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When Bruce McLaren joined the Cooper team on a full-time basis in 1959, he proved a perfect partner for Jack Brabham. The two men did more than just drivers, they had an active input into the design and development of the cars, which then was almost unheard of. After Jack left at the end of 1961, Bruce could have, should have, made a significant contribution to Cooper design. Charles Cooper was so mortified at Brabham's apparent ingratitude that he kept McLaren at arms length.
Bruce, like Jack before him, started his own team to run in events which the Cooper works did not. The first sign that he intended to follow Brabham and set up his own construction company came over the winter of 1963/64. Cooper's long-time draughtsman/designer, Owen Maddock, left to freelance and his first job was to design a 'big-banger' sports racer for McLaren.
The McLaren M1 was the first of what would become a highly success line of sports cars. Lacking his own construction facility, Bruce subcontracted their manufacture to Elva, which was owned by Trojan.
At the end of 1965, McLaren left Cooper to set up his own Formula One team. He recruited Robin Herd, who had been working on systems for Concorde, and Herd penned a radical design with a monocoque made from Mallite, which was a sandwich of aluminium and balsa wood. The first two years of the McLaren F1 team were dogged by the lack of a suitable engine, but the availability of the DFV in 1968 elevated McLaren to the status of a top team. McLaren's huge success in the North American Can-Am sports racing series, helped put the fledging company onto a secure financial footing, as did success in Formula 5000 and Indycar.
After Bruce was killed in 1970, the team was run by Teddy Mayer, brother of Timmy Mayer, who had been killed driving a McLaren-entered Cooper in the Tasman series in 1964. Throughout most of Mayer's stewardship McLaren prospered. It secured sponsorship from Marlboro and won drivers' championships in 1974 (Fittipaldi) and 1976 (Hunt) and the Constructors' Cup in 1974.
By the end of 1971, McLaren had also won 24 Grands Prix, but the introduction of ground effect saw it lose the plot. In 1978 and 1979, McLaren scored just 15 points each season, in 1980 it was down to just 11 points and Marlboro was losing patience.
In the meantime, Ron Dennis had commissioned John Barnard to design a new Formula One car, which would have a carbonfibre monocoque. Dennis had been running a preparation company, Project 4, which had run cars in Formula Three and Two, and which had also prepared cars for the Procar Championship. Procar was a series which used BMW M1 coupes and the races were staged on the Saturday of a Grand Prix weekend, with many of the top F1 drivers taking part.
Dennis had established a reputation second to none for his standards and had also forged close links with Marlboro. At the end of 1980, and with the assistance of Marlboro, Dennis took 50% of McLaren shares and became, with Mayer, joint managing director. Within 18 months Dennis was in sole charge.
At the beginning of 1981, the new Barnard design, the MP4 was unveiled: 'M' for 'McLaren', 'P4' for 'Project 4'. John Watson ended McLaren's drought of success by winning the British GP. Then Dennis pulled off a master-stroke and persuaded Niki Lauda to come out of retirement. Though the cars would use DFV engines until the end of 1983, the chassis was so sweet that Lauda would take two wins and Watson three.
The first turbocharged McLaren ran before the end of 1983 with an engine built by Porsche, but labelled TAG. Techniques Avant Garde, a company founded by Mansour Ojeh, had bought into McLaren International, as the company had become, both to use Formula One as a flagship for its other activities and to cooperate with McLaren on various hi-tech developments. There was some idea of using the TAG engine in helicopters, but that came to nothing.
It is, incidentally, incorrect to call the unit a Porsche engine. Porsche was a subcontractor which supplied the basic engine to a specification laid down by John Barnard. All the development work was carried out by KKK turbochargers and Bosch, the electronics company. They too, were subcontractors, employed by TAG.
With a McLaren-TAG, Niki Lauda won the 1984 Drivers' Championship, and Alain Prost won it back-to-back in 1985 and '86. McLaren took the constructors' title in 1985 and 1986.
The last year that McLaren used the TAG engine was 1987, by which time it was slipping behind and John Barnard had decamped to Ferrari. Then Ron Dennis pulled of a coup by persuading Honda to dump Williams and switch to McLaren. McLaren also fielded two best drivers of the day, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna, and embarked on a period of unprecedented success. For four straight years, 1988-91, McLaren won both drivers' and constructors' championships every year. In 1998, but for a collision on the penultimate lap of the Italian Grand prix between Senna and Williams 'stand-in' Jean-Louis Schlesser, McLaren would have won every round of the championship.
After Honda retired at the end of 1992, McLaren kept afloat first with customer Cosworth engines which, thanks to the genius of Ayrton Senna, brought five wins. McLaren signed a deal with Peugeot for 1994 and the consigned it to the status of a midfield runner.
Ron Dennis proved he had lost none of his touch when, for 1995, he announced a long-term relationship with Mercedes-Benz. The engines are actually designed and built by Ilmor, but backup and input from Mercedes-Benz. It took the new partnership until 1997 until it won a race (that year it won two) but in the summer of that year, it became known that Adrian Newey would leave Williams and join McLaren.
Newey is an important factor in Williams slipping down the order and McLaren returning to the fore with a constructors' title in 1998 and back-to-back Championships for Mika Hakkinen, 1998 and 1999.
There is no question, however, that Ron Dennis's eye for detail and presentation, plus his superb business acumen, has been the main reason for McLaren's success. Early into his reign, a mechanic turned up at Heathrow ready to fly to Brazil, and he was not wearing his team tie. The mechanic did not go to Brazil.
Ron would send an advance party to race circuits to paint and fettle the McLaren pit garages to an appropriate standard. This underlined the entire Dennis philosophy - he imposed his standards on the pit garages, he did not accept those of the circuit owner. In the same way, a car's bodywork is not polished between races, the paint is likely to be stripped off and the whole body painted again from scratch.
It is this instance on standards which impresses McLaren's sponsors (sorry, corporate partners) and that in turn ensures both the team's prosperity and its continued success.
Despite an exciting driver line-up comprising David Coulthard, now in his seventh year with the Woking outfit, and Finnish charger Kimi Raikkonen, McLaren failed to live up to its promise. After just a couple of races it was clear that the MP4-17 was no match for Ferrari 2001 car, as used in the first couple of races, far less the 2002 version.
The MP4-17 was not one of the Woking team's finest while Mercedes' FO 110M was hardly the German manufacturer's best power-plants either. Put these together with Michelins that only seemed to perform when it suited them and you have a relatively poor package which explains why the Silver cars were unable even to compete with the Williams F1s
Admittedly Coulthard was one of only two non-Ferrari drivers to grab a win, while Raikkonen was desperately unlucky not to take a magnificent win at Magny-Cours, but on the whole this was a season to forget for Ron and his boys.
For 2003 McLaren retained the same line-up, though the new MP4-18 wasn't expected to make its debut until Imola at the earliest. At least, that was the plan.
Things got off to a brilliant start with David Coulthard taking victory at Melbourne, though Montoya's unforced error, when he spun whilst leading, was a major contributory factor. Two weeks later Kimi Raikkonen's win at Malaysia seemed far more convincing. McLaren was shaping up as a genuine title contender.
Although Raikkonen stood atop the podium in Brazil, it was later discovered that the timekeepers had made a mistake and therefore Jordan's Giancarlo Fisichella was subsequently handed the win.
This was to be the last time that a McLaren driver stood on the top step of the podium for the remainder of the year, though there were times when they came close.
Coulthard struggled with the new qualifying format, which places the emphasis on a driver's ability to perform on one 'hot lap', while Raikkonen struggled with a car that was clearly past its sell-by date.
Both drivers eagerly awaited the arrival of the MP4-18, but it proved to be a long wait. The car finally made its test debut in mid-May, ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix. But a series of unexplained crashes in testing, and the car's failure to pass the mandatory FIA crash tests, meant that McLaren had to go back to the drawing board (literally), while Coulthard and Raikkonen had to persevere with the MP4-17D.
That Raikkonen was able to take the title fight to the wire, speaks volumes for the Finn, though given the fact that he had one win to Schumacher's six, it could be argued that the new points system worked in his favour.
A difficult season for the Woking outfit, not helped by the fact that Ferrari added yet another couple of trophies to the cabinet, while WilliamsF1 and Renault both appear to be shaping up as serious contenders in 2004.
Coulthard stays at McLaren for 2004, a record ninth season with the Woking team. However, unless there's a major shock in the pipeline it's the end of the road for the Scot, at least as far as the silver and black cars are concerned.
In November 2003, McLaren confirmed Formula One's worst kept secret, namely that Juan Pablo Montoya would partner Kimi Raikkonen in 2005, a real fire and ice partnership if ever there was one.
However, with the Colombian's arrival over a year away, the job was to focus on 2004.
In pre-season testing, the McLaren MP4-19 looked good, and there were many who believed that the Woking team was on course to reclaim its former glory. The car was the first of the 2004 contenders to be launched, and there was nothing to suggest that it wouldn't take the fight to Ferrari, certainly no sign of the dismal failure we were about to witness.
Along with DC and Kimi, the team retained both Alexander Wurz and Pedro de la Rosa as test drivers, Ron Dennis opting for continuity.
Although few predicted that Ferrari would be as dominant as it clearly was, come Melbourne, far less would have foreseen the McLaren being such a hopeless car.
By midway through the season the team had scored just 17 points, and were in serious danger of losing sixth place in the constructors' championship to Sauber.
Behind the scenes the team was working franticly, as all involved tried to save face.
In France, the team introduced the MP4-19B, which in reality was a bigger progression - compared to the MP4-19 - than the name suggests. Clearly, progress was being made and in the next couple of races the team more than doubled its points tally.
If proof were needed that McLaren was making progress, it came at Spa, where Raikkonen took a well-earned victory.
It was far too late to make any serious impression on the championship, but it proved that McLaren had the resources and determination to regroup and fight back.
It's difficult to know where to point the blame, in reality even Ron Dennis stands accused, the Englishman getting far too involved in his Technology Centre.
The Woking outfit headed into 2005 with its scintillating 'fire and ice' driver line-up, comprising Kimi Raikkonen and Juan Pablo Montoya.
Having staged such an amazing fight back in 2004, all eyes were on McLaren, and of course Mercedes, to see if the team would make the job any easier for itself in the new season.
Ironically, having finished outside the top 4, the Woking team was able to take full advantage of the Friday test sessions, one of the little scraps that team boss Ron Dennis had previously thrown to the 'minnows'. As it happens, like Renault and BAR beforehand, McLaren was able to put these sessions to great use.
Depending on your point of view, you might say that McLaren lost the drivers' and constructors' titles in 2005, rather than Renault winning them.
On its day, the McLaren-Mercedes MP4-20 was stunning, unfortunately those days were all too infrequent. For despite its pace, the car was fragile, unlike the Renault, which for much of the season appeared bullet-proof.
As a result of a problem in the first few rounds of the championship, which, amongst other things, saw the MP4-20 failing to qualify well, Renault got its season off to a dream start, taking four straight wins. With a 21 point deficit after four races, the Woking team was always facing an uphill task. Yet it persevered.
The statistics tell the story, 10 wins, 7 poles and 12 fastest laps. But then there was the half-shaft failure at Imola and numerous engine failures in practice, resulting in grid demotion, making Raikkonen, in particular, have too work that much harder and against greater odds.
To its credit, McLaren, and its drivers, rose to the occasion, but the poor start to the season meant that the Woking cars had to be pushed ever harder, and consequently paid the price.
There were other factors that probably contributed to McLaren's failure, such as, team boss, Ron Dennis' preoccupation with the new factory and the Mercedes SLR project. Then there was the mystery injury which kept Juan Pablo Montoya out of two races, not to mention the points thrown away at the Nurburgring, when Kimi, with the team's 'blessing' pushed his Michelins just a little too far.
Reading this, one might think that 2005 was a season of 'doom and gloom' for McLaren, but it wasn't, indeed the Woking outfit provided race fans with some of the true highlights of the year. With Montoya recovering from his 'tennis injury' we saw spirited performances from his understudies, Pedro de la Rosa and Alexander Wurz, while Kimi Raikkonen kept us on the edge of our seats with his 'never say die' performances, including what must rank as the move of the season, his pass on Giancarlo Fisichella at Suzuka.
If people thought 2005 was doom and gloom, 2006 was simply doom, certainly by McLaren standards.
Although the Woking outfit already knew it had Fernando Alonso under contract for 2007, the team suffered the loss of several leading technical figures with Adrian Newey and Peter Prodromou heading off to Red Bull and Nicholas Tombazis returning to Ferrari. Furthermore, despite the attempt at a 'brave face', with the recruitment of, Red Bull head of vehicle design, Rob Taylor, such to-ing and fro-ing is not a good foundation for a World Championship assault.
In the first couple of races things looked OK, and it seemed that McLaren might finally have the equipment with which Raikkonen and Montoya could challenge for the title. However, slowly things began to fall appear and was clear that the MP4-21 was not the car with which McLaren would be able to challenge Ferrari, far less Renault.
The package had run well in testing, completing a tremendous amount of miles and hovering at the top of the timesheets. However, as the season progressed, the MP4-21's weaknesses became all too apparent.
Firstly, the reintroduction of pit stops for tyres worked against McLaren, the MP4-21, like the MP4-20, being easy on its tyres. Then there was reliability, particularly when it came to the Mercedes 108S.
A lapse of concentration, he was listening to his radio, cost Raikkonen victory in Hungary, while at Monaco, where the MP4-21 appeared to be the best package, the Finn suffered a fire in his engine bay.
The incident in 2005, when Montoya missed a couple of races due to his tennis injury, has caused tension between the Colombian and his boss, and as the 2006 season developed the it was clear that matters hadn't improved.
With Alonso already signed for 2007, it was doubtful whether Montoya would be retained. However, the Colombian took matter into his own hands by announcing that he was to leave F1 at the end of the season and switch to NASCAR.
As the news was still sinking in, McLaren announced that Pedro de la Rosa would replace the Colombian who would; "spend the next few months in Miami with his family, while making initial preparations for his debut in NASCAR". Game, Set and Match.
As the season progressed, McLaren could only sit back and watch Renault and Ferrari battle it out for the championship(s), with the English team's third place facing a late assault by Honda.
Under the circumstances Raikkonen and de la Rosa did the best they could. However, the fact is that a season which started out with the prospect of the Woking team taking its first title since 1998 ended with the team failing to win a single race, the first time since 1996.
Following the Woking team's dismal 2006, prospects for 2007 were altogether different, with many predicting a return to the very top. An all-new driver line up, new sponsors, new part-owners (Bahrain's Mumtalakat Holding Company ) and new livery... everything appeared to be in place for a return to glory. How sad therefore that a season which promised so very much was to end so badly, with the team almost brought to its knees by events both on and off track.
Although from the outset it was clear that Ferrari's F2007 had the pace, over the course of the season the red car simply didn't have the reliability. Then again, there was the Hamilton factor.
Nothing, but nothing, had prepared us for quite how good Lewis Hamilton was to be in his debut season. Even though he's been in the job for as long as he can remember even Ron Dennis must have been caught off guard. Sure, we knew the youngster had been good in every other formula he's raced but this didn't mean he'd cut it in F1, one only has to think back to Jan Magnussen.
However, it was Hamilton's 'out of the box' brilliance, coupled with McLaren's failure to designate a proper driver hierarchy that ultimately led to failure. That and the spy saga.
Alonso, a double World Champion, was clearly as surprised as the rest of us by Hamilton's ability, however he assumed he would be treated in a manner befitting his titles, i.e. as number one. He was wrong. Consequently, it wasn't long before there was all-out war between the two, the situation coming to a head in Hungary when Alonso, feeling that Hamilton had already broken the rules by refusing to allow him past at the start of the third phase of qualifying, returned the compliment by deliberately holding back his teammate at the final pit stop, thereby preventing him from a final stab at pole.
Suddenly, talk of bad feeling within the team was no longer a matter of idle speculation, for it was now out in public for all to see. Ron Dennis made no secret of his anger at what happened, nor did the FIA. However, with the benefit of hindsight, we now know that there was far more going on in Hungary than the driver war in qualifying, for it was in Hungary that Alonso is known to have threatened to use incriminating e-mails which showed his team's role in the spy saga, which was already beginning to overshadow on-track activities.
While, Ferrari reliability, coupled by a number of hit-and-miss performances from its drivers, stifled the Italian team, the McLaren drivers were consistently climbing the podium. Alonso, in only his second outing for the team, took victory in Bahrain, the first of four wins. While Hamilton, following a string of four second places, took his maiden GP win in Canada, following it a week later with another win, this time at Indianapolis.
At season end, Bernie Ecclestone said that McLaren had lost the championship(s), and while partly true, this is a great disservice to Raikkonen and Ferrari's determination never to give in.
The spy saga, which had dominated much of the season, finally put paid to McLaren's Constructors' Championship hopes - that and the Hungarian GP debacle - a few days after the Italian GP, when the Woking outfit was fined $100m and excluded from the Constructors' Championship. Now, all that remained was the drivers' title.
While Raikkonen fought back in Belgium, thereby closing the title gap to thirteen points, Hamilton hit back with a superb victory in Japan. The rest, as they say is history. Due to a combination of driver and team errors, unforgivable on McLaren's part, all was lost, with Hamilton finishing runner-up to the Finn and Woking teammate Alonso finishing third in the title race, though with the same number of points as the Englishman.
Thus, at season end, Ferrari had both titles whilst McLaren was $100m poorer, no titles, no points and consigned to spend 2008 at the 'poor' end of the pitlane.
Sadly, there was to be another twist to the sorry saga. McLaren protested the result of the Brazil GP, when BMW and Williams were found to have used 'illegal' fuel, and though the Woking team insisted that it did not want Hamilton to win the title by default, went ahead with its claim. Once again, it lost, and all that was gained was dragging out the result of the 2008 championship for a few more weeks.
It came as no great surprise, when, on November 2, McLaren announced that it was parting company with Alonso, subsequently taking over a month to name his successor, Heikki Kovalainen.
The day before naming Kovalainen as Hamilton's partner, McLaren dropped a further bombshell when it issued a statement admitting that "Ferrari information was more widely disseminated within the team than was previously communicated". Prior to this apology there was still a threat hanging over the Woking team, with the FIA scheduled to investigate its 2008 contender in February, just weeks before the start of the season. However, the public apology caused the FIA to draw a line underneath the whole sorry saga. That said, Ferrari is continuing its investigations, and there could be further shocks to come.
The apology cast doubt on Ron Dennis' future with the team he helped build, with the British media, in particular, appearing to turn on the Woking boss, and it remains to be seen whether he will stand fast or sell his remaining fifteen percent.
It is surely tempting fate to say that 2008 can only be better, however, surely it couldn't be any worse. Hamilton is a proven, while, following a shaky start, Kovalainen had a strong rookie season. Providing the team can provide a good car, maintain driver relations, dump any rogue employees, and not make the sort of errors witnessed in China, 2008 could see Ron and his boys put the past well and truly behind them.
Statistics - Prior to 2008 Season
Drivers' Titles: 11
Constructors' Titles: 8
Seasons in F1: 42
Grand Prix: 630
Wins: 156
Points: 3151.5
Poles: 133
Fastest Laps: 133
Best result in 2007: 1st (8 times)
Best qualifying 2007: Pole - (8 times)
Worst qualifying 2007: 10th - Alonso (France) Hamilton (Europe)
2007 Average grid position: Hamilton (2.59) Alonso (3.18)
2007: Alonso out-qualified Hamilton 7 times
2007: Hamilton out-qualified Alonso 10 times
2007: Completed 2076 out of 2130 laps (97.5%)
2007: Finished 32 times from 34 starts (94.12%)
Management
Team Principal, Team McLaren Mercedes Chairman and CEO, TAG McLaren Group: Ron Dennis
Vice President Mercedes-Benz Motorsort: Norbert Haug
Managing Director: Martin Whitmarsh
Technical Team
Managing Director: Jonathan Neale
Engineering Director: Paddy Lowe
Design and Development Director: Neil Oatley
Head of Aerodynamics: Simon Lacey
Chief Engineer MP4-23: Tim Goss
Chief Engineer MP4-24: Pat Fry
Head of Vehicle Engineering: Mark Williams
Race Team Manager: Dave Ryan
Operations Director: Simon Roberts
Technical Specifications
MP4-23
Chassis: McLaren moulded carbon fibre/aluminium honeycomb composite incorporating front and side impact structures. Contains integral safety fuel cell
Front Suspension: Inboard torsion bar/damper system operated by pushrod and bell crank with a double wishbone arrangement
Rear Suspension: Inboard torsion bar/damper system operated by pushrod and bell crank with a double wishbone arrangement
Suspension dampers: Koni
Electronics: McLaren Electronic Systems control units incorporating electronics for chassis, engine and data acquisition. McLaren Electronic Systems also supplies the electronic dash board, alternator voltage control, sensors, data analysis and telemetry systems
Bodywork Construction: One-piece engine cover; seperate side pod covers. Separate floor section, structural nose with integral front wing
Transmission
Gearbox Speeds: Seven forward and one reverse
Semi-auto: Yes
Driveshafts: McLaren
Clutch: Hand-operated
Tyres: Bridgestone Potenza
Radios: Kenwood
Race Wheels: Enkei
Batteries: GS Yuasa Corporation
Steering: McLaren power-assisted
Instruments: McLaren Electronic Systems
Mercedes-Benz FO 108V
Capacity: 2.4 litre
No. of cylinders: 8
Max rpm: 19,000 (FIA regulatory limit since 2007)
Bank angle: 90°
Piston bore maximum: 98 mm (FIA regulation)
Number of valves: 32
Fuel: Mobil 1 Unleaded (5.75% bio fuel)
Lubricants: Mobil 1, newly developed 2008 formula for lower friction and better wear resistance
Weight: 95kg (minimum FIA regulation weight)
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