McLaren Grand Prix Team - Unofficial Page

History & Background to the McLaren GP Team.......

Origins of the team

• The McLaren team is ranked together with Williams and Ferrari as one of the grandee teams in F1, with sustained success over a long period of time in grand prix racing.

Bruce McLaren founder of the McLaren Team

• The present McLaren Team can trace its origins to Bruce McLaren, who followed Jack Brabham's example and formed his own racing team - Bruce McLaren Racing Ltd in 1963.

• The new team was successful in the CanAm North American sports car racing series and Tasman series in Australia and New Zealand. In 1966 Bruce Mclaren's team produced the M2 grand prix car designed by Robin Herd, and Bruce McLaren drove the car in the Monaco GP.

• The first GP win for the team came in 1968 when Bruce McLaren won the Belgian GP at the wheel of the Ford-cosworth powered M7A racing car.

• McLaren continued their success in the CanAm series but tragedy struck in 1970 when Bruce McLaren was killed at the Goodwood circuit when testing a CanAm sportscar.

The 1970s - Recovery and World Championship Success

• Despite this set back the McLaren team survived and the team principal became Teddy Mayer. In 1973 Gordon Coppuck McLaren's chief designer produced the highly successful M23 grand prix car. Emerson Fittipaldi joined the team with sponsorship from Texaco and Marlboro (Philip Morris Tobacco). The Marlboro connection was to be a major factor in the team for the next two decades.

Emerson Fittipaldi McLaren's first F1 World champion who later had a very successful career in Indycar racing

• In 1974 McLaren clinched the Drivers World Championship with Fittipaldi, driving the M23.

James Hunt the 1976 Drivers Champion

• Two years later, in 1976, the flamboyant James Hunt also driving the M23 took the Drivers World Championship by the narrowest of margins from Niki Lauda. But McLaren now had to wait until the mid-1980s before once more its drivers were to take the Drivers World Championship

1980s ......changes of management and the the glory years with Lauda, Prost and Senna

• In 1980 there was a merger brokered by Marlboro between the McLaren Team (who were having a lean time in terms of race results) and the dynamic Project Four racing team which was headed by Ron Dennis. Marlboro was the principal sponsor of both teams. Project Four had enjoyed success in other motor racing formulae - F2 and the BMW M1 ProCar series - but had plans to move into formula 1. For a short time Ron Dennis and Teddy Mayer were joint team principals but Ron Dennis soon became the sole principal of the merged team - McLaren International.

• TAG joined forces with McLaren and financed the building of a Porsche turbo engine to McLaren's specification. TAG became a major shareholder in McLaren International. In 1984, the TAG Porsche engines provided the means for McLaren's two drivers to be 1st and second in Drivers Championship - Nikki Lauda took the Drivers World Championship by half point from his team mate Alain Prost.

Niki Lauda took the 1984 Drivers Championship for McLaren

• In 1985, Alain Prost took the Drivers World Championship for McLaren.

Alain Prost - Three times World Champion with McLaren

• John Barnard, McLaren's chief designer, developed the advanced carbon fibre MP4/2 which gave the Drivers World Championship to Alain Prost for the second time in 1986.

Ayrton Senna - probably the greatest driver of his generation who took the World Championship 3 times for McLaren

• McLaren took over the Honda engine, when Honda withdrew from their contract with the Williams GP team, and combination of the McLaren chassis and Honda power gave the Drivers World Championship to Aryton Senna in 1988, Alain Prost 1989, Senna again in 1990 and 1991.

The lean years ..... rebuilding the team and returning to winning ways

• After these successes, Honda retired from GP racing and McLaren faced a difficult spell - with few victories and the loss of Marlboro its major sponsor.

• Despite these set backs, Ron Dennis has established a new partnership with Mercedes Benz as engine supplier. The Mercedes agreement has been extended and Damiler-Benz have taken a share holding in McLaren's holding company. McLaren's major sponsor is the West cigarette brand of Germany. The McLaren cars taking on a silver livery after years of Marlboro red. In 1998 McLaren switched from Goodyear to Bridgestone tyres (before Goodyear withdrew from F1 racing), becoming in effect Bridgstone's 'preferred team'.

Adrian Newey appointed technical director of McLaren International

• Ron Dennis also strengthened the McLaren design team by appointing Adrian Newey as technical director with effect from August 1997. Newey was previously with Williams as Chief Designer from 1990 and played a significant part in Williams success in winning five manufacturers' and four drivers' championships from 1991 to 1997.

Mika Hakkinen takes the 1998 and 1999 Drivers' Championships

• These changes delivered success in 1998 - the two team drivers were Mika Hakkinen (who had recovered from a life threatening accident in Australia in 1995) and David Coulthard. Hakkinen soon established himself as a leading candidate for the 1998 Drivers Championship. The Championship was not decided until the last race of the season in Japan, but Hakkinen won the race and the World Championship. The 1999 season was to prove a difficult and competitive season with Hakkinen's main rival (following Michael Schumachers's major accident at the British GP) to be Eddie Irvine of Ferrari. The competition went to the last race and this was won by Mika Hakkinen. The general opinion seems to be that Hakkinen deserved to take the title.

• The 2000 season was 'shoot out' between Mika Hakkinen (McLaren)and Michael Schumacher (Ferrari) for the Drivers Championship and this time it went to Ferrari after a 21 year gap.

• 2001 is expected again, to be a very competative season. McLaren keeps its long term driver partnership of Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard.

Ron Dennis Team Principal

Ron Dennis, Team Principal of McLaren International

• Unlike Frank Williams (the principal of the Williams GP Team) who aspired to be a racing driver in his youth, Ron Dennis's experience of motor racing came from the team support side. Ron Dennis in his early years worked as mechanic with the Cooper F1 team and later became chief mechanic with the Brabham team. Building on his experience, particularly with the Brabham Team, Ron Dennis in the early 1970s together with Neil Trundle, set up and managed a Formula 2 team which soon gained a reputation for the high standard of car preparation. Dennis's business activities eventually evolved into the Project Four team, which having experienced various successes aspired to produce a F1 car. It was at this point that Project Four and McLaren merged to form McLaren International and Dennis was to become principal of the new team

• The McLaren International is a subsidiary of TAG McLaren Holdings and recently DaimlerChrysler have acquired a 40% share in the company (reputably valuing the Team at £300M (about US$450M)and reducing Ron Dennis's shareholding to 30%(from 40% of the shares in the holding organisation). Ron Dennis's personal wealth including his holding in TAG McLaren Holdings (which in 1998 had profits of £17M on sales of of £112M ) are valued in the Sunday Times 2000 Britain's Rich List survey as £150M (US$220M). Dennis is currently ranked equal 198th (up from 384th in the 1999 survey).

Mclaren Drivers who have won the Drivers World Championship....

1974 Emerson Fittipaldi (Brazil)

1976 James Hunt (Great Britain)

1984 Nikki Lauda (Austria)

1985 Alain Prost (France)

1986 Alain Prost (France)

1988 Aryton Senna (Brazil)

1989 Alain Prost (France)

1990 Aryton Senna (Brazil)

1991 Aryton Senna (Brazil)

1998 Mika Hakkinen (Finland)

1999 Mika Hakkinen (Finland)

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