolis 500-mile race, Canadian-American Challenge Cup and 24 Hours of Le Mans races. Today Mcalren is one of the most successful teams in formula one, having won one hundred and fifty five races, eleven drivers championships and eight constructor championships.
The team made their debut at 1966 Monaco Grand Prix. The team couldn't do much that year due to a poor engine. Ironically Jack Brabham adopted an engine, similar to one Bruce Mclaren was using in his early sports cars, and won the 1966 and 1967 constructors championships. Through those years the Mclaren team competed with only one car in the championship, with Bruce Mclaren driving it. Bruce also competed in the Can Am championship that year, alongside with Denny Hulme, and together they won five out of the six races of the championship.
In 1968 the first championship win came for the team in the Belgian Grand Prix, and Denny Hulme won the Italian and the Canadian Grand Prix later that year. Bruce continued the success with three more podiums in 1969 and the season ended with another win in the Mexican Grnd Prix by Denny Hulme. In Can Am the Mclaren team won all eleven races of the championship. Bruce Mclaren won six and Denny Hulme won the other five, and Bruce won the driver's championship.
Mclaren had a disastrous beginning in the 1970s. The team entered Indianapolis 500 for the first time but Denny Hulme had an accident in practise and severely burned his hands. Peter Revson replaced him but retired from the race. On June 2 1970 Bruce Mclaren was killed in a crash at Goodwood while testing the new M8D Can Am car. Twelve days after Mclaren's death Dan Gurney won the opening Can Am race for Mclaren at Mosport in 1970. Mclaren won nine of the ten races, ending the season with Denny Hulme winning the championship. In 1971 Mclaren won eight races and Peter Revson won the title. Mclaren decided to abandon the Can Am races at the end of 1972 and focus on formula one and USAC. The Can Am series ceased at the end of 1974 with Mclaren being by far the most successful constructor with forty-three wins.
In 1974 Emerson Fittipaldi joined Mclaren, under the direction of Teddy Mayer. The team won the first constructors championship and the drivers championship that year with Fittipaldi and their first Indianapolis 500 win with Johnny Rutherford. 1975 was a less successful season for Mclaren as Fittipaldi was second in the championship and Rutherford was second at Indianapolis. At the end of 1975 Fittipaldi left Mclaren to join his brother's team Fittipaldi/Copersucar. Fittipaldi was replaced by James Hunt who won the drivers championship in 1976, beating Niki Lauda by a single point. Johnny Rutherford won the Indianapolis 500 that year making Mclaren the first team ever to twice accomplish both feats in the same year. The 1970s decade ended badly for Mclaren as the team won only three more Grand Prix with James Hunt.
In 1981 Ron Dennis and his business partners bought out the other Mclaren's shareholdres, Teddy Mayer and Tyler Alexander. Mclaren won the constructors championship in 1984 with Niki Lauda winning the Drivers championship, and in 1985 with Alain Prost winning the title. Mclaren did not win the constructors championship in 1986, although Alain Prost took the drivers title again. After losing the constructors championship in 1986 and 1987 from Williams, Mclaren was able to convince Honda to join them from Williams, starting in 1988. Mclaren won the 15 out of the 16 races and Ayrton Senna took the title that season. Mclaren won both titles (constructors and drivers) in 1989 with Alain Prost clinching it at the Japanese Grand Prix after a highly controversial collision with his teammate Senna. Alain Prost left Mclaren o join Ferrari in 1990. Mclaren dominated again with Senna in 1990 and 1991 winning both the drives and the constructors championship. Senna's new teammate Gerhard Berger helped to ensure this success.
After 1992 the domination of Mclaren began to fade. After Honda's departure from formula one, Mclaren started to use Ford engines in 1993. It proved to be competitive in Senna's hands. Michael Andretti's season was not good so he was replaced by the Finnish Mika Hakkinen, before the end of the year. During 1993 Mclaren was experimenting with a Laborghini engine which Senna reckoned it was worth racing. Ron Dennis chose Peugeot instead, Lamborghini's owners pulled the plug on the formula one programme and Senna departed for Williams at the end of the season.
Martin Brundle joined Mika Hakkinen in Mclaren, in 1994. The results was not so good and Peugeot was dropped after a year and Mercedes-Benz took their place. The new Mclaren-Mercedes was even worse in 1995. Former world champion Nigel Mansell joined the team, but he was unable to fit in the car and retired after just two races. 1996 was the end of an era for Mclaren as they parted company with long-term sponsors Marlboro with whom they had cooperation since 1974. The famous red and white Mclaren was replaced with Reemtsma's West branding and a silver Mercedes livery in 1997.
Williams dominated in 1996 and 1997 but Mclaren made slow and careful steps, with the Mercedes-powered car and Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard behind the wheel. Coulthard made an exciting start by winning the Australian Grand Prix but the car was not good enough to keep winning. At the Austalian Grand Prix in 1997 a photographer noticed that the brakes o the the Maclaren cars were glowing red in an acceleration zone of the track. After investigation it was discovered that Mclaren had installed a second break pedal, selectable by the driver to act on one of the rear wheels. This allowed the driver to eliminate understeer and reduce wheelspin when exiting slow corners, or more usefully as slowing one half of the car to turn the car into a corner and so brake later deep into the heart of the turn. This was not entirely legal. At the Luxeburg Grand Prix the two Mclarens retired so that was a chance for the photographer to take a picture on the car and the second break pedal and examine it. The story was run in the November issue of F1 Racing and lead to the system being dubbed "brake steer". Ferrari's protestations to the FIA lead to the system being banned at the 1998 Brazilian Grand Prix.
In 1997 the designer Adrian Newey joined Mclaren from Williams. But not only Adrian Newey had left Williams, but Renault did also, as they withdraw at the end of 1997 season. This allowed Mclaren to b very competitive in 1998. Mika Hakkinen won the drivers world championship and Mclaren won the constructors championship. Mika Hakkinen also won the title in 1999, but Mclaren lost the constructors championship to Ferrari despite an injured Michael Schumacher.
In 2000 Ferrari dominated in formula one, as Mclaren wa fghting to regain its place. But the combination of Michael Schumacher and Ferrari was unstoppable. In 2001 and 2002 Mclaren could not compete Ferrari. Mika Hakkinen retired from formula one after a bad season in 2001 and he was replaced by the also Finnish driver Kimi Raikkonen. In 2003 Mclaren had a very promising start with two wins (one for Raikkonen and on for Coulthard). But the car had problems of reliability. However Kimi Raikkonen manage to challenge Michael Schumacher all the way to the last race were he finally lost the title from him by only two points.
In 2005 Mclaren signed Juan Pablo Montoya from Williams, as the replacement of David Coulthard. This year Ferrari was not th only problem Mclaren, as Renault with Fernando Alonso was really competitive and finally Alonso won the title. On 19 December 2005 Mclaren announced the signing of Fernando Alonso for the 2007 season. In 2006 Ferrari announced that they had signed Kimi Raikkonen for 2007 as a replacement of Michael Schumacher. This was not a good season for Mclaren either, due to the reliability problems.
In 2007 Fernando Alonso joined Mclaren as Kimi Raikkonen's replacement, and Lewis Hamilton as Juan Pablo Montoya's replacement. It was a great season for Mclaren and the team was first in the championship without serious problems, but the team lost the championship to Ferrari when all of their points were taken away after being found guilty of using Ferrari's technical secrets. 780 pages of Ferrari's technical secrets were found in the possession of Mclaren. Mclaren had to pay a penalty of $100 million and the team's points were dropped to zero, so Mclaren lost the championship to Ferrari again.
Up to now Mclaren have raced 631 races and won 156 of them. They got 133 pole positions, 417 podiums, 44 double wins (1-2), and 135 fastest laps. The team won the constructors championship 8 times and the drivers championship 11 times. Based on the statistics Mclaren is without a doubt, one of the most successful teams in formula one.
