Overview The team began life as a
Formula One constructor in 1963 by
Bruce McLaren. The team's maiden Grand Prix victory was at the
1968 Belgian Grand Prix. After Bruce McLaren died in a testing accident in 1970,
Teddy Mayer took over and led the team to their first Formula One Constructors' Championship in , with
Emerson Fittipaldi and
James Hunt winning the Drivers' Championship in 1974 and respectively. The year 1974 also marked the start of a long-standing sponsorship by the
Marlboro cigarette brand. 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. This began the team's most successful era; with
Porsche and
Honda engines,
Niki Lauda,
Alain Prost, and
Ayrton Senna won seven Drivers' Championships between them and the team took six Constructors' Championships. The combination of Prost and Senna was particularly dominant – together they won all but one race in – but later their rivalry soured and Prost left for Ferrari. Fellow English team
Williams offered the most consistent challenge during this period, the two winning every constructors' title between and . By the mid-1990s, Honda had withdrawn from Formula One, Senna had moved to Williams, and the team went three seasons without a win. With
Mercedes-Benz engines,
West sponsorship, and former Williams designer
Adrian Newey, further championships came in and with driver
Mika Häkkinen, and during the 2000s the team were consistent front-runners, with
Lewis Hamilton winning the drivers' title. Ron Dennis retired as McLaren team principal in 2009, handing over to long-time McLaren employee
Martin Whitmarsh. At the end of 2013, after the team's worst season since 2004, Whitmarsh was ousted. McLaren announced in 2013 that they would be using
Honda engines from 2015 onwards, replacing Mercedes-Benz. The team raced as McLaren Honda for the first time since 1992 at the
2015 Australian Grand Prix. The second Honda partnership did not yield good results, and in September 2017, McLaren announced they had agreed on an engine supply with
Renault from 2018 to 2020. McLaren returned to using Mercedes-Benz engines from the 2021 season, with a deal in place until at least 2030. After a period of time in the midfield, McLaren surged to fourth in the Constructors' Championship in after having started that year on the back foot. They would go on to win their ninth Constructors' Championship, and first since 1998, in
2024. The
following year,
Lando Norris took the team's most recent drivers' title, and first since 2008, and secured their tenth Constructors' Championship title and their second consecutive title; the first time this had happened since . This result made McLaren the second-most successful Formula One team of all time in terms of Constructors' Championships won.
1966–1968: Early beginnings and featured a
kiwi bird, a
New Zealand icon.|left , the team's first Formula One car|left Bruce McLaren made the team's Grand Prix debut at the
1966 Monaco Grand Prix (of the current Formula One teams, only
Ferrari is older). For Bruce decided to use a
British Racing Motors (BRM)
V12 engine, but due to delays with the engine, was forced initially to use a modified
Formula Two car called the
M4B powered by a 2.0-litre BRM V8, later building a similar but slightly larger car called the
M5A for the V12. before Bruce took the team's first championship win at the
Belgian Grand Prix. Hulme also won the
Italian and
Canadian Grands Prix later in the year, helping the team to second in the Constructors' Championship. Using an updated 'C' version on the M7, of 1968 gave McLaren their first
Formula One wins. It is driven here by
Bruce McLaren at the
Nürburgring in 1969. The year started with a second-place each for Hulme and Bruce in the first two Grands Prix, but in June, Bruce was killed in a crash at
Goodwood while testing the new M8D Can-Am car. After his death,
Teddy Mayer took over effective control of the team; ultimately Hulme, Gethin (who left for BRM mid-season,) and
Jackie Oliver again failed to score a win. The 1972 season saw improvements though: Hulme won the team's first Grand Prix for years in
South Africa and he and
Peter Revson scored ten other podiums, the team finishing third in the Constructors' Championship. McLaren gave
Jody Scheckter his Formula One debut at the
final race at
Watkins Glen. it was a mainstay for four years. Hulme won with it in
Sweden and Revson took the only Grand Prix wins of his career in
Britain and
Canada. In ,
Emerson Fittipaldi, world champion with Lotus two years earlier, joined McLaren. Hulme, in his final Formula One campaign, won the
Argentinian season-opener; Fittipaldi, with wins in
Brazil,
Belgium and
Canada, took the Drivers' Championship. It was a close fight for Fittipaldi, who secured the title with a fourth at the season-ending
United States Grand Prix, putting him three points ahead of Ferrari's
Clay Regazzoni. With Hulme and multiple motorcycle world champion
Mike Hailwood, he also sealed McLaren's first Constructors' Championship. The year was less successful for the team: Fittipaldi was second in the championship behind
Niki Lauda. Hulme's replacement
Jochen Mass took his sole GP win in
Spain. At the end of 1975, Fittipaldi left to join his brother's
Fittipaldi/Copersucar team. In , Lauda was again strong in his Ferrari; at midseason, he led the championship with 56 points while Hunt had only 26 despite wins in
Spain (a race from which he was initially disqualified) and
France. At the
German Grand Prix, though, Lauda crashed heavily, was nearly killed, and missed the next two races. Hunt capitalised by winning four more Grands Prix giving him a three-point deficit going into the finale in
Japan. Here it rained torrentially, Lauda retired because of safety concerns, and Hunt sealed the Drivers' Championship by finishing third. 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. From there, results continued to worsen. Lotus and
Mario Andretti took the titles with their
78 and
79 ground-effect cars and neither Hunt nor Mass's replacement
Patrick Tambay were able to seriously challenge with the nonground-effect M26. Hunt was dropped at the end of 1978 in favour of Lotus's
Ronnie Peterson, but when Peterson was killed by a crash at the
Italian Grand Prix,
John Watson was signed, instead. No improvement occurred in ; Coppuck's
M28 design was described by Mayer as "ghastly, a disaster" and "quite diabolical" and the
M29 did little to change the situation. but Watson and he rarely scored points. Under increasing pressure since the previous year from principal sponsor
Philip Morris and their executive
John Hogan, Mayer was coerced into merging McLaren with
Ron Dennis's Project Four Formula Two team, also sponsored by Philip Morris. Dennis had designer
John Barnard who, inspired by the
carbon-fibre rear wings of the
BMW M1 race cars that Project Four was preparing, had ideas for a Formula One chassis constructed entirely from carbon-fibre instead of conventional
aluminium alloy. On their own, they lacked the money to build it, but with investment that came with the merger it became the
McLaren MP4 (later called MP4/1) of , driven by Watson and
Andrea de Cesaris. In the MP4, Watson won the
British Grand Prix and had three other podium finishes. Soon after the merger, McLaren moved from Colnbrook to a new base in Woking and Dennis and Mayer initially shared the managing directorship of the company; by 1982, Mayer had departed and Tyler Alexander's and his shareholdings had been bought by the new owners.
1983–1992: TAG-Porsche and Honda engines , pictured at the
1985 German Grand Prix, won three Drivers' Championships with McLaren. In the early 1980s, teams like
Renault, Ferrari and
Brabham were using 1.5-litre
turbocharged engines in favour of the 3.0-litre
naturally aspirated engines that had been standard since 1966. Having seen in 1982 the need for a turbo engine of their own, Dennis had convinced
Williams backer
Techniques d'Avant Garde (TAG) to fund
Porsche-built, TAG-branded turbo engines made to Barnard's specifications; TAG's founder
Mansour Ojjeh would later become a McLaren shareholder. In the meantime, they continued with Cosworth engines as old rival Lauda came out of retirement in 1982 to drive alongside Watson in that year's 1B development of the MP4. They each won two races, Watson won from 17th on the grid in
Detroit, Although was not so fruitful, Watson did win again in the United States, this time from 22nd on the grid at
Long Beach. Having been fired by Renault, Prost returned to McLaren once again for . Now using the TAG engines, the team dominated, scoring 12 wins and times as many constructors' points as nearest rival Ferrari. In the Drivers' Championship, Lauda prevailed over Prost by half a point, the narrowest margin ever. The McLaren-TAGs were again strong in ; a third Constructors' Championship came their way while this time Prost won the Drivers' Championship. In , the
Williams team were resurgent with their
Honda engine and drivers
Nigel Mansell and
Nelson Piquet, while at McLaren, Lauda's replacement, 1982 champion
Keke Rosberg could not gel with the car. Williams took the Constructors' Championship, but for Prost, wins in
San Marino,
Monaco, and
Austria combined with the fact that the Williams drivers were taking points from each other meant that he retained a chance going into the last race, the
Australian Grand Prix. There, a puncture for Mansell and a precautionary pit stop for Piquet gave Prost the race win and his second title, making him the first driver to win back-to-back championships since
Jack Brabham in and 1960. In Barnard departed for Ferrari to be replaced by
Gordon Murray as Technical Director, with
Steve Nichols (who himself joined Ferrari in 1989) remaining as Chief Designer. In the hands of Prost and
Stefan Johansson, though, Nichols's
MP4/3 and the TAG engine could not match the Williams-Honda.
1988–1991: Domination with Honda engines and the driving strength of Prost and
Ayrton Senna for , McLaren dominated the season, winning all but one race. Senna won his first world championship after a season-long battle with Prost. For , Honda switched their factory supply to McLaren and, encouraged by Prost, Dennis signed
Ayrton Senna to drive. Despite regulations reducing the boost pressure and fuel capacity (and therefore, power) of the turbo cars, Honda persisted with a turbocharged engine. In the
MP4/4, Senna and Prost engaged in a season-long battle, winning 15 of the 16 races (at the other race at
Monza, Senna had been leading comfortably, but collided with back-marker
Jean-Louis Schlesser). At the
Portuguese Grand Prix, their relationship soured when Senna squeezed Prost against the pit wall; Prost won, but afterwards said, "It was dangerous. If he wants the world championship that badly he can have it." Prost scored more points that year, but because only the best 11 results counted, Senna took the title at the penultimate race in
Japan. The next year, with turbos banned, Honda supplied a new 3.5-L naturally aspirated
V10 engine and McLaren again won both titles with the
MP4/5. Their drivers' relationship continued to deteriorate, though, especially when, at the
San Marino Grand Prix, Prost felt that Senna had reneged on an agreement not to pass each other at the first corner. Believing that Honda and Dennis were favouring Senna, Prost announced mid-season that he would leave to drive at Ferrari the following year. For the second year in succession, the Drivers' Championship was decided at the
Japanese Grand Prix, this time in Prost's favour after Senna and he collided (Senna initially recovered and won the race, but was later disqualified). With former McLaren men Nichols and Prost (Barnard had moved to the
Benetton team), Ferrari pushed the British team more closely in . 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. Here, Senna collided with Prost at the first corner, forcing both to retire, but this time Senna escaped punishment and took the title; McLaren also won the Constructors' Championship. The year was another for McLaren and Senna, with the ascendant Renault-powered Williams team their closest challengers. By , Williams, with their advanced
FW14B car, had overtaken McLaren, breaking their four-year run as champions, despite the latter winning five races that year.
1993–1994: Ford, Lamborghini and Peugeot engines V8 engines to power the
MP4/8. Although Ayrton Senna (pictured at the
1993 German Grand Prix) won five races, McLaren was not a match for the dominant
Williams team. After the
1993 Australian Grand Prix, the team failed to win a race until . As Honda withdrew from the sport at end of 1992 following the
Japanese asset price bubble in
Japan, McLaren sought a new engine supplier. A deal to secure Renault engines fell through due to being vetoed by Renault's fuel and lubricant supplier
Elf Aquitaine, subsequently McLaren switched to customer
Ford engines for the season. Senna – who initially agreed only to a race-by-race contract before later signing for the whole year – won five races, including a record-breaking sixth victory at
Monaco and a win at the
European Grand Prix, where he went from fifth to first on the opening lap. His teammate,
1991 CART champion
Michael Andretti, fared much worse; he scored only seven points, and was replaced by test driver
Mika Häkkinen for the final three rounds of the season. Williams ultimately won both titles and Senna – who had flirted with moving there for 1993 – signed with them for the season. During the 1993 season McLaren took part in a seven part
BBC Television documentary called
A Season With McLaren. McLaren tested a
Lamborghini V12 engine ahead of the season, as part of a potential deal with the then-Lamborghini owner
Chrysler, before eventually deciding to use full-works
Peugeot engines. With Peugeot power, the
MP4/9 was driven by Häkkinen and
Martin Brundle, despite achieving eight podiums over the season no wins were achieved. Peugeot was dropped after a single year due to multiple engine failures/unreliability which cost McLaren potential race victories and they switched to a
Mercedes-Benz-branded,
Ilmor-designed engine.
1995–2014: First Mercedes partnership 1995–2009: Factory Mercedes partnership For 1995 season onwards, McLaren ended their engine deal with
Peugeot Sport and started an engine full-works partnership with
Mercedes-Benz High Performance Engines for the first time, after the German manufacturer spent one year in partnership with the then-youngest
Sauber team. The partnership included bespoke free engines from Mercedes-Benz that built, assembled and tuned by
Ilmor Engineering in
Brixworth,
England, Mercedes-Benz official team vehicles, financial support, also earned full-factory support from
Daimler AG and
Mercedes-Benz and also Mercedes-Benz and Ilmor staffs would work with the team at their Woking base. McLaren's Formula One car for the season, the
MP4/10, was not a front-runner and Brundle's replacement, former champion
Nigel Mansell, was unable to fit into the car at first and departed after just two races, with
Mark Blundell taking his place. (pictured at the
1999 Canadian Grand Prix) won the and Drivers' Championships with McLaren. While Williams dominated in , McLaren, now with
David Coulthard alongside Häkkinen, went a third successive season without a win. In , however, Coulthard broke this run by winning the season-opening
Australian Grand Prix; Häkkinen and he would each win another race before the end of the season, and highly rated designer
Adrian Newey joined the team from Williams in August that year. Despite the car's improved pace, unreliability proved costly throughout the season, with retirements at the
British and
Luxembourg Grands Prix occurring whilst Häkkinen was in the lead. It was also at the start of this season that saw long time sponsor, Marlboro, shift its support to long time rival Ferrari. For the first time since the 1974 season, McLaren would have a new identity, shifting to fellow tobacco sponsor West. This saw the traditional red and white replaced with silver, grey, white and red. McLaren would retain this colour scheme (or very similar) for twenty years until 2017. With Newey able to take advantage of new technical regulations for , and with Williams losing their works Renault engines following Renault's temporary withdrawal from the sport, McLaren were once again able to challenge for the championship. Häkkinen and Coulthard won five of the first six races despite the banning of the team's
"brake steer" system, which allowed the rear brakes to be operated individually to reduce
understeer, after a protest by Ferrari at the second race in
Brazil. Schumacher and Ferrari provided the greatest competition, the former levelled on points with Häkkinen with two races to go, but wins for Häkkinen at the
Luxembourg and
Japanese Grands Prix gave both him the Drivers' Championship and McLaren the Constructors' Championship. Häkkinen won his second Drivers' Championship the
following season, but due to a combination of driver errors and mechanical failures, the team lost the constructors' title to Ferrari. 's MP4-19 into the garage during qualifying for the
2004 United States Grand Prix In McLaren won seven races in a close fight with Ferrari, but ultimately Ferrari and Schumacher prevailed in both competitions. This marked the start of a decline in form as Ferrari cemented their dominance in Formula One. In , Häkkinen was outscored by Coulthard for the first time since 1997 and retired (ending Formula One's longest ever driver partnership), his place taken by
Kimi Räikkönen, then in , Coulthard took their solitary win at
Monaco while Ferrari repeated McLaren's 1988 feat of 15 wins in a season. The year started promisingly to coincide with Mercedes-Benz's 10th consecutive season in
Formula One as an engine supplier only, with one win each for Coulthard and Räikkönen at the first two Grands Prix. However, they were hampered when the
MP4-18 car designed for that year suffered crash test and reliability problems, forcing them to continue using a 'D' development of the year-old
MP4-17 for longer than they had initially planned. Despite this, Räikkönen scored points consistently and challenged for the championship up to the final race, eventually losing by two points. The team began with the
MP4-19, which technical director Adrian Newey described as "a debugged version of [the MP4-18]". The team also lost Räikkönen to Ferrari at the end of the year.
Steve Matchett argued that the poor reliability of McLaren in 2006 and recent previous years was due to a lack of team continuity and stability. His 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. The pair scored four wins each and led the Drivers' Championship for much of the year, but tensions arose within the team, BBC Sport claimed that Alonso was unable to cope with Hamilton's competitiveness. At the
Hungarian Grand Prix, Alonso was judged to have deliberately impeded his teammate during qualifying, so the team were not allowed to score Constructors' points at the event. An internal agreement within the McLaren team stated that drivers would alternatively have an extra lap for qualifying, however, Lewis Hamilton refused to accept for the Hungarian Grand Prix. Subsequently, the McLaren team was investigated by the
FIA for having proprietary technical blueprints of Ferrari's car – the
so-called "Spygate" controversy. At the first hearing, McLaren management consistently denied all knowledge, blaming a single "rogue engineer". However, in the final hearing, McLaren was found guilty and the team was excluded from the Constructors' Championship and fined $100 million. The drivers were allowed to continue without penalty, and while Hamilton led the Drivers' Championship heading into the final race in
Brazil, Räikkönen in the Ferrari won the race and the Drivers' Championship, a single point ahead of both McLaren drivers. In November, Alonso and McLaren agreed to terminate their contract by mutual consent,
Heikki Kovalainen filling the vacant seat alongside Hamilton. won 's season-opening race in
Australia and went on to win the title. In , a close fight ensued between Hamilton and the Ferraris of
Felipe Massa and Räikkönen; Hamilton won five times and despite also crossing the finish line first at the
Belgian Grand Prix, he was deemed to have gained an illegal advantage by cutting a chicane during an overtake and was controversially demoted to third. Going into the
final race in Brazil, Hamilton had a seven-point lead over Massa. Massa won there, but Hamilton dramatically clinched his first Drivers' Championship by moving into the necessary fifth position at the final corner of the final lap of the race. Despite winning his first Grand Prix in
Hungary, Kovalainen finished the season only seventh in the overall standings, allowing Ferrari to take the constructors' title. Before the start of the season, Dennis retired as team principal, handing responsibility to
Martin Whitmarsh, but the year started badly: the
MP4-24 car was off the pace and the team was given a three-race suspended ban for misleading stewards at the
Australian and
Malaysian Grands Prix. Despite these early problems, a late revival had Hamilton win at the
Hungarian and
Singapore Grands Prix.
2010–2014: Customer Mercedes engines For the
2010 season, McLaren lost its status as the Mercedes works team; Mercedes decided to buy the Brackley-based
Brawn team that had won the 2009 titles with its customer engines, Whitmarsh having chosen to abandon their exclusive rights to the Mercedes engines to help Brawn run. Mercedes still continued providing engines to McLaren, albeit under a supplier-customer relationship rather than the works partnership as before, while it sold its 40% shares of McLaren over two years but instead Mercedes remained supplying free engines for McLaren team until 2012. Button won twice (in
Australia and
China) and Hamilton three times (in
Turkey,
Canada, and
Belgium), but they and McLaren failed to win their respective championships, that year's
MP4-25 largely outpaced by Red Bull's
RB6. driving at the
2014 Chinese Grand Prix Hamilton and Button remained with the team into , with Hamilton winning three races –
China,
Germany, and
Abu Dhabi and Button also winning three races –
Canada,
Hungary, and
Japan. Button finished the Drivers' Championship in second place with 270 points behind 2011 Drivers' Champion
Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull Racing, ahead of Hamilton's 227 points. McLaren was second in the Constructors' Championship to Red Bull Racing. Throughout the season, Hamilton was involved in several incidents with other drivers including multiple collisions with 2008 title rival Massa. In , McLaren won the first race of the year in
Australia with a dominant victory by Button and a 3rd place from pole for Hamilton, while Hamilton went on to win in
Canada, but by the mid-way mark of the season at the team's home race at Silverstone, the McLaren cars managed only eighth place (Hamilton) and 10th place (Button), while the drivers' and Constructors' Championships were being dominated by Red Bull Racing and Ferrari, whose cars occupied the first four places of the , this was partially due to pit stop problems and Button's temporary dip in form after not adapting as well as Hamilton to the new Pirelli tyres. The car also suffered reliability problems which cost the team and its drivers numerous potential points, including in
Singapore and
Abu Dhabi, where Hamilton had been leading both races and in Italy where the team lost a 1-2 finish when Button's car failed with fuel problems on lap 33.
Sergio Pérez replaced Hamilton for , after Hamilton decided to leave for
Mercedes. However, from 2013 to 2014 seasons McLaren's
Mercedes links were weaker due to
Mercedes focused on its own works team. For eighteen seasons McLaren utilized bespoke free works engines, however from 2013, McLaren had to pay for Mercedes engines. The team's car for the season, the
MP4-28, was launched on 31 January 2013. 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 .
Kevin Magnussen replaced Pérez for , and Ron Dennis, who had remained at arm's length since stepping down from the team principal role, returned as CEO of the operation.
2015–2017: Return to Honda engines For , McLaren ended their engine deal with Mercedes which included buying back the 40% stake that Mercedes held in the team and reforging their historical partnership with Honda. The Honda deal not only meant they would supply engines, but that Honda staff would work with the team at their Woking base as well as received full-factory support from Honda including official team vehicles and free engines. The team announced Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button as their race drivers, with Kevin Magnussen demoted to test driver. During pre-season testing at the
Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in February, Alonso suffered a concussion and, as a result,
Kevin Magnussen replaced him for the season-opening in March. At that inaugural race of the season, Jenson Button finished 11th, but was lapped twice and finished last of the finishing cars. Following considerable unreliability and initial suggestions that the Honda engine was underpowered relative to its competitors, steady performance gains eventually resulted in Button managing to score the team's first (four) points of the season at the sixth round in
Monaco. By contrast, Alonso scored his first point three races later at the
British Grand Prix. The
Hungarian Grand Prix saw the team score their best result of the season with Alonso and Button finishing fifth and ninth, respectively. However, McLaren did not score points in the next four races until Button finished ninth at the
Russian Grand Prix. At the following
United States Grand Prix, Button scored his best result of the season with sixth place. The team finished ninth in the constructors' standings with 27 points, McLaren's worst performance since 1980. in the
MCL32, showing the new papaya and black livery McLaren retained both Alonso and Button for the season. The second year of the Honda partnership was better than the first, with the team being able to challenge for top 10 positions on a more regular basis. However, the season started with a crash at the
Australian Grand Prix in which
Fernando Alonso sustained rib fractures and a
collapsed lung after colliding with
Esteban Gutiérrez and somersaulting into the crash barriers. Alonso, as a result of his injuries, was forced to miss the second round of the Championship, the
Bahrain Grand Prix, and was replaced by reserve driver
Stoffel Vandoorne. Vandoorne scored the team's first point of the season with 10th place on his debut. The next points for McLaren came at the
Russian Grand Prix with Alonso and Button finishing sixth and 10th respectively. The rain-affected
Monaco Grand Prix was one of best races of the season for the team. Alonso finished fifth, having kept
Nico Rosberg's Mercedes behind him for 46 laps, while Button scored two points with ninth. At the
Austrian Grand Prix, Button recorded his best result of the season with a sixth-place after qualifying third in a wet/dry session. After the
British Grand Prix at Silverstone, the team scored points at the next three rounds with six points in Hungary, four in Germany, and six points again thanks to a seventh-place finish from Alonso at the
Belgian Grand Prix. At the
United States Grand Prix, McLaren matched their Monaco result with 12 points after Alonso claimed fifth position while Button once again finished ninth. Alonso and Button finished the championship in 10th and 15th places respectively with the team ending the season in sixth place in the Constructors' Championship with 76 points. On 3 September 2016,
Jenson Button announced he would take a sabbatical from Formula One for the 2017 season. He then confirmed on 25 November that he would retire from F1 altogether with Vandoorne being Alonso's new Teammate for 2017. In February 2017, McLaren signed
Lando Norris to the Young Driver Programme.
Alonso did not take part in the
2017 Monaco Grand Prix as he was participating in the
Indianapolis 500, being replaced by Jenson Button. Button retired from the race on lap 57 after suffering terminal damage, having hit the Sauber of Pascal Wehrlein. McLaren finished 2017 9th with 30 points in total.
2018–2020: Customer Renault engines at the
2018 Chinese Grand Prix) final season in Formula One, before he returned in . 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. Team boss Éric Boullier described their performance between 2015 and 2017 as a "proper disaster" for the team's credibility. was the first season in McLaren's history when their cars were powered by Renault engines. McLaren also announced that Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne would remain with the team for the
2018 season. On 6 November 2017, the team announced that Lando Norris would be the team's test and reserve driver. At the season-opening
Australian Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso scored the team's best finish since the
2016 Monaco Grand Prix with fifth, Alonso said that the team's target would be Red Bull Racing. 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. On 14 August 2018, Fernando Alonso announced he would not compete in Formula One in 2019, ending his four-year spell at the team.
Carlos Sainz Jr. was signed as his replacement on a multi-year deal. On 3 September 2018, it was announced that
Stoffel Vandoorne would be leaving the team at the end of the season, with
Lando Norris being promoted from reserve driver to replace him in 2019. McLaren struggled with performance throughout the season, with the McLaren drivers being knocked out 21 times in the first qualifying session, and McLaren having the second-worst average qualifying ranking of any team, only ahead of
Williams. The team finished the season – after being helped by the exclusion of
Force India's points from the first 12 races – in 6th place with 62 points, 357 points behind their target, Red Bull Racing, with the same engine. driving the
McLaren MCL35 at the
2020 Tuscan Grand Prix. Norris achieved his first career podium at the
2020 Austrian Grand Prix. In the
2019 season, McLaren established themselves as the fourth-fastest constructor, behind Mercedes, Ferrari, and Red Bull. At the
Brazilian Grand Prix, Sainz recorded the team's first podium since the
2014 Australian Grand Prix, finishing fourth on the road but later promoted to third after Lewis Hamilton received a post-race penalty, meaning that the team missed out on the official podium ceremony. McLaren ended the season in 4th place with 145 points, their best result since 2014 and 54 points ahead of their nearest competitor, Renault. McLaren retained Norris and Sainz for the season. The season was significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The season was shortened to 18 races, with the season opener to take place in
Austria. At the
Austrian Grand Prix, Norris achieved his first ever podium, finishing in third. Sainz achieved the team's second podium in 2020 at the
Italian Grand Prix, where he finished second. The team finished the 2020 season third in the constructors' championship with 202 points. Sainz finished the drivers' championship in sixth with 105 points and Norris in ninth with 97 points.
2021–present: Return to Mercedes engines 2021–2023: Continued spells in the midfield driving the
McLaren MCL35M at the
2021 British Grand Prix. The 2021 season marked McLaren's return to Mercedes power since 2014; the team scored the only 1-2 of the season at the
2021 Italian Grand Prix, which was also their first win since the
2012 Brazilian Grand Prix. McLaren again used
Mercedes engines in after their deal with
Renault ended. McLaren had previously collaborated with Mercedes from 1995 through 2014 (1995 to 2009 as a works partner and later 2010 to 2014 as a customer partner) but this time a customer role system by pay-lease agreement.
Daniel Ricciardo moved from Renault to partner
Lando Norris for the
2021 Formula One World Championship on a multi-year deal. Ricciardo replaced
Carlos Sainz, who moved to
Ferrari. A second-place finish for Norris also meant that McLaren achieved their first one-two finish since the
2010 Canadian Grand Prix and the only one-two finish for the 2021 season. Norris secured the team's first pole position in the hybrid era at the
2021 Russian Grand Prix but was unable to convert it to a win, finishing in seventh place due to the sudden drastic change in weather conditions and team strategy in the last two laps of the race. A subsequent drop in form in the latter part of the season saw McLaren ending up fourth in the constructors' championship behind Ferrari. For the season, McLaren retained both Norris and Ricciardo. Ricciardo tested positive for
COVID-19 ahead of the pre-season tests in Bahrain, which meant Norris was required to do all the remaining running for the test although a brake problem limited the testing he was able to conduct. Both drivers struggled at the first race in
Bahrain, with neither driver reaching Q3 – the first time since the
2020 Turkish Grand Prix – and finishing 14th and 15th in the race. Norris achieved third at the
Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. After Norris missed the first day at the track during the
São Paulo Grand Prix weekend, McLaren suffered their first double DNF finish since Monaco 2017 as Norris had an electrical fault and Ricciardo was involved in a collision with
Haas' Kevin Magnussen. Ricciardo struggled relative to his teammate, amid reports that McLaren could activate exit clauses in his contract. This forced Ricciardo into releasing a statement on Instagram, confirming he would stay through to 2023. In August 2022, Riccardo's contract for 2023 was terminated by mutual agreement.
Oscar Piastri replaced Ricciardo for the 2023 season after a contract dispute with
Alpine F1 Team was resolved in McLaren's favour by the
FIA Contract Recognition Board. McLaren finished the season in fifth place in the constructors' championship behind Alpine. driving the
McLaren MCL60 at the
2023 Austrian Grand Prix. After a poor start to the season, the team rethought its design direction, resulting in an uptick in the MCL60's performance by the midpoint of the season. The
2023 season celebrated the 60th anniversary of the team's founding, with the season's car named the
MCL60 in commemoration. The season started with multiple technical issues, causing them to release a public statement after the
Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, announcing certain organisational changes. After not scoring points in the first two races, Norris and Piastri finished the chaotic
Australian Grand Prix in sixth and eighth place respectively, with Piastri scoring his first points in Formula One and for McLaren. During the midpoint of the season, McLaren's trajectory began to increase with upgrades being introduced at the
Austrian and
Singapore Grands Prix. The upgrades were an immediate success, and McLaren attained its first podium with Norris since the 2021 Italian Grand Prix. Piastri achieved his first career podium at the
Japanese Grand Prix and won the
Qatar Grand Prix sprint race, marking McLaren's first sprint race victory in Formula One; the main race saw a record be broken for the fastest pit stop in Formula One, setting a pit stop time of 1.80 seconds, 0.02 quicker than the previous record set by Red Bull Racing in the
2019 Brazilian Grand Prix. During the
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend, McLaren signed an extension to use Mercedes engines until 2030. numerous opportunities to capitalise in performance for the season. Retaining Norris and Piastri, the team hired
David Sanchez from
Scuderia Ferrari to lead development alongside
Peter Prodromou and
Neil Houldey (after a restructuring,
Rob Marshall would lead development) for the 2024 car, titled the
MCL38. At the start of the season, the MCL38 proved to be the third-fastest car overall behind Ferrari's
SF-24. The SF-24 had superior tyre management, but the MCL38 excelled in qualifying. McLaren revealed a substantial upgrade package that would be utilised for the . The upgrade's success would be confirmed after Norris took the lead from Verstappen and went on to win the race, marking his maiden Formula One career victory. McLaren expected the upgrades to improve the car's performance across all conditions; the upgrade was much more successful than expected, to the point the team needed to investigate it. By the , the MCL38 had been established as the fastest car. One of these successes included a 1-2 finish at the , McLaren's first since the
2021 Italian Grand Prix. A mid-season upgrade introduced for the further improved performance, with Norris winning by over 27 seconds ahead of second-placed Verstappen. Piastri's triumph at the moved McLaren up to first in the
World Constructors' Championship. This was the first time since that McLaren had led the WCC. In Abu Dhabi, Norris finished in first to win McLaren's first World Constructors' Championship since 1998. With McLaren winning the WCC the previous season, they were allocated less testing time in , and were deemed the favourites to defend the Constructors' Championship. The
MCL39 was the first McLaren car to be fully overseen by Rob Marshall, and it exhibited numerous technical improvements over its predecessor. The MCL39 showed an immediate advantage over the rest of the field; McLaren won fourteen out of twenty-four races in 2025 season, with Norris and Piastri both scoring seven wins each - including seven 1-2 finishes - and scored podiums in all possible races, bar three: the
Canadian,
Azerbaijan, and
Las Vegas Grands Prix. Despite an uptick in pace from
Red Bull, McLaren was able to secure their tenth championship at the
Singapore Grand Prix, becoming the most-successful Formula One
independent constructor of all time to date. Amidst the team's dominance in winning the Constructors' Championship, a battle for the Drivers' Championship between Norris and Piastri began: Norris led the early stages of the championship before Piastri took the lead after capitalising on Norris' mistake in qualifying for the
Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. As the season drew to a close, Piastri experienced a downturn in form, which also coincided with two crashes at the Azerbaijan and
São Paulo Grands Prix. Norris and Red Bull's
Max Verstappen took advantage of this, with the former in particular recovering from a gap as high as 34 points after the
Dutch Grand Prix to eventually retake the lead of the Drivers' Championship by one point by winning the
Mexico City Grand Prix. Norris and Piastri were both disqualified from the
Las Vegas Grand Prix due to a plank wear infringement, marking the first time both McLaren drivers were disqualified in one Grand Prix. The result allowed Verstappen to be level on points with Piastri. Finishing in fourth with both Verstappen and Piastri on the podium, Norris was unable to secure the Drivers' Championship at the
Qatar Grand Prix, bringing the championship fight to the final race of the season, the
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Piastri and Norris finished the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in second and third, respectively. The third place finish allowed Norris to win his first Drivers' Championship and McLaren's first Drivers' Championship since 2008. This also marked McLaren's first double championship winning season since 1998.
2026: New regulations and World Championship defence Major changes to the
regulations were observed for , which marked Norris' first season as defending Drivers' Champion, with Piastri continuing to race alongside him. McLaren also entered the season as defending Constructors' Champions, with their
MCL40 debuting at a pre-season shakedown at
Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. However, the team was beat by
Mercedes, who had a strong showing during their pre-season tests, and
Ferrari. They were indeed off the pace of Mercedes, who won the
Australian Grand Prix, with Norris finishing fifth and Piastri crashing his MCL40 heavily before the race began. McLaren recorded their 1000th Grand Prix entry at the
Chinese Grand Prix, becoming the second constructor after Ferrari to reach this milestone. Finishing fourth and sixth during the
sprint, McLaren's 1000th entry saw both drivers failing to start the race after facing
power unit issues, marking the first time this has happened since the controversial
2005 United States Grand Prix. == Racing history: Other series ==