Bruce McLaren Motor Racing was founded in 1963 by New Zealander Bruce McLaren. Bruce was a works driver for the British Formula One team Cooper, with whom he had won three Grands Prix and finished second in the 1960 World Championship. Bruce wanted to compete in the Australasian Tasman Series, but when Cooper's owner, Charles Cooper, insisted on using 1.5-litre Formula One-specification engines instead of the 2.5-litre motors permitted by Tasman rules, Bruce decided to establish his own team. This team would run him and his prospective Formula One teammate Timmy Mayer with custom-built Cooper cars.
Bruce won the 1964 Tasman Series, but Mayer was killed in practice for the final race at the Longford Circuit in Tasmania. Bruce McLaren later approached Teddy Mayer for help with purchasing the Zerex sports car from Roger Penske. This led to discussions about a business partnership, with Teddy Mayer buying into Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Limited (BMMR) and eventually becoming its largest shareholder.
The team, competing under a British racing licence, was based in Feltham, England, from 1963 to 1964, and in Colnbrook, England, from 1965 until 1981. Since 1981, it has been based in Woking, England. Bruce never used the traditional British racing green on his cars, opting for colour schemes not based on national principles. For example, his first Formula One car, the McLaren M2B, raced at the 1966 Monaco Grand Prix painted white with a green stripe, representing a fictional Yamura team in John Frankenheimer's film Grand Prix.
During this period, Bruce drove for his team in sports car races in the United Kingdom and North America and also entered the 1965 Tasman Series with Phil Hill, though he did not win it. He continued to drive in Grands Prix for Cooper, but judging that team's form to be waning, he decided to race his own cars in 1966.
McLaren made its Grand Prix debut at the 1966 Monaco Grand Prix. The team's first car, the M2B, designed by Robin Herd, retired after nine laps due to an oil leak. The M2B program was hindered by a poor choice of engines, using a 3.0-litre version of Ford's Indianapolis 500 engine and a Serenissima V8. The latter scored the team's first point in Britain, but both engines were underpowered and unreliable. For 1967, Bruce opted for a British Racing Motors (BRM) V12 engine, but delays forced him to initially use a modified Formula Two car, the M4B, powered by a 2.0-litre BRM V8. He later built a similar, slightly larger car, the M5A, for the V12. Neither car brought significant success, with the best result being a fourth-place finish at Monaco.
For 1968, Bruce McLaren was joined by 1967 champion and fellow New Zealander Denny Hulme, who was already racing for McLaren in Can-Am. The new M7A car, Herd's final design for the team, was powered by Cosworth's new DFV engine, which would be used by McLaren until 1983. This led to a major upturn in form. Bruce won the Race of Champions at Brands Hatch, and Hulme won the International Trophy at Silverstone, both non-championship races. Bruce then secured the team's first championship win at the Belgian Grand Prix. Hulme also won the Italian and Canadian Grands Prix later that year, contributing to the team's second-place finish in the Constructors' Championship. In 1969, using an updated 'C' version of the M7, Bruce achieved three more podium finishes. The team's fifth win came at the final race of the 1969 championship when Hulme won the Mexican Grand Prix. 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."
The 1970 season began with a second-place finish each for Hulme and Bruce in the first two Grands Prix. However, 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. Hulme continued with Dan Gurney and Peter Gethin as partners. Gurney won the first two Can-Am events at Mosport and St. Jovite and placed ninth in the third, but left the team mid-season, with Gethin taking over. While 1971 started promisingly when Hulme led the opening round in South Africa before retiring with broken suspension, ultimately Hulme, Gethin (who left for BRM mid-season), and Jackie Oliver again failed to score a win. The 1972 season saw improvements: Hulme won the team's first Grand Prix in 2.5 years in South Africa, and he and Peter Revson scored ten other podiums, with the team finishing third in the Constructors' Championship. McLaren gave Jody Scheckter his Formula One debut at the final race at Watkins Glen. All McLaren drivers used Ford-Cosworth engines, except for Andrea de Adamich and Nanni Galli, who used Alfa Romeo engines in 1970.
The McLaren M23, designed by Gordon Coppuck, was the team's new car for the 1973 season. Sharing design elements from both McLaren's Formula One M19 and Indianapolis M16 cars, it remained a mainstay for four years. Hulme won with it in Sweden, and Revson secured the only Grand Prix wins of his career in Britain and Canada. In 1974, Emerson Fittipaldi, world champion with Lotus two years prior, 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-place finish 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 secured McLaren's first Constructors' Championship. The 1975 season was less successful for the team, with Fittipaldi finishing second in the championship behind Niki Lauda. Hulme's replacement, Jochen Mass, achieved his sole Grand Prix win in Spain.
At the end of 1975, Fittipaldi left to join his brother's Fittipaldi/Copersucar team. With top drivers already signed to other teams, Mayer turned to James Hunt, a driver described by biographer Gerald Donaldson as having "a dubious reputation." In 1976, Lauda was 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, Lauda crashed heavily, was nearly killed, and missed the next two races. Hunt capitalized by winning four more Grands Prix, reducing his deficit to three points heading into the finale in Japan. There, it rained torrentially, Lauda retired due to safety concerns, and Hunt sealed the Drivers' Championship by finishing third. McLaren, however, lost the Constructors' Championship to Ferrari.
In 1977, the M23 was gradually replaced by the M26, with the M23's final works outing being Gilles Villeneuve's Formula One debut with the team in a one-off appearance at the British Grand Prix. Hunt won on three occasions that year, but the Lauda and Ferrari combination proved too strong, with Hunt and McLaren managing just fifth and third in their respective championships. From there, results continued to worsen. Lotus and Mario Andretti took the 1978 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 non-ground-effect M26. Hunt was dropped at the end of 1978 in favour of Lotus's Ronnie Peterson, but when Peterson was killed in a crash at the Italian Grand Prix, John Watson was signed instead. No improvement occurred in 1979; Coppuck's M28 design was described by Mayer as "ghastly, a disaster" and "quite diabolical," and the M29 did little to change the situation. Tambay scored no points, and Watson only 15, placing the team eighth at the end of the year.
The 1980s began much as the 1970s had ended: Alain Prost took over from Tambay, 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 1981, 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.
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 recognized the need for a turbo engine of their own in 1982, Dennis 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, with Watson winning from 17th on the grid in Detroit, and at one stage of the season, McLaren was second in the constructors' championship. As part of a dispute with FISA, they boycotted the San Marino Grand Prix. Although 1983 was not as 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 for 1984. Now using the TAG engines, the team dominated, scoring 12 wins and 2.5 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 1985; a third Constructors' Championship came their way while this time Prost won the Drivers' Championship. In 1986, 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 1959 and 1960. In 1987, 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.
For 1988, 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 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, 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 1990. 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 1991 year was another for McLaren and Senna, with the ascendant Renault-powered Williams team their closest challengers. By 1992, Williams, with their advanced FW14B car, had overtaken McLaren, breaking their four-year run as champions, despite the latter winning five races that year.
As Honda withdrew from the sport at the end of 1992 following the Japanese asset price bubble, McLaren sought a new engine supplier. A deal to secure Renault engines fell through due to a veto by Renault's fuel and lubricant supplier Elf Aquitaine. Subsequently, McLaren switched to customer Ford engines for the 1993 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, scoring only seven points and being 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 1994 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 1994 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 secured. Peugeot was dropped after a single year due to multiple engine failures and unreliability, which cost McLaren potential race victories, and they switched to a Mercedes-Benz-branded, Ilmor-designed engine.
For the 1995 season onwards, McLaren ended their engine deal with Peugeot Sport and began a full-works engine partnership with Mercedes-Benz High Performance Engines. This was after the German manufacturer spent one year in partnership with the then-youngest Sauber team. The partnership included bespoke free engines from Mercedes-Benz, built, assembled, and tuned by Ilmor Engineering in Brixworth, England, as well as Mercedes-Benz official team vehicles and financial support. McLaren also earned full-factory support from Daimler AG and Mercedes-Benz, and Mercedes-Benz and Ilmor staff would work with the team at their Woking base.
McLaren's Formula One car for the 1995 season, the MP4/10, was not a front-runner. 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.
While Williams dominated in 1996, McLaren, now with David Coulthard alongside Häkkinen, went a third successive season without a win. In 1997, 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 long-time sponsor Marlboro shifted its support to 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 1998, 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 level 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.
In 2000, 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 2001, 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 2002, Coulthard took their solitary win at Monaco while Ferrari repeated McLaren's 1988 feat of 15 wins in a season.
The year 2003 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 2004 with the MP4-19, which technical director Adrian Newey described as "a debugged version of [the MP4-18]". It was not a success, though, and was replaced mid-season by the MP4-19B. With this, Räikkönen scored the team's and his only win of the year at the Belgian Grand Prix, as McLaren finished fifth in the Constructors' Championship, their worst ranking since 1983.
Coulthard left for Red Bull Racing in 2005 to be replaced by former CART champion Juan Pablo Montoya for what was McLaren's most successful season in several years as he and Räikkönen won ten races. However, both the team not being able to work out why the car could not heat its tyres properly in the early stages of the season and the overall unreliability of the MP4-20 cost several race victories when Räikkönen had been leading or in contention to win and also costing him grid positions in some qualifying sessions, which allowed Renault and their driver Fernando Alonso to capitalise and win both titles.
In 2006, the superior reliability and speed of the Ferraris and Renaults prevented the team from gaining any victories for the first time in a decade. Montoya parted company acrimoniously with the team to race in NASCAR after the United States Grand Prix, where he crashed into Räikkönen at the start; test driver Pedro de la Rosa deputised for the remainder of the season. 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.
After scoring no victories in 2006, the team returned to competitive status in 2007. That year saw Fernando Alonso race alongside Formula One debutant and long-time McLaren protégé Lewis Hamilton. 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 was 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 this 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, with Heikki Kovalainen filling the vacant seat alongside Hamilton.
In 2008, 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 2009 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.
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 had 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. McLaren signed 2009 champion, Jenson Button, to replace Kovalainen alongside Hamilton in 2010. 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.
Hamilton and Button remained with the team into 2011, 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 2012, 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. However, 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 British Grand Prix. 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 2013, after Hamilton decided to leave for Mercedes. However, from 2013 to 2014 seasons, McLaren's Mercedes links were weaker due to Mercedes focusing 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 saw McLaren fail to produce a podium finish for the first time since 1980.
Kevin Magnussen replaced Pérez for 2014, and Ron Dennis, who had remained at arm's length since stepping down from the team principal role, returned as CEO of the operation. McLaren was the first team to officially launch their 2014 car, the MP4-29, which was revealed on 24 January 2014. They had a largely unsuccessful 2014; their best result was in Australia where – after Daniel Ricciardo's disqualification from second place – Magnussen finished second and Button third. Button subsequently finished fourth in Canada, Britain, and Russia. Their highest grid position was in Britain with Button's third place on the grid.
For 2015, 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, and McLaren would receive 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 Australian Grand Prix 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.
McLaren retained both Alonso and Button for the 2016 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.
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
Gallery · 4 related images
