2.5 McLaren
Description
This article is from the Formula One Motor Racing FAQ, by mitchmcc@ultranet.com (Mitchell McCann) with numerous contributions by others.
2.5 McLaren
Engine: Mercedes
Nationality: British
Key personnel: Managing Director - Ron Dennis
Chief Designer - Neil Oatley
Year formed: 1963 - Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Ltd.
Formula 1 debut: 1966 - Monaco
1996 car/drivers: MP4/11 - Coulthard, Hakkinen
1997 car/drivers: MP4/12 - Coulthard, Hakkinen
Address: McLaren International Ltd.
Woking Business Park
Albert Drive
Woking, Surrey GU 21 5JY
U.K.
Bruce McLaren founded the team that bears his name in 1963.
Their F1 debut came in 1966 and their first GP win was in 1968
in Belgium with Bruce himself at the wheel. Bruce McLaren died
in 1970 while testing a Can-Am sportscar at Goodwood. Having
signed up with Marlboro in '74, a partnership that persists to
this day, McLaren won driver (Fittipaldi) and constructor's
championships and then the driver's championship again in '76
(Hunt).
In 1980, at the urging of mutual sponsor Marlboro, the team
merged with Ron Dennis' Project Four to form McLaren
International (The MP4 in the car designation stands for
Marlboro Project Four). In '84, switching from Ford to Porsche
TAG, McLaren again won both driver's and constructor's
championships with Lauda beating Prost to the driver's title by
half a point. This marked the beginning of McLaren's domination
of F1 which was to last through the 91 season. Switching to
Honda in 1988, they won constructor's championships in 84, 85,
88, 89, 90 and 91. They were equally successful in the driver's
championship winning in 85 and 86 (Prost), 88 (Senna), 89
(Prost), 90 and 91 (Senna). Due to this long period of almost
complete dominance, McLaren is second only to Ferrari with 104
GP wins, 7 constructor's titles and 9 driver's titles.
Despite switching engines in 93 (Ford), 94 (Peugeot) and 95
(Mercedes), McLaren has not been able to re-create this success
and has not won a GP since 1993. They finished 95 and 96 in
fourth place but by the end of 96 they did seem to be making
some progress. Hakkinen began appearing on the podium regularly
towards the end of the season and they might have even won a
race had the pace car not ruined their one-stop strategy at Spa.
With the continuity of drivers and engines for 97, McLaren could
take some steps back towards the front of the pack.
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