McLaren Mastercard F1 Team

CEO/Founder: Zak Brown
Team Chief: Andrea Stella
Technical Chief: Rob Marshall
Sports Director: Will Courtenay

Chassis 2026: MCL40

Engine: Mercedes M17 E Performance
Tyre: Pirelli

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Reserve Driver: Patricio O'Ward

2026 Season

McLaren enters 2026 as the benchmark team in the paddock after finishing the 2025 season first in the Constructors' Championship with 833 points, while Lando Norris secured the Drivers' title and Oscar Piastri ended the year third overall. From a sporting perspective, the Woking-based team has opted for complete continuity: Norris and Piastri remain unchanged as the driver pairing, while the technical and management structure also retains its key figures, with Andrea Stella as Team Principal, Rob Marshall as Chief Designer, Mark Temple as Technical Director Performance and Neil Houldey as Technical Director Engineering.

Car

From a technical standpoint, the MCL40 has been designed around a 2026 regulation package that simultaneously reshapes the chassis, power unit and aerodynamics. The new car retains the 1.6-litre turbocharged V6, but within a much more heavily electrified powertrain, featuring an approximately 50:50 split between combustion and electrical power, the removal of the MGU-H and a significantly more powerful MGU-K. The cars are also 100 mm narrower and around 30 kg lighter, with less extreme floor designs, more open diffusers and simplified adjustable wings aimed at creating a clearer distinction between cornering and straight-line configurations. McLaren itself describes the MCL40 as an ambitious but calculated project, built on processes refined over the previous two seasons rather than on established assumptions. After winning back-to-back Constructors' titles in 2024 and 2025, expectations for 2026 are inevitably high, although the regulatory reset calls for caution and makes it far from certain that the team's previous advantage can immediately be converted into another dominant campaign.

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History

Origins and debut: Bruce McLaren (1963-1969)

McLaren was founded in 1963 by Bruce McLaren, the New Zealand driver and engineer. The team made its Formula 1 World Championship debut in 1966, initially operating on a relatively small and independent scale. One anecdote that captures the spirit of its early years concerns logistics: for one of its first European trips, the chassis was transported on a trailer towed by a station wagon, a Ford Fairlane, underlining the almost family-run nature of the original operation.

The team's first World Championship Grand Prix victory came in Belgium at Spa-Francorchamps in 1968 with the M7A, driven by Bruce McLaren himself. It was a historic achievement, making McLaren one of the very few drivers to win a Grand Prix in a car bearing his own name. Such was the confusion at the end of the race that the New Zealander did not immediately realise the full significance of his victory.

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The Mayer era and the first championships (1970-1979)

In 1970, Bruce McLaren's death during a test at Goodwood placed the future of the team in serious doubt. Leadership passed to Teddy Mayer, who successfully transformed McLaren into a more professional organisation. Under his management, the team claimed its first World Championships: in 1974, McLaren won both the Constructors' Championship and the Drivers' title with Emerson Fittipaldi at the wheel of the famous M23. A second Drivers' Championship followed in 1976 with James Hunt, after his legendary season-long battle with Niki Lauda.

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The Ron Dennis era and a technical revolution (1980-1983)

At the beginning of the 1980s, with backing from sponsor Philip Morris, McLaren merged with Ron Dennis's Project Four operation. The merger marked the beginning of the famous "MP4" era. In 1981, the MP4/1, designed by John Barnard, made its debut as the first Formula 1 car to use a full carbon-fibre monocoque chassis. The innovation transformed standards of safety and torsional rigidity and eventually became the benchmark throughout top-level motorsport.

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Global dominance: TAG-Porsche and Honda (1984-1991)

From the mid-1980s, McLaren established an unprecedented level of technical dominance. Powered by TAG-Porsche engines, Niki Lauda in 1984 and Alain Prost in 1985 and 1986 brought the team repeated championship success. However, it was the partnership with Honda, beginning in 1988, that rewrote the record books. The MP4/4 won 15 of the 16 races that season, with Ayrton Senna claiming his first World Championship. The only defeat came at Monza in the Italian Grand Prix, after Senna was involved in contact while lapping another car. During this period, Senna and Prost collectively delivered four Drivers' titles between 1988 and 1991, establishing McLaren as the undisputed benchmark of the era.

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The Mercedes partnership and the "third pedal" innovation (1992-1999)

Following Honda's departure, McLaren entered a period of transition that eventually led to the beginning of its partnership with Mercedes-Benz in 1995. Under the technical leadership of Adrian Newey, the team returned to championship-winning form with Mika Häkkinen, who won the Drivers' titles in 1998 and 1999, while McLaren also secured the 1998 Constructors' Championship. This period also saw the introduction of the "brake steer" system, commonly known as the third pedal, which allowed the driver to brake one rear wheel independently in order to reduce understeer. The system was later banned by the governing body following complaints from rival teams.

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Spygate and Hamilton's title (2000-2009)

In 2007, McLaren became embroiled in the "Spygate" scandal, involving the possession of confidential Ferrari technical information. The team was handed a record $100 million fine and stripped of all its points in the Constructors' Championship. Despite the reputational damage, McLaren responded strongly in 2008, when Lewis Hamilton secured his first World Championship on the final corner of the final Grand Prix of the season. It would prove to be the team's last Drivers' title before the difficult years that followed in the 2010s.

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Technical decline, financial restructuring and recovery (2010-2023)

The 2010s were defined in part by the difficult revival of the Honda partnership between 2015 and 2017, a period marked by serious reliability and performance problems. After switching to Renault engines from 2018 to 2020, McLaren returned to Mercedes power units in 2021. At the same time, the financial impact of the 2020 pandemic forced the McLaren Group into a major restructuring process, including the sale and leaseback of the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking for £170 million and the arrival of MSP Sports Capital as an investor.

The first clear signs of a sporting revival came with the one-two finish at Monza in 2021, led by Daniel Ricciardo ahead of Lando Norris, followed by a steady technical improvement under Andrea Stella's leadership.

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Back at the top: the 2024 and 2025 titles

McLaren's rebuilding process reached its climax in 2024, when the team secured its ninth Constructors' World Championship, ending a 26-year wait for the title. In 2025, McLaren consolidated its position at the top by winning both the Drivers' and Constructors' Championships, the latter being the tenth in the team's history, and finishing the season with a total of 833 points. In September 2025, the group's ownership structure was further simplified through the acquisition of the remaining minority stakes, strengthening the organisation's governance ahead of its future challenges.

First race:

Gran Premio di Monaco del 1966

First victory:

Gran Premio del Belgio 1968 (Bruce McLaren)

Year	Chassis	Engine	Points
2026	McLaren MCL40	Mercedes M17 E Performance	339
2025	McLaren MCL39	Mercedes	833
2024	McLaren MCL38	Mercedes	666
2023	McLaren MCL60	Mercedes	302
2022	McLaren MCL36	Mercedes M13 E Performance	159
2021	McLaren MCL35M	Mercedes M12 EQ Power+	275
2020	McLaren MCL35	Renault	202
2019	McLaren MCL34	Renault E-Tech 19	145
2018	McLaren MCL33	Renault	62
2017	McLaren MCL32	Honda RA617H	30
2016	McLaren MP4-31	Honda RA616H	76
2015	McLaren MP4-30	Honda RA615H	27
2014	McLaren MP4-29	Mercedes PU106A Hybrid	181
2013	McLaren MP4-28	Mercedes FO 108Z	122
2012	McLaren MP4-27	Mercedes FO 108Z	378
2011	McLaren MP4-26	Mercedes FO 108Y	497
2010	McLaren MP4-25	Mercedes FO 108X	454
2009	McLaren MP4-24	Mercedes FO 108W	71
2008	McLaren MP4-23	Mercedes FO108V	151
2007	McLaren MP4-22	Mercedes-Benz FO 108T	-9592
2006	McLaren MP4-21	Mercedes FO 108S	110
2005	McLaren MP4-20	Mercedes-Benz FO 110R	182
2004	McLaren MP4-19	Mercedes FO 110Q	69
2003	McLaren MP4-17D	Mercedes FO110M	142
2002	McLaren MP4/17	Mercedes F0110M	65
2001	McLaren MP4-16	Mercedes FO110K	102
2000	McLaren MP4-15	Mercedes FO110J	-298
1999	McLaren MP4-14	Mercedes FO110H	124

* Season with at least 1 point won (since 2000)

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