In a sport that loves its statistics, there are few extra exceptional stats to contemplate than this: McLaren has not gained a single Method 1 constructors’ championship title in the course of the lives of its two present drivers, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
For one among Method 1’s most profitable and most beloved groups, McLaren have solely tasted championship glory of any form a single time within the final 25 years – when Lewis Hamilton claimed the drivers’ title in 2008.
Regardless of over 4,000 factors scored, 67 grand prix victories, 64 pole positions and 214 podium finishes over the 25 full seasons since their final constructors’ crown in 1998, the last word crew prize in motorsport has eluded McLaren for a whole era. However this 12 months appears to be like like it’ll lastly be the one which delivers McLaren their long-awaited ninth world constructors’ championship title.
With solely three rounds left, McLaren are first within the standings with a bonus of greater than 30 factors over closest rivals Ferrari. Pretty much as good as it might search for the crew from Woking, they’re nearly sure to lose the drivers’ title to Max Verstappen and Crimson Bull. Additionally they have loads of historical past of coming shut however simply lacking out over the past 25 seasons. Listed below are the years through which they got here closest…
1999 – 2nd – 4 factors from championship
The most important technical laws modifications that have been introduced into the game in 1998 – narrower vehicles, grooved tyres and lots of different modifications – have been designed to decelerate vehicles which the FIA deemed have been now changing into dangerously quick. Having employed Adrian Newey from Williams in 1997, McLaren arrived in Melbourne for the opening spherical of the 1998 season with their Newey-designed MP4-13 and destroyed the opposition.
Whereas Ferrari shortly caught up and engaged McLaren in what could be the primary of many head-to-head duels between the 2 powerhouses for the championship, McLaren gained 9 rounds to Ferrari’s six and managed to safe their first constructors’ title since 1991 within the remaining race at Suzuka, the place Mika Hakkinen additionally gained his first drivers’ title.
Hakkinen’s defence of his title in 1999 proved to be a difficult one, retiring 5 occasions all through the 16 spherical championship together with placing himself out whereas within the lead twice at Imola and Monza. Regardless of Ferrari’s crew chief Michael Schumacher breaking his leg in a nasty crash at Silverstone and lacking the subsequent six races, stand-in Mika Salo added ten factors to Ferrari’s tally over that point whereas Eddie Irvine proved extra of a nuisance than many anticipated.
With David Coulthard affected by reliability issues all through the season limiting the factors he may rating, Hakkinen and McLaren arrived in Japan for the ultimate spherical with a 4 level deficit in each championships. Whereas Hakkinen was flawless within the race, passing Schumacher to steer from the opening lap, Coulthard suffered hydraulic issues halfway by way of the race which pressured him into one other retirement. Hakkinen held off Schumacher to clinch his second successive title, however Ferrari’s double podium meant McLaren misplaced the constructors’ championship by 4 factors.
Advert | Change into a RaceFans supporter and
2000 – 2nd – 18 factors from championship
The next season noticed the third successive battle between McLaren and Ferrari on the entrance of the sector, however this time it was the Scuderia who had the benefit. McLaren’s seven victories over the 12 months couldn’t match the ten by Schumacher and new Ferrari crew mate Rubens Barrichello.
Hakkinen took the lead within the championship with back-to-back wins in Hungary and Belgium, earlier than a hat trick of wins allowed Schumacher to clinch the title with a race to spare in Suzuka. McLaren have been solely 13 factors again from Ferrari, which means they nonetheless had a slim likelihood to win the constructors’ title within the remaining race in Malaysia, however required a really poor outcome for Ferrari to grab it from their rivals.
Sadly for McLaren, they may not cease Schumacher from profitable the season finale. That meant that Ferrari had gained their first constructors’ title since 1983 and McLaren had been overwhelmed for the second successive season.
2005 – 2nd – 9 factors from championship
Ferrari dominated the early 2000s, with McLaren fading away from their rivals. They got here near a drivers’ championship with Kimi Raikkonen pushing Schumacher to the ultimate spherical of the 12 months in 2003, however they have been overwhelmed by each Ferrari and Williams within the constructors’ desk.
After a comparatively poor season in 2004 with only a single race victory at Spa-Francorchamps, the laws modified once more in 2005 to scale back downforce ranges and, once more, make the vehicles slower, introducing a requirement that drivers should use a single set of tyres for a whole race. The 2 groups that emerged on the prime of the sector have been McLaren, with drivers Raikkonen and Juan Pablo Montoya, and Renault who boasted a line up of Giancarlo Fisichella and Fernando Alonso.
The 2 groups dominated the season, profitable each spherical aside from the controversial United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis. However whereas a powerful begin to the season by Alonso proved an excessive amount of for Raikkonen to chase down, McLaren took the battle for the constructors’ all the way down to the ultimate spherical in China. Alonso took pole place and transformed it into his seventh victory of 2005, so as to add the constructors’ championship for Renault to his drivers’ title. McLaren missed out by 9 factors.
Advert | Change into a RaceFans supporter and
2007 – eleventh – 204 factors from championship
Essentially the most notorious season in McLaren’s historical past and the one that ought to have been their final title. All-new driver line up Fernando Alonso and rookie sensation Lewis Hamilton mixed for 218 factors, which was essentially the most of any crew all season. Nevertheless, McLaren have been disqualified from the constructors’ championship after one of many largest scandals within the sport’s historical past.
One other season-long battle with Ferrari noticed the battle for the drivers’ championship come all the way down to a three-way showdown between the 2 McLaren drivers and Raikkonen. Raikkonen gained the season finale and, with it, the championship title.
However all of the drama was centered on McLaren. All through the course of the 12 months, main tensions between Alonso and Hamilton resulted in a number of flashpoints, however McLaren have been all the time within the battle for victory each weekend regardless of this.
Nevertheless, any hopes of the constructors’ title have been misplaced when the crew obtained an unprecedented $100 million positive and stripped of all factors accrued that season after the FIA discovered them to be in unlawful possession of confidential Ferrari automotive knowledge, which grew to become often known as the ‘Spygate’ scandal. Finally, all their victories from the 12 months got here to nothing.
2008 – 2nd – 21 factors from championship
The latest season {that a} McLaren driver gained the world championship was additionally Lewis Hamilton’s first world title again in 2008. With Alonso departing to Renault after his falling out with the crew, Heikki Kovalainen was introduced in to interchange him.
Hamilton fought a tense battle for the championship with, naturally, the Ferrari drivers of Felipe Massa and Raikkonen. However Kovalainen couldn’t appear to match the identical stage of efficiency as his crew mate, scoring simply over half of Hamilton’s factors tally over the season.
The drivers’ title got here all the way down to a mesmerising remaining race at Interlagos, which Massa gained however Hamilton in the end got here out of together with his first championship title. However whereas Massa’s victory did safe the constructors’ crown for his crew, it was hardly a comfort prize for driver or for Ferrari.
Advert | Change into a RaceFans supporter and
The 15 seasons since
Since Hamilton’s victory, it has been an extended and difficult interval of drought for one among F1’s most profitable groups. Whereas they remained aggressive over the next seasons – ending inside the highest three in every of the subsequent for seasons – they have been by no means near the title as Brawn and Crimson Bull proved to be far too sturdy.
A transfer to Honda energy models for 2015 was disastrous and noticed McLaren fall from one among F1’s greatest groups to one among its worst. Shifting to Renault energy models helped get McLaren again on observe, ending third within the constructors’ championship in 2020, earlier than they returned to Mercedes energy and gained their first race in nearly ten years within the 2021 Italian Grand Prix.
McLaren struggled with the bottom impact laws launched in 2022 at first whereas Crimson Bull quickly established their dominance as soon as once more. However a significant improve mid method by way of the 2023 season noticed McLaren leap to being Crimson Bull’s closest contenders. Now in 2024, McLaren are the crew to beat as soon as once more. They’ve taken 5 race victories – three for Lando Norris and two for Oscar Piastri – and presently sit atop the constructors’ championship on 593 factors, making this simply their most profitable season since 2012.
Whereas Norris’s probabilities of beating Max Verstappen to the drivers’ title look to have ended, they’re the clear favourites to lastly clinch their first constructors’ crown since 1998. How becoming it’s that the crew greatest positioned to disclaim them will not be Crimson Bull however Ferrari, traditionally their fiercest rivals. Will Ferrari be capable of overcome the 36 level deficit to McLaren over the ultimate three rounds to disclaim them as soon as once more, or can McLaren lastly convey the constructors’ trophy again to Woking for the primary time of their drivers’ lifetimes?
Advert | Change into a RaceFans supporter and
