Last Updated on October 7 2024, 1:26 pm
The McLaren Formula One team are one of the great stalwarts of the sport. Bruce McLaren first entered a car in F1 for the 1966. Monaco Grand Prix and the team won their first Grand Prix in 1968 at Spa Francorchamps.
Yet McLaren’s greatest success in the early days was in Can-Am which they dominated from 1967-1971. Further American glory was to come the way of the Woking based team with Indianapolis 500 wins for Mark Donohue (1972) and Johnny Rutherford (1974/6).
After Bruce McLaren was killed in a testing accident at Goodwood in 1970, Teddy Mayer took charge of the team and led them to their first constructors’ championship in 1974 and driver titles for Emerson Fittipaldi and James Hunt in 1974 and 1976 respectively. 1974 was also the start of a long standing relationship between McLaren and the Marlboro cigarette brand.
Dennis brings steel to McLaren F1 team
However, the team’s golden era began in 1981 with the merger with Ron Dennis’ Project Four Racing where Dennis took over as team principal and also acquiring full control from the original shareholders.
Seven constructors championships followed between 1984 and 1998 along with ten more drivers’ titles from 1984 to the latest which saw Lewis Hamilton win his maiden championship back in 2008.
Dennis quickly got on top of the ruthless nature in Formula One and in building the McLaren dynasty was not always the most liked team boss in the paddock. Ron was not politically adept in the Piranha club, we was direct and to the point, something which at times his own engineers found difficult. Yet Dennis brought the magic to McLaren and since his departure from front line racing the team has looked like a shadow of its former self.
Dennis brought in newly crowned double world champion alongside rookie Lewis Hamilton in 2007 and had the confidence to let them squabble amongst themselves about who should receive favourable treatment. Of course the tactic of not naming a number one backfired for McLaren as Hamilton and his Spanish co-driver finished the season level on points – both one behind Kimi Raikkonen who slipped through to claim Ferrari’s last drivers’ F1 championship.
New McLaren have a soft under belly
Yet Dennis was regarded as a great team leader and he plotted well the tensions between Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna along with being credited as getting the best out of Senna and Jenson Button by taking the drivers under his wing, acting as an advisor, friend and father figure.
Second only to Ferrari, McLaren have racked up eight constructors’ titles and twelve for their drivers but since Hamilton’s title win in 2008, end of season winners honours have been conspicuous by their absence from the Woking trophy cabinet.
Now in 2024, McLaren are favourites to take the Formula One constructors’ championships having clawed back a deficit of 115 points – following Lando Norris maiden F1 win in Miami. They now lead Red Bull by 41 points in the championship and the driver pairing win Papaya looks like it will outscore the Red Bull duo week in and out to the end of the season.
Yet McLaren’s season may yet be defined by them failing to back Lando Norris as their best shot at claiming the drivers’ title too. In Hungary Norris was forced to give back the lead he inherited at the pit stops to his team mate, losing him seven valuable points in his chase down of the current world champions. Of course comparisons were quickly made between Norris and Sebastian Vettel who famously ignored Red Bull Racing team orders which favoured his team mate Mark Webber.
Red Bull “key figure” not up to the task, says ex-driver
Lack of decisive action in Monza
The ‘ruthlessness’ required to be a Formula One champion appeared to be absent from Norris tool kit, was the suggestion in some quarters of the paddock, but TJ13 has argued it is McLaren who has the soft under belly after years in the wilderness.
Worse was to come for McLaren in Monza. Having locked out the front row and audacious move from Piastri on lap one saw him take the lead from his team mate but as a b-product of the overtake, Charles Leclerc was able to split the McLaren’s and the Monegasque driver became the eventual race winner in Italy for Ferrari.
Two questions arise from that weekend. Firstly why was Piastri allowed to make such a move so early in the Grand Prix and more importantly, why didn’t McLaren switch their drivers before the chequered flag given neither was going to win the race. Another three points lost for Norris who would now be just 42 points behind Verstappen with six race weekends to go.
Should Norris win all the remaining races, Sprints and Grand Prix and collect every point for fastest lap and should Verstappen finish second each time he will retain his world championship and Lando Norris.
Renault boss throws engine department under the bus
McLaren will now issue team orders
Of course this exact scenario is highly unlikely given the form Ferrari have shown also Mercedes in flashes, yet the point is clear; The destiny of the drivers’ title is outside McLaren’s control and all because they chose to ‘plain fair’ with their drivers.
Zak Brown and Andreas Stella may argue, the principle of treating the drivers as equals at McLaren was initiated between Hamilton and Alonso in 2007, but even Dennis will admit that was not his finest season in Formula One for a number of reasons.
Following the biggest winning margin of the year set by Norris last time out in Singapore, team principal Andreas Stella appeared to reluctantly admit McLaren would now support Norris push for the title: “We [will] bias our support to Lando but we want to do it without too much compromise on our principles,” he told the BBC.
“Our principles are that the team interest always comes first. Sportsmanship for us is important in the overall way we go racing. And then we want to be fair to both drivers.”
Mansell: Lando needs to “step up”
Yet McLaren already have proven they are not ruthless enough to make the tough calls when it matters. Switching Norris (P3) and Piastri (P2) in Monza would not have altered the haul of points for the team, but did make Norris’ job all the more difficult.
Fellow British F1 driver and 1992 world champion Nigel Mansell applauds McLaren’s decision to issue team orders in future: “I think it’s fantastic. If you’ve got a chance to actually win the Championship or Constructors’ Championship and one driver can help the other,” Mansell tells Top Offshore Sportsbooks.
Mansell is direct and even supports McLaren telling Oscar to hand over a race win to his team mate. “You do that because you can still win the championship, you do it. So it’s going to be on a race-by-race basis. But I think it’s just incredibly professional that the team have come and shared their view on what’s going to happen for the rest of the year,” the driver of Red Number five added.
Yet Mansell calls on Norris to make it as easy as possible for his team. “But I think it’s up to Lando to step up because he’s got to be at least as quick, if not quicker than Oscar and get the job done. And like Lando said himself, he’d like to do it on his own merit. So yeah, I mean the pressure’s on both of them.”
Ricciardo “masterstroke” F1 return in Austin
Cadillac going it alone on F1 entr
Formula One has been enjoying a boom in popularity since the acquisition of the commercial rights to the sport by USA based Liberty Media Group. They’ve relaxed previous restrictions on fans posting “official F1” content on social media and engaged Netflix to produce a behind the scenes annual documentary which has been huge success with audiences preciously ignorant to F1.
Sponsorship displayed on the cars liveries has grown significantly and it feels like the good times are rolling for F1 and its teams. Yet all is not rosy in F1’s garden as the next era of power units are set to debut in 2026.
The FIA desperate to recruit new manufacturers with new power unit regulations failed in their plan with Porsche withdrawing their interest and Renault set to cease producing their own powertrains. Audi will replace Renault producing their own power units and so its only really Red Bull Powertrains who add an incremental name with Ford as a new OEM… READ MORE
With over 30 years of experience in Formula 1 as an insider journalist, I have built trusted connections across the paddock, from race engineers and mechanics to senior team figures. At The Judge 13, I and a handful of trusted colleagues share exclusive Formula 1 news, expert analysis and behind-the-scenes stories you will not find in mainstream motorsport media.
