Team McLaren

McLaren, founded in 1963 by Bruce McLaren (1937–1970), is a racing team based in Woking, England, which is best known as a Formula One constructor but has also competed in the Indianapolis 500, Canadian-American Challenge Cup, and 24 Hours of Le Mans. Its full title is currently Team McLaren Mercedes. The team is managed by Ron Dennis and is controlled by McLaren Racing, a member of the McLaren Group.

2000s

2000 was another closely-fought season, but ultimately Ferrari's Michael Schumacher prevailed.

Related Topics:
2000 - Ferrari - Michael Schumacher

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Since 2000, McLaren has struggled somewhat to regain its place at the top of Formula One, partly due to a perceived lack of pace from the Mercedes engine. In 2001, Mika Häkkinen dropped off the pace in comparison with Coulthard, although neither driver could compete with the now dominant combination of Michael Schumacher and Ferrari. In 2002 Häkkinen took a sabbatical (which turned into retirement), opening the way for promising compatriot Kimi Räikkönen to take his place. McLaren only captured four wins over the following three seasons. 2002 saw just a single win at Monaco for Coulthard.

Related Topics:
2001 - Michael Schumacher - Ferrari - 2002 - Kimi Räikkönen - Monaco

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2003 started very promisingly, with wins at the two first grands prix of the year, one each for Coulthard and Räikkönen. However, rival teams soon caught up as McLaren was severely hampered in by the development of the M/P4-18, a radical new design which due to reliability problems never raced in anger. This forced the team to use the year-old M/P4-17D, a very severe handicap in modern Formula One racing. However, despite this, Räikkönen finished in the points consistently and challenged Michael Schumacher for the championship all the way up to the very last race, eventually losing the title by only 2 points.

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The team began the 2004 Formula One season with the M/P4-19, which technical director Adrian Newey described as a "debugged version of the M/P4-18." This proved to be anything but the case, and a new car was required by mid-season. The M/P4-19B was basically an all new car with a radically redesigned aerodynamic package. The fact that Coulthard qualified third for its first race, the French Grand Prix, gave the team hope of a better end to the season which was realised when Räikkönen took a famous victory at the 2004 Belgian Grand Prix ahead of Michael Schumacher.

Related Topics:
2004 Formula One season - French Grand Prix - 2004 Belgian Grand Prix - Michael Schumacher

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Coulthard was replaced by Juan Pablo Montoya for the 2005 season, driving alongside Räikkönen. It wasn't quite the dream start for Montoya, who had to be replaced by test drivers Pedro de la Rosa and Alexander Wurz after sustaining an injury. However, the 2005 Formula One season has been more successful for McLaren. This success has been tainted somewhat by reliability issues which continued to haunt the team throughout the year, for example Räikkönen suffered his third engine change penalty at the Italian Grand Prix. While faster than the resurgent Renault F1 team in most of the races, Renault (and Fernando Alonso in particular) have been able to capitalise when McLarens have broken down.

Related Topics:
Juan Pablo Montoya - 2005 - Pedro de la Rosa - Alexander Wurz - 2005 Formula One season - Renault F1 - Fernando Alonso

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