59 Facts About McLaren

1.

McLaren Racing Limited is a British motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England.

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2.

McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor, the second oldest active team, and the second most successful Formula One team after Ferrari, having won 183 races, 12 Drivers' Championships and 8 Constructors' Championships.

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3.

McLaren has a history of competing in American open wheel racing, as both an entrant and a chassis constructor, and has won the Canadian-American Challenge Cup sports car racing championship.

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4.

In 1981, McLaren merged with Ron Dennis' Project Four Racing; Dennis took over as team principal, and shortly afterwards organised a buyout of the original McLaren shareholders to take full control of the team.

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5.

McLaren announced in 2013 that they would be using Honda engines from 2015 onwards, replacing Mercedes-Benz.

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6.

In September 2017, McLaren announced they had agreed on an engine supply with Renault from 2018 to 2020.

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7.

McLaren is using Mercedes-Benz engines from the 2021 season until at least 2024.

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8.

Bruce McLaren Motor Racing was founded in 1963 by New Zealander Bruce McLaren.

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9.

McLaren continued to drive in Grands Prix for Cooper, but judging that team's form to be waning, decided to race his own cars in 1966.

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10.

Bruce McLaren made the team's Grand Prix debut at the 1966 Monaco race.

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11.

McLaren's race ended after nine laps due to a terminal oil leak.

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12.

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".

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13.

McLaren gave Jody Scheckter his Formula One debut at the final race at Watkins Glen.

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14.

All McLaren drivers used the Ford-Cosworth engines, except for Andrea de Adamich and Nanni Galli who used engines from Alfa Romeo in 1970.

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15.

McLaren M23, designed by Gordon Coppuck, was the team's new car for the 1973 season.

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16.

Hunt won on three occasions that year, but the Lauda and Ferrari combination proved too strong, Hunt and McLaren managing just fifth and third in the respective championships.

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17.

The McLaren-TAGs were again strong in 1985; a third Constructors' Championship came their way while this time Prost won the Drivers' Championship.

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18.

McLaren, in turn, brought in Ferrari's Gerhard Berger, but like the two seasons before, the Drivers' Championship was led by Prost and Senna and settled at the penultimate race in Japan.

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19.

McLaren tested a Lamborghini V12 engine ahead of the 1994 season, as part of a potential deal with the then-Lamborghini owner Chrysler, before eventually deciding to use Peugeot engines.

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20.

In 2000 McLaren won seven races in a close fight with Ferrari, but ultimately Ferrari and Schumacher prevailed in both competitions.

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21.

McLaren's 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, the subsequent move of Newey's deputy to Red Bull, and personnel changes at Ilmor.

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22.

An internal agreement within the McLaren team stated that drivers would alternatively have an extra lap for qualifying Lewis Hamilton refused to accept for the Hungarian Grand Prix.

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23.

McLaren signed 2009 champion, Jenson Button, to replace Kovalainen alongside Hamilton in 2010.

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24.

McLaren was second in the Constructors' Championship to Red Bull Racing.

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25.

The car struggled to compete with the other top teams and the season had McLaren fail to produce a podium finish for the first time since 1980.

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26.

However, McLaren did not score points in the next four races until Button finished ninth at the Russian Grand Prix.

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27.

McLaren retained the Alonso - Button pairing for the 2016 season.

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28.

The next points for McLaren came at the Russian Grand Prix with Alonso and Button finishing sixth and 10th respectively.

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29.

At the United States Grand Prix, McLaren matched their Monaco result with 12 points after an attacking race from Alonso saw him claim fifth position while Button finished ninth.

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30.

McLaren then confirmed on 25 November that he would retire from F1 altogether with Vandoorne being Alonso's new Teammate for 2017.

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31.

In February 2017, McLaren signed Lando Norris to their Young Driver Programme.

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32.

McLaren announced during the 2017 Singapore Grand Prix weekend that they would split from engine supplier Honda at the end of the 2017 season and had agreed on a three-year customer deal to be supplied with Mecachrome-assembled Renault engines.

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33.

McLaren announced that Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne would remain with the team for the 2018 season.

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34.

McLaren had a relatively good start to the season with points finishes in the next four races, but in the next 16 races after Spain, McLaren only scored 22 points, 8 points less than in the same period in 2017.

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35.

McLaren ended the season in 4th place with 145 points, their best result since 2014 and 54 points ahead of their nearest competitor, Renault.

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36.

McLaren again used Mercedes engines in 2021 after their deal with Renault ended.

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37.

McLaren had previously collaborated with Mercedes from 1995 through 2014.

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38.

McLaren first contested the United States Auto Club's Indianapolis 500 race in 1970, encouraged by their tyre supplier Goodyear, which wanted to break competitor Firestone's stranglehold on the event.

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39.

McLaren won their first Indianapolis 500 in 1974 with Rutherford.

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40.

On 12 April 2017, McLaren revealed they would participate in the 2017 Indianapolis 500 with their current Formula 1 driver Fernando Alonso at the wheel of a Honda-powered McLaren-branded Andretti Autosport IndyCar.

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41.

On 10 November 2018, McLaren announced that they would participate in the 2019 Indianapolis 500 with Fernando Alonso and using Chevrolet engines.

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42.

Zak Brown stated in an interview with Leigh Diffey that McLaren joining the IndyCar Series full time was spurred by two different objectives.

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43.

Brown stated that McLaren chose to partner with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports because their previous efforts fielding their team with assistance from Andretti Autosport and Carlin exclusively for the Indianapolis 500 had not been successful and that the purchase of the IndyCar Series by Penske Entertainment gave McLaren more confidence in the long term viability and stability of the series compared to the previous ownership under Tony George.

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44.

In January the following year, McLaren signed an option to enter the championship for 2022.

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45.

In June 2021, McLaren Racing announced it would enter Extreme E in the 2022 season using existing personnel from outside the Formula One program with Tanner Foust and Emma Gilmour as drivers for the team.

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46.

McLaren is reviewing the LMDh regulations for a possible entry into the FIA World Endurance Championship from 2024.

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47.

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.

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48.

McLaren has had an uneasy relationship with Formula One's governing body, the FIA, and its predecessor FISA, as well as with the commercial rights holders of the sport.

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49.

McLaren was involved, along with the other teams of the Formula One Constructors Association, in a dispute with FISA and Alfa Romeo, Renault, and Ferrari over control of the sport in the early 1980s.

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50.

Subsequent Concorde Agreements were signed in 1987 and 1992, but in 1996, McLaren was again one of the teams which disputed the terms of a new agreement, this time with former FOCA president Bernie Ecclestone's Formula One Promotions and Administration organisation; a new 10-year agreement was eventually signed in 1998.

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51.

In 2007, McLaren were involved in an espionage controversy after their chief designer Mike Coughlan obtained confidential technical information from Ferrari.

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52.

McLaren altered their livery to introduce red into the design, and changed the silver to chrome.

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53.

In 2007, McLaren signed a seven-year contract with telecommunications company Vodafone, and became known as Vodafone McLaren Mercedes.

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54.

In 2015 McLaren was without a title sponsor, and set to lose a further £20m in sponsorship in 2016.

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55.

In July 2020, McLaren announced a multi-year strategic partnership with Gulf Oil International.

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56.

McLaren's cars were originally named with the letter M followed by a number, sometimes followed by a letter denoting the model.

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57.

Since 2017, McLaren have increasingly adopted orange colours, designed to recall Bruce McLaren's liveries.

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58.

In February 2022, McLaren released the new virtual McLaren MCL36 race car inside of the online game platform Roblox.

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59.

In March 2022, McLaren signed a new multi-year sponsorship deal with Google.

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