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.

Mid-1990s decline

From 1992 onwards, McLaren fell into a decline. After the thorough dominance of the Renault-powered Williams in 1992, Honda left Formula One. McLaren switched to Ford engines. While these proved suitable in the hands of Senna, American Michael Andretti's season was a disaster, scoring only a handful of points. He was replaced before the end of the year by Finnish youngster Mika Häkkinen. In 1994, Senna departed for Williams, and Martin Brundle joined Häkkinen in new Peugeot-powered cars. The results were unimpressive, and Peugeot was dropped after a single year in favour of promising new Mercedes-Benz engine. But 1995 was even worse than 1994, with the radical M/P4-10 proving to be too heavy and slow. Former Champion Nigel Mansell was too wide to fit into the car!

Related Topics:
Renault - Williams - Ford - Michael Andretti - Mika Häkkinen - Martin Brundle - Peugeot - Mercedes-Benz - Nigel Mansell

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1996 was the end of an era for McLaren, as they parted company with long-term sponsors Marlboro, and the famous red and white McLaren livery disappeared from Formula One to be replaced with West branding and a silver Mercedes livery.

Related Topics:
Marlboro - West

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