McLaren has been at the forefront of Formula 1 for most of the past three decades – almost always the title favourite or at least a major championship threat.
Yet actual title success has been rather elusive in recent years.
Despite all the wins and brilliance, McLaren’s only championship victory this century is Lewis Hamilton’s 2008 drivers’ title.
Its last constructors’ championship win was way back in 1998.
McLaren hopes its radical 2011 car will be the machine that puts it firmly back on top, and allows Hamilton or Jenson Button to deliver a first McLaren title since Martin Whitmarsh took the helm from the legendary Ron Dennis.
F1 track record
McLaren has an outstanding F1 heritage, winning championships across four decades and delivering some of the most memorable moments and storylines of the sport’s history.
The team was founded by Kiwi racer Bruce McLaren, who took the first win for his eponymous squad at Spa in 1968, but was killed in a sportscar crash two years later.
The McLaren operation recovered to win the 1974 and 1976 world championships with Emerson Fittipaldi and James Hunt, under the management of American Teddy Mayer.
After a few lean years, Dennis took over in 1980 and McLaren’s ultra-successful modern era began.
The totally revamped squad would sweep to seven drivers’ titles in 1984-86 and 1988-91.
Niki Lauda and Alain Prost started the ball rolling by dominating in ’84, and while Prost had to settle for a very close second place that year, he won his maiden crown 12 months later and then sneaked through the warring Williams to take the 1986 championship even as McLaren lost its edge.
By 1988 it was emphatically back on top - with Honda turbo power and superstar driver pairing Ayrton Senna and Prost, McLaren won all but one race that year.
It was a glorious but turbulent period for the team, overshadowed by the notorious infighting between its two legends, and after interrupting a run of what would have been four straight Senna titles by taking the ’89 crown, Prost left for Ferrari.
McLaren was eventually usurped by Williams-Renault in 1992.
And after Honda and Senna departed it had to endure several years in the wilderness before joining forces with Mercedes and climbing back to competitiveness.
The arrival of aero genius Adrian Newey from Williams during 1997 was the last piece in the jigsaw.
His crushingly superior designs propelled Mika Hakkinen to back-to-back championships in 1998-99.
But then McLaren had to take a back seat as Ferrari blitzed F1 in the early 2000s.
Kimi Raikkonen nearly sneaked a championship in 2003, and might have beaten Fernando Alonso to the 2005 crown had his McLaren been more reliable.
By pairing Alonso and Hamilton for 2007, McLaren inadvertently found itself in the centre of a Senna/Prost style intra-team war again, and it got even worse when the team was adjudged to have been ‘spying’ on Ferrari – resulting in a $100 million fine and the loss of all its constructors’ points.
Amid that trauma, McLaren had added consistency to its speed again, and Alonso and Hamilton allowed now-Ferrari driver Raikkonen to snatch the ’07 title, it was Hamilton who came through for a glorious last-gasp triumph in 2008.
Dennis then handed power over to long-time right-hand man Whitmarsh, resulting in the start of a new and slightly more relaxed and open era at McLaren.
The Whitmarsh regime got off to a painful start with the 2009 car initially miles off the pace and McLaren at the centre of controversy again when Hamilton was adjudged to have misled the Australian GP stewards over an incident behind the safety car.
But an epic development push meant McLaren came from struggling to get near the points to winning races again by July that year, and in 2010 it was in the thick of the title battle again – albeit not quite quick enough to keep Hamilton or Button in front by the deciding rounds.
Strengths: Capable of amazing development pushes that can turn the team’s fortunes around in months, and always very innovative in its design approach. Well-funded and with a well-balanced and harmonious driver line-up.
Weaknesses: Has gone down some blind alleys with designs on occasion, hasn’t produced a truly dominant car in a long time.
What it brings to F1: Some truly amazing cars and drivers, an increasingly British feel and an ability to surprise with its driver choices and technical innovations.
F1 highlight: Dominating so much of the 1980s and taking Senna to his greatest heights; nurturing the ‘new Senna’ in Hamilton.
Lowest ebb: Death of founder Bruce McLaren in 1970; tumbling into midfield obscurity in the late 1970s; being at the centre of 2007 spying scandal.
Goals for 2011: Win both titles.