Team information

Chassis McLaren MP4-23

Engine Mercedes-Benz FO 108V

Team principal/s Ron Dennis, Martin Whitmarsh

Technical Directors Paddy Lowe, Neil Oatley

Race drivers Lewis Hamilton, Heikki Kovalainen

Test drivers Pedro de la Rosa, Gary Paffett

Base Woking, Surrey, United Kingdom

History

McLaren, founded in 1963 by New Zealander Bruce McLaren (1937–1970), is a Formula One team based in Woking, Surrey, UK. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor but has also competed in the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race and Canadian-American Challenge Cup. The current team was formed by the merger of Bruce McLaren Motor Racing with Project Four Racing in 1981. The team is managed by Ron Dennis and is part of McLaren Racing, a member of the McLaren Group. Engines are supplied by McLaren shareholder Mercedes-Benz through Mercedes-Benz High Performance Engines.

McLaren is one of the most successful teams in Formula One, having won over 150 races, 11 Drivers' Championships and 8 Constructors' Championships. Autosport judges McLaren to have "bigger, more sophisticated" technical resources than any other team and a resultant higher development rate throughout a season. However it states that "operationally it is not as slick [as Ferrari], and this typically shows during moments of high stress. In such moments it's a team with a tendency to rely too much on its vast technical databank and not enough on the intuition of a single person making the call."

2008 prospects

On 14 December 2007, it was confirmed that Heikki Kovalainen would drive the second car for McLaren Mercedes for the 2008 Formula One season alongside Lewis Hamilton. McLaren's title contender, the MP4-23, was launched on the 7 January 2008 at an official launch party in Stuttgart, Germany.

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes started the year with both drivers scoring in the points at the 2008 Australian Grand Prix. Hamilton started from pole and ended up winning the Grand Prix while Kovalainen started 3rd but had dropped two spots by the finish. McLaren's 14 points saw them lead the Formula One Constructors' World Championship standings after the first race.

The honours list

Debut 1966 Monaco Grand Prix

Races competed 637

Constructors' Championships 8

Drivers' Championships 11

Race victories 158

Pole positions 134

Fastest laps 136

2007 position Excluded