McLaren F1

If Ferrari was the heart, McLaren is clearly the head. Often criticised as being too cool and detached from the sport, like Ferrari, McLaren has only recently really came into its own. Oh sure, the likes of the late 80′s and
early 90′s will forever remain a memorable period in the history of this great team, but in 2010, with two world champions, and British drivers at that, McLaren is once again showing it’s muscle and is rightly classified as one of the sport’s best teams.

I, personally, have a confession to make though, and it’s that I’m not that great a fan of McLaren, despite the two drivers coming from the same country as me and the team not being based too many miles away from where I live too. I feel a greater sense of emotion towards Williams rather than McLaren and I was quite incensed to hear of the spy gate that rocked the sport in 2007, but we’ll get on to that later. Cheating has happened in the history of this great sport, and unfortunately it seems like it will happen again at some point.

Victories for Mercedes mclaren F1

You could argue that McLaren has been chasing the red cars the whole career. Sure, at some points McLaren have been ahead of them, but in 1988, I find it quite apt that the one race in the season that McLaren didn’t win was in Monza where Ferrari notched up a one-two. The British based team are statistically the second most successful team in Formula One, with 8 constructor’s championships and 12 driver’s championships. They are second too, in terms of being the oldest team on the grid, behind Ferrari.

But don’t let me make you think that McLaren aren’t good. One similarity they do share with Ferrari is the ability to win championships and race wins, and again, the rostrum of past McLaren drivers up until present day makes for brilliant reading. Hunt, Fittipaldi, Senna, Prost, Hakkinen, Coulthard, Alonso and now two stars in their own right, Hamilton and Button.

McLaren entered their first Grand Prix in 1966, and was pioneered by team owner, Bruce McLaren. The New Zealander was team boss for only 4 years, before his tragic and untimely death in 1970. However, he did see McLaren to numerous successes in Formula One, such as winning the team’s first race in 1968, in a season which saw them take the chequered flag first three times. The ’69 season was ultimately less successful, with three podiums and only one victory at the final race of the year. But, at this early point in the McLaren team, they were better known for their exploits and many, many successes in the Can-Am sportscar series. That could soon change however.

The early part of the 70′s was a frustrating for a team who looked to improve, and although the outfit continued to turn in many impressive performances and multiple race wins, ultimately the first championship eluded them until 1974 when they took both the driver’s and constructor’s championships through Emerson Fittipaldi. It’s tragic to think that a team that Bruce McLaren set up, scored it’s first really success in a sport that was considered even at this early time, the highest level of motorsport, after his death.

’75 was less successful, and so began a trend that seems to be copied even to this day with McLaren generally seen as being uncompetitive in “odd” years, and it’s true to see that most the team’s most successful years have been in “even” years. Inconsistent? Maybe, although luck has a fair share in how things go too.

Only one more title would come in this decade though, through James Hunt, although many see it as a perhaps fortuitous title, when Lauda was severely injured in one race and, up until that point in the season, Lauda and Ferrari held a strong position in the lead.

As I mentioned earlier, perhaps the most famous year for McLaren was in 1988. With two top drivers in Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna, the team almost entirely cleaned up with an unprecedented record, even to this day with 15 victories out of 16 races. Oh sure, Michael Schumacher and Ferrari may have won a greater number of races in their heyday, but consider that there was more races in those season than in 1988, and statistically McLaren had a higher winning record in ’88 than Ferrari did in the early part of the millennium.

McLaren won again in ’89, but in controversial circumstances when Prost and Senna collided. Senna won on the road, but was later disqualified, handing Prost the title. Let’s make it clear, these two guys did not get on and see eye to eye to all. Indeed, it makes the fall out at the same team in 207 between Alonso and Hamilton, and the current fall out in Red Bull seem a bit frivolous really.

The 90′s were another strong period for McLaren taking four constructor’s titles and three constructor’s titles. In the second part of this decade though, the team changed. Gone were Prost and Senna, and in were Hakkinen and Coulthard. Here, another record fell McLaren’s way, the longest pairing between two drivers, with the Hakkinen/Coulthard partnership lasting from 1996 until 2001 when Hakkinen retired from Formula One racing. Unfortunately, another infamous trait fell McLaren’s way in this part of the Woking based history though, unreliability. Often the team would have the fastest car, but weren’t able to capitalize on the situation due to reliability issues, a complete contrast to Ferrari.

Hakkinen would take the driver’s title in ’98 and ’99 after a terrific fight with Michael Schumacher in both seasons, and McLaren won their last constructor’s title in ’98 too. Then began a long barren spell right through to 2008. McLaren came close, very close in 2003 and 2005 to taking the title with Hakkinen’s replacement, Kimi Raikkonen. Yet their Achilles’ heel was reliability, or rather, lack of it.

2006 was an awful season for the team, taking no victories, the first time in many many years that the team failed to do so. It didn’t help matters that public relations with the drivers were at a low, with both feeling
unwanted as previous to the season even beginning; McLaren announced that they had signed Fernando Alonso. Team principle Ron Dennis fell out with Juan Pablo Montoya after the Colombian hit the back of his team mate at the first corner of the American Grand Prix, triggering a multi-car pile-up. Montoya was sacked on the spot and long term test driver Pedro de la Rosa was brought in to see the season out. But in ’06, they were completely out classed by Renault and Ferrari.

2007 was only marginally better for the team. I say marginally, because despite the team winning many more races than in ’06, Alonso and new signing Lewis Hamilton never saw eye to eye. Perhaps this was brought on by Ron Dennis, who at times seemed to only have eyes for Lewis Hamilton. As former McLaren driver, David Coulthard said, “It’s like parents who have two kids, and despite knowing they shouldn’t, they prefer one of their kids over the other.”

Tensions rose, the team fell out, they were found to be right in the middle of a spying scandal which they ultimately paid for with the highest fine in sport ever, one hundred million dollars and all their constructor’s points stripped. The two McLaren drivers then snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, allowing Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen to take the title by a single point.

2008 was a better year for the team in every aspect than the other two. With Alonso gone, new signing Kovalainen, dutifully fell into the role on number two driver at the squad, with Hamilton taking the title, again by a single point. The team would not win the constructor’s title again though, which went to Ferrari.

2009 was…well, awful for the squad. Just a few days to the season kicking off, the team discovered that they were generally two seconds off the pace of the front runners, and so began a mad catch-up to close the gap. Disappointment after disappointment fell their way and it took till just over the mid season point for Hamilton to notch up the team’s first victory at Hungary. Another win would come in the night at Singapore, and the gap to the leaders had come down massively from the start of the year, McLaren showing the development power they have in Woking, and they were rightly labelled as the most improved team by the end of 2009.

2010 has been a mixed bag so far for the team. They’ve taken 5 wins, 2 for Jenson Button and 3 for Lewis Hamilton. Certainly, the team doesn’t have the quickest car on the grid, that accolade falls to Red Bull, but with two world class drivers onboard who generally seem to like each other, they have been able to maximise their chances. At this point in the season, McLaren have the first chance since 1998 to take the driver’s title and constructor’s title in the same year. Whether they will or not remains to be seen, but certainly, do not write them off just yet.