Mark Neary Donohue Jr. (March 18, 1937 – August 19, 1975), nicknamed "Captain Nice," and later "Dark Monohue," was an American race car driver and engineer known for his ability to set up his own race car as well as driving it to victories.
129-507: The McLaren MP4-17 was the car with which the McLaren team competed in the 2002 and 2003 Formula One World Championships. The chassis was designed by Adrian Newey , Mike Coughlan , Neil Oatley and Peter Prodromou with Mario Illien designing the bespoke Ilmor engine. The car was driven by Briton David Coulthard and Finn Kimi Räikkönen in both seasons. This was the first McLaren Formula One car supplied with Michelin tyres since
258-489: A "proper disaster" for the team's credibility. 2018 was the first season in McLaren's history when their cars were powered by Renault engines. McLaren also announced that Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne would remain with the team for the 2018 season . On 6 November 2017, the team announced that Lando Norris would be the team's test and reserve driver. At the season-opening Australian Grand Prix , Fernando Alonso scored
387-612: A British racing licence , was based in Feltham , England from 1963 to 1964, and in Colnbrook , England from 1965 until 1981, and it has been based in Woking , England since 1981. Despite this, Bruce never used the traditional British racing green on his cars. Instead, he used colour schemes that were not based on national principles (e.g. his first Formula One car , the McLaren M2B car, raced at
516-616: A NASCAR pony car division from 1968 until 1971. In the 1972–1973 season, driving an AMC Matador for Penske Racing in NASCAR's top division, the Winston Cup Series, Donohue won the season-opening event at Riverside . That race was Penske's first NASCAR win in a long history of NASCAR participation. Although photographs of Donohue with the more aerodynamic 1974 Matador coupe exist and are published, he did not drive it in competition. Between 1971 and 1972, Penske Racing (along with Donohue as
645-555: A buyout of the original McLaren shareholders to take full control of the team. This began the team's most successful era; with Porsche and Honda engines, Niki Lauda , Alain Prost , and Ayrton Senna won seven Drivers' Championships between them and the team took six Constructors' Championships. The combination of Prost and Senna was particularly dominant—together they won all but one race in 1988 —but later their rivalry soured and Prost left for Ferrari. Fellow English team Williams offered
774-444: A celebrity autobiography, but a detailed, step-by-step record of the engineering approach he took to getting the absolutely highest performance from every car he drove, always looking for that elusive "unfair advantage". Donohue (along with Penske) were pioneers in many rights, some as notable as the use of a skidpad as a tool for developing and perfecting race car suspension designs and setups. The book told how Donohue learned to exploit
903-463: A chance going into the last race, the Australian Grand Prix . There, a puncture for Mansell and a precautionary pit stop for Piquet gave Prost the race win and his second title, making him the first driver to win back-to-back championships since Jack Brabham in 1959 and 1960. In 1987 Barnard departed for Ferrari to be replaced by Steve Nichols (who himself joined Ferrari in 1989). In
1032-440: A drag racing trick of dipping a car in an acid bath would eat away small amounts of metal, which in turn made the car incrementally lighter, and allowed it to be driven faster. The 1967 Z-28 won its last race by lapping the entire field of cars, causing suspicion throughout the paddock. During a post-race inspection, race stewards discovered that the car was 250 pounds lighter than the 2,800-pound minimum weight requirement. Donohue
1161-763: A major upturn in form proceeded. Bruce won the Race of Champions at the Brands Hatch circuit and Hulme won the International Trophy at Silverstone , both non-championship races, before Bruce took the team's first championship win at the Belgian Grand Prix . Hulme also won the Italian and Canadian Grands Prix later in the year, helping the team to second in the Constructors' Championship. Using an updated 'C' version on
1290-622: A more regular basis. However, the season started with a massive crash at the Australian Grand Prix in which Fernando Alonso sustained rib fractures and a collapsed lung after colliding with Esteban Gutiérrez and somersaulting into the crash barriers. Alonso, as a result of his injuries, was forced to miss the second round of the Championship, the Bahrain Grand Prix , and was replaced by reserve driver Stoffel Vandoorne . Vandoorne produced an impressive performance in his first race to score
1419-582: A season of significant progress compared to 2015, Alonso and Button finished the championship in 10th and 15th places respectively with the team ending the season in sixth place in the Constructors' Championship with 76 points. On 3 September 2016, Jenson Button announced he would take a sabbatical from Formula One for the 2017 season. He then confirmed on 25 November that he would retire from F1 altogether with Vandoorne being Alonso's new Teammate for 2017. In February 2017, McLaren signed Lando Norris to their Young Driver Programme. Alonso did not take part in
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#17330862603531548-508: A season-long battle, winning 15 of the 16 races (at the other race at Monza , Senna had been leading comfortably, but collided with back-marker Jean-Louis Schlesser ). At the Portuguese Grand Prix , their relationship soured when Senna squeezed Prost against the pit wall; Prost won, but afterwards said, "It was dangerous. If he wants the world championship that badly he can have it." Prost scored more points that year, but because only
1677-480: A season. The year 2003 started promisingly, with one win each for Coulthard and Räikkönen at the first two Grands Prix. However, they were hampered when the MP4-18 car designed for that year suffered crash test and reliability problems, forcing them to continue using a 'D' development of the year-old MP4-17 for longer than they had initially planned. Despite this, Räikkönen scored points consistently and challenged for
1806-457: A second-place each for Hulme and Bruce in the first two Grands Prix, but in June, Bruce was killed in a crash at Goodwood while testing the new M8D Can-Am car. After his death, Teddy Mayer took over effective control of the team; Hulme continued with Dan Gurney and Peter Gethin partnering him. Gurney won the first two Can-Am events at Mosport and St. Jovite and placed ninth in the third, but left
1935-561: A team were able to muster a fourth-place finish in the endurance classic. In 1967, Penske contacted Donohue about driving Penske's brand new Lola T70 spyder in the United States Road Racing Championship . Donohue dominated the 1967 race, driving a Lola T70 MkIII Chevrolet for Penske. Donohue raced in seven of the eight races that year, winning six (at Las Vegas, Riverside , Bridgehampton , Watkins Glen , Pacific Raceways , and Mid-Ohio ) and finishing third at
2064-583: A testing accident in 1970, Teddy Mayer took over and led the team to their first Formula One Constructors' Championship in 1974 , with Emerson Fittipaldi and James Hunt winning the Drivers' Championship in 1974 and 1976 respectively. The year 1974 also marked the start of a long-standing sponsorship by the Marlboro cigarette brand. In 1981, McLaren merged with Ron Dennis ' Project Four Racing ; Dennis took over as team principal, and shortly afterwards organised
2193-677: A three-race suspended ban for misleading stewards at the Australian and Malaysian Grands Prix. Despite these early problems, a late revival had Hamilton win at the Hungarian and Singapore Grands Prix. For the 2010 season , McLaren lost its status as the Mercedes works team; Mercedes decided to buy the Brackley-based Brawn team that had won the 2009 titles with its customer engines, Whitmarsh having chosen to abandon their exclusive rights to
2322-425: A tire failed, sending him into the catch fencing at Turn 1 (known as Vöest Hügel Kurve). A track marshal was killed by debris from the accident, but Donohue did not appear to be injured significantly. It is said that Donohue's head struck either a catch fencing post or the bottom of the wood frame for an advertising billboard located alongside of the racetrack. A headache resulted, however, and worsened. After going to
2451-642: A tragic turn. Midway through the 1975 F1 season, Penske abandoned the troublesome PC1 and started using the March 751 . Donohue recently had arrived in Austria for the Austrian Grand Prix at the Österreichring race track following the successful closed-course speed record attempt at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama just a few days earlier. During a practice session for the race, Donohue lost control of his March after
2580-528: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . McLaren McLaren Racing Limited ( / m ə ˈ k l ær ə n / mə- KLARR -ən ) is a British motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking , Surrey, England. The team is a subsidiary of the McLaren Group , which owns a majority of the team. McLaren is best known as a Formula One chassis constructor ,
2709-574: Is referred to as the "Can-Am killer" as it dominated the competition, winning all but two races of the 1973 Can-Am championship (which is an untrue statement, because OPEC killed the Can-Am series in 1975–1976). After the Arab oil embargo in 1973, it led the SCCA, IMSA and other race series to impose fuel limitations on motor sport racing as a whole, which hampered the performance of the 917/30, making it uncompetitive in
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#17330862603532838-643: The 12 Hours of Sebring . At Hansgen's funeral, Roger Penske spoke to Donohue about driving for him. In his first race for Penske, at Watkins Glen in June 1966, Donohue qualified well but crashed the car at the top of a hill, destroying it. Donohue was invited back to Le Mans by Ford in 1967. Ford had developed a new GT, the Mark IV. Donohue co-drove in the No. 4 yellow car with sports car driver and race car builder Bruce McLaren for Shelby American Racing . The two drivers disagreed on many aspects of racing and car setup, but as
2967-667: The 1964 series , but Mayer was killed in practice for the final race at the Longford Circuit in Tasmania . When Bruce McLaren approached Teddy Mayer to help him with the purchase of the Zerex sports car from Roger Penske, Teddy Mayer and Bruce McLaren began discussing a business partnership resulting in Teddy Mayer buying in to Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Limited (BMMR) and ultimately becoming its largest shareholder. The team, competing under
3096-667: The 1966 Monaco Grand Prix , was painted white with a green stripe, to represent a fictional Yamura team in John Frankenheimer 's film Grand Prix ). During this period, Bruce drove for his team in sports car races in the United Kingdom and North America and also entered the 1965 Tasman Series with Phil Hill , but did not win it. He continued to drive in Grands Prix for Cooper, but judging that team's form to be waning, decided to race his own cars in 1966. Bruce McLaren made
3225-557: The 1975 Formula One season was planned. The 1975 season turned out to be a difficult one for Donohue and Penske. Donohue was able to muster fifth-place finishes at the Swedish Grand Prix and the British Grand Prix , but the new Penske PC1 chassis proved problematic, as evidenced by three retirements in the first six races. At the Austrian Grand Prix , Donohue's career, along with Roger Penske's Formula One aspirations, took
3354-502: The 1993 season. Senna—who initially agreed only to a race-by-race contract before later signing for the whole year —won five races, including a record-breaking sixth victory at Monaco and a win at the European Grand Prix , where he went from fifth to first on the opening lap. His teammate, 1991 CART champion Michael Andretti , fared much worse; he scored only seven points, and was replaced by test driver Mika Häkkinen for
3483-475: The 1995 season, the MP4/10 , was not a front-runner and Brundle's replacement, former champion Nigel Mansell , was unable to fit into the car at first and departed after just two races, with Mark Blundell taking his place. While Williams dominated in 1996 , McLaren, now with David Coulthard alongside Häkkinen, went a third successive season without a win. In 1997 , however, Coulthard broke this run by winning
3612-584: The 2017 Monaco Grand Prix as he was participating in the Indianapolis 500 . Instead Jenson Button returned for the one race as his replacement. McLaren finished 2017 9th with 30 points in total. McLaren announced during the 2017 Singapore Grand Prix weekend that they would split from engine supplier Honda at the end of the 2017 season and had agreed on a three-year customer deal to be supplied with Mecachrome -assembled Renault engines. Team boss Éric Boullier described their performance between 2015 and 2017 as
3741-571: The 2020 season. The season was significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The season was shortened to 18 races, with the season opener to take place in Austria . At the Austrian Grand Prix , Norris achieved his first ever podium, finishing in third. Sainz achieved the team's second podium in 2020 at the Italian Grand Prix , where he finished second. The team finished the 2020 season third in
3870-525: The 24 Hours of Le Mans by the Holman & Moody racing team. Le Mans proved frustrating for Donohue. Hansgen died while testing the GT40 in preparation for Le Mans so Donohue partnered with Australian Paul Hawkins . Donohue and Hawkins completed only twelve laps due to differential failure and finished 47th. Earlier that year, co-driving with Hansgen, Donohue finished third at the 24 Hours of Daytona and second at
3999-459: The 917-30 , complete with a reworked aerodynamic "Paris" body and a 5.4-liter turbocharged flat-12 engine whose output could be adjusted from about 1,100 to 1,500 bhp by turning a boost knob in the cockpit. During the development of this motor, the German Porsche engineers often asked Donohue if the motor finally had enough power. He answered, "It will never have enough power until I can spin
McLaren MP4-17 - Misplaced Pages Continue
4128-549: The Argentinian season-opener; Fittipaldi, with wins in Brazil , Belgium and Canada , took the Drivers' Championship. It was a close fight for Fittipaldi, who secured the title with a fourth at the season-ending United States Grand Prix , putting him three points ahead of Ferrari's Clay Regazzoni . With Hulme and multiple motorcycle world champion Mike Hailwood , he also sealed McLaren's first Constructors' Championship. The year 1975
4257-620: The Benetton team), Ferrari pushed the British team more closely in 1990 . McLaren, in turn, brought in Ferrari's Gerhard Berger , but like the two seasons before, the Drivers' Championship was led by Prost and Senna and settled at the penultimate race in Japan . Here, Senna collided with Prost at the first corner, forcing both to retire, but this time Senna escaped punishment and took the title; McLaren also won
4386-813: The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in February, Alonso suffered a concussion and, as a result, Kevin Magnussen replaced him for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in March. At that inaugural race of the season, Jenson Button finished 11th, but was lapped twice and finished last of the finishing cars. Following considerable unreliability and initial suggestions that the Honda engine was underpowered relative to its competitors, steady performance gains eventually resulted in Button managing to score
4515-594: The Laguna Seca Raceway round behind Lothar Motschenbacher and Mike Goth. In 1968, Donohue and Penske returned to defend their USRRC championship with the McLaren M6A Chevrolet. Donohue did not start the first race of the year at Circuit Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City due to problems getting the engine to start. Despite this, Donohue still dominated the series, even though he suffered three DNFs during
4644-515: The Luxembourg and Japanese Grands Prix gave both him the Drivers' Championship and McLaren the Constructors' Championship. Häkkinen won his second Drivers' Championship the following season , but due to a combination of driver errors and mechanical failures, the team lost the constructors' title to Ferrari. In 2000 McLaren won seven races in a close fight with Ferrari, but ultimately Ferrari and Schumacher prevailed in both competitions. This marked
4773-597: The MP4-29 , which was revealed on 24 January 2014. They had a largely unsuccessful 2014; their best result was in Australia where – after Daniel Ricciardo 's disqualification from second place – Magnussen finished second and Button third. Button subsequently finished fourth in Canada , Britain , and Russia . Their highest grid position was in Britain with Button's third place on
4902-548: The MP4/2 in 1984. The team did not perform as well as expected in 2002, in a season dominated by Ferrari , and due to the unreliability of the car; they eventually finished third in the Constructors' Championship with 65 points and one victory (in Monaco ). Using a development version of the car, the MP4-17D , the 2003 season started very promisingly with wins at the first two grands prix of
5031-603: The MP4/9 was driven by Häkkinen and Martin Brundle , despite achieving eight podiums over the season no wins were achieved. Peugeot was dropped after a single year due to multiple engine failures/unreliability which cost McLaren potential race victories and they switched to a Mercedes-Benz -branded, Ilmor -designed engine. For 1995 season onwards, McLaren ended their engine deal with Peugeot Sport and started an engine full-works partnership with Mercedes-Benz High Performance Engines for
5160-1054: The Pingry School in Hillside , and entered Brown University in Providence , Rhode Island . At the age of 22 while a senior at Brown, Donohue began racing his 1957 Corvette . He won the first event he entered, a hillclimb in Belknap County, New Hampshire . He graduated from Brown in 1959 with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering . Donohue won the SCCA national championship in an Elva Courier in 1961. Experienced race driver Walt Hansgen (who worked for Inskip Motors in New York & Rhode Island) recognized Donohue's ability and befriended him, eventually providing an MGB (through Inskip Motors in Providence, RI and prepped by their race shop Competition Engineering) for Donohue to race at
5289-551: The Russian Grand Prix . At the following United States Grand Prix , Button scored his best result of the season with sixth place. The team finished ninth in the constructors' standings with 27 points, McLaren's worst performance since 1980. McLaren retained the Alonso - Button pairing for the 2016 season. The second year of the Honda partnership was better than the first, with the team being able to challenge for top 10 positions on
McLaren MP4-17 - Misplaced Pages Continue
5418-614: The White Racing privateer team at the Canadian Grand Prix at Mosport Park , finishing on the podium in third place. After coming out of retirement with his former boss, Penske, Donohue returned to Formula One, entering into the final two races of the 1974 Formula One season. Donohue finished in 12th place at the Canadian Grand Prix , but failed to finish at the United States Grand Prix . A full season of racing for
5547-572: The Williams team were resurgent with their Honda engine and drivers Nigel Mansell and Nelson Piquet , while at McLaren, Lauda's replacement, 1982 champion Keke Rosberg could not gel with the car. Williams took the Constructors' Championship, but for Prost, wins in San Marino , Monaco , and Austria combined with the fact that the Williams drivers were taking points from each other meant that he retained
5676-416: The antilock braking system and the powerful turbocharged engine of several prototype Porsches , as well as how he learned from various mishaps, including a near-fatal crash. The book was published shortly before Donohue's death. The book was re-released in 2000 by Bentley Publishers (Cambridge, Massachusetts). It includes information and additional photography that was not available before the first edition
5805-513: The carbon-fibre rear wings of the BMW M1 race cars that Project Four was preparing, had ideas for an innovative Formula One chassis constructed from carbon-fibre instead of conventional aluminium alloy . On their own, they lacked the money to build it, but with investment that came with the merger it became the McLaren MP4 (later called MP4/1) of 1981 , driven by Watson and Andrea de Cesaris . In
5934-546: The "lightweight" car in 1968, at the Sebring 12-hour race. They changed the grille and taillight to the 1968 model, and then painted both cars identically. They sent the legal weight car through the technical inspection with the number 15 and again with the number 16 on it. Then they put both cars in the race, number 15 and 16, one car being 250 pounds lighter. They won their class in the race, finishing third overall, and went on to win 10 out of 13 races that year. They also acid-dipped
6063-566: The 1964 Bridgehampton 500-mile (800 km) SCCA endurance event, which he won. Hansgen arranged for Donohue to become his teammate in 1965, co-driving a Ferrari 275 at the 12 Hours of Sebring endurance race, which they finished in 11th place. That year, Donohue also won two divisional championships: in SCCA B Class in a GT350 and in SCCA Formula C in a Lotus 20 B. Donohue was hired on March 29, 1964, by Jack Griffith [Griffith Motors, Syosset, N.Y./Plainview, N.Y.] as design engineer for
6192-467: The 2000s the team were consistent front-runners, with driver Lewis Hamilton taking their latest title in 2008 . Ron Dennis retired as McLaren team principal in 2009, handing over to long-time McLaren employee Martin Whitmarsh . At the end of 2013, after the team's worst season since 2004, Whitmarsh was ousted. McLaren announced in 2013 that they would be using Honda engines from 2015 onwards, replacing Mercedes-Benz. The team raced as McLaren Honda for
6321-533: The 3.0-litre naturally aspirated engines that had been standard since 1966. Having seen in 1982 the need for a turbo engine of their own, Dennis had convinced Williams backer Techniques d'Avant Garde (TAG) to fund Porsche -built, TAG-branded turbo engines made to Barnard's specifications; TAG's founder Mansour Ojjeh would later become a McLaren shareholder. In the meantime, they continued with Cosworth engines as old rival Lauda came out of retirement in 1982 to drive alongside Watson in that year's 1B development of
6450-399: The AMC stock car and the various Porsche prototypes that Donohue drove through his career. Donohue chronicled his entire racing career in the book, The Unfair Advantage (co-written with noted motorsports and engineering journalist Paul Van Valkenburgh ). The book documents his career from his first races to his final full season of racing the year before he was killed. This was not merely
6579-428: The Can-Am series. Brian Redman drove it once in 1974, and that was it for the car as far as Penske campaigning it. The 917/30 generally is considered one of the most powerful and most dominant racing machines ever created. Donohue raced in the inaugural IROC series in 1973–74, racing identical, specially-prepared Porsche RSRs . In the four-race series, Donohue won the first and third of three races at Riverside and
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#17330862603536708-404: The Constructors' Championship, their worst ranking since 1983. Coulthard left for Red Bull Racing in 2005 to be replaced by former CART champion Juan Pablo Montoya for what was McLaren's most successful season in several years as he and Räikkönen won ten races. However, both the team not being able to work out why the car could not heat its tyres properly in the early stages of the season and
6837-526: The Constructors' Championship. The 1991 year was another for McLaren and Senna, with the ascendant Renault-powered Williams team their closest challengers. By 1992 , Williams, with their advanced FW14B car, had overtaken McLaren, breaking their four-year run as champions, despite the latter winning five races that year. As Honda withdrew from the sport at end of 1992, McLaren sought a new engine supplier. A deal to secure Renault engines fell through, subsequently McLaren switched to customer Ford engines for
6966-516: The Drivers' Championship for much of the year, but tensions arose within the team, BBC Sport claimed that Alonso was unable to cope with Hamilton's competitiveness. At the Hungarian Grand Prix , Alonso was judged to have deliberately impeded his teammate during qualifying, so the team were not allowed to score Constructors' points at the event. An internal agreement within the McLaren team stated that drivers would alternatively have an extra lap for qualifying, however, Lewis Hamilton refused to accept for
7095-484: The Drivers' Championship heading into the final race in Brazil , Räikkönen in the Ferrari won the race and the Drivers' Championship, a single point ahead of both McLaren drivers. In November, Alonso and McLaren agreed to terminate their contract by mutual consent, Heikki Kovalainen filling the vacant seat alongside Hamilton. In 2008 , a close fight ensued between Hamilton and the Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Räikkönen; Hamilton won five times and despite also crossing
7224-447: The Griffith, formerly TVR Grantura Mk III, powered by a Ford 289 cid (4.7l) V8 engine. He went on to assist TVR's David Hives in designing the Series 400 Griffith and then working on the ill-fated Bob Cumberford-designed, Intermeccanica-(Torino, Italy) produced Series 600 Griffith. During its production life, there were 192 Series 200 Griffiths built, 59 of the Series 400 and only 10 of the Series 600. During his tenure at Griffith Mark drove
7353-475: The Griffith-owned Shelby 289 Cobra making his mark on the SCCA circuit. In February of '65 Donohue was named comptroller at Griffith Motors, but was soon lured from Griffith by Roger Penske early in 1966. The Griffith company went defunct in November, 1966. In 1966, thanks to his friendship with Hansgen, word quickly spread to the Ford Motor Company about the young driver. Ford immediately signed Donohue to drive one of their GT-40 Mk II race cars campaigned at
7482-529: The Hungarian Grand Prix. Subsequently, the McLaren team was investigated by the FIA for having proprietary technical blueprints of Ferrari's car – the so-called "Spygate" controversy . At the first hearing, McLaren management consistently denied all knowledge, blaming a single "rogue engineer". However, in the final hearing, McLaren was found guilty and the team was excluded from the Constructors' Championship and fined $ 100 million. The drivers were allowed to continue without penalty, and while Hamilton led
7611-412: The Lauda and Ferrari combination proved too strong, Hunt and McLaren managing just fifth and third in the respective championships. From there, results continued to worsen. Lotus and Mario Andretti took the 1978 titles with their 78 and 79 ground-effect cars and neither Hunt nor Mass's replacement Patrick Tambay were able to seriously challenge with the nonground-effect M26. Hunt was dropped at
7740-486: The M7, a further three podium finishes followed for Bruce in 1969 , but the team's fifth win had to wait until the last race of the 1969 championship when Hulme won the Mexican Grand Prix . That year, McLaren experimented with four-wheel drive in the M9A , but the car had only a single outing driven by Derek Bell at the British Grand Prix ; Bruce described driving it as like "trying to write your signature with somebody jogging your elbow". The year 1970 started with
7869-469: The MP4, Watson won the British Grand Prix and had three other podium finishes. Soon after the merger, McLaren moved from Colnbrook to a new base in Woking and Dennis and Mayer initially shared the managing directorship of the company; by 1982, Mayer had departed and Tyler Alexander's and his shareholdings had been bought by the new owners. In the early 1980s, teams like Renault , Ferrari and Brabham were using 1.5-litre turbocharged engines in favour of
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#17330862603537998-481: The MP4. They each won two races, Watson notably from 17th place on the grid in Detroit , and at one stage of the season McLaren were second in the constructors' championship. As part of a dispute with FISA , they boycotted the San Marino Grand Prix . Although 1983 was not so fruitful, Watson did win again in the United States, this time from 22nd on the grid at Long Beach . Having been fired by Renault, Prost returned to McLaren once again for 1984 . Now using
8127-451: The McLaren cars managed only eighth place (Hamilton) and 10th place (Button), while the drivers' and Constructors' Championships were being dominated by Red Bull Racing and Ferrari, whose cars occupied the first four places of the British Grand Prix , this was partially due to pit stop problems and Button's temporary dip in form after not adapting as well as Hamilton to the new Pirelli tyres. The car also suffered reliability problems which cost
8256-616: The Mercedes engines to help Brawn run. Mercedes still continued providing engines to McLaren, albeit under a supplier-customer relationship rather than the works partnership as before, while it sold its 40% shares of McLaren over two years. McLaren signed 2009 champion, Jenson Button , to replace Kovalainen alongside Hamilton in 2010 . Button won twice (in Australia and China ) and Hamilton three times (in Turkey , Canada , and Belgium ), but they and McLaren failed to win their respective championships, that year's MP4-25 largely outpaced by Red Bull's RB6 . Hamilton and Button remained with
8385-401: The TAG engines, the team dominated, scoring 12 wins and 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 times as many constructors' points as nearest rival Ferrari. In the Drivers' Championship, Lauda prevailed over Prost by half a point, the narrowest margin ever. The McLaren-TAGs were again strong in 1985 ; a third Constructors' Championship came their way while this time Prost won the Drivers' Championship. In 1986 ,
8514-409: The Trans-Am class at the 12 Hours of Sebring. 1968 was a banner year for Donohue in the Trans-Am series, as he successfully defended his 12 Hours of Sebring victory by partnering with Craig Fisher and driving his Penske Chevrolet Camaro to victory. Donohue went on to win 10 of 13 races, a Trans-Am series record which stood until Tommy Kendall went 11 for 13 in the 1997 Trans-Am championship, winning
8643-424: The best 11 results counted, Senna took the title at the penultimate race in Japan . The next year, with turbos banned, Honda supplied a new 3.5-L naturally aspirated V10 engine and McLaren again won both titles with the MP4/5 . Their drivers' relationship continued to deteriorate, though, especially when, at the San Marino Grand Prix , Prost felt that Senna had reneged on an agreement not to pass each other at
8772-527: The best constructor behind Mercedes, Ferrari, and Red Bull. At the Brazilian Grand Prix , Sainz recorded the team's first podium since the 2014 Australian Grand Prix , finishing fourth on the road but later promoted to third after Lewis Hamilton received a post-race penalty, meaning that the team missed out on the official podium ceremony. McLaren ended the season in 4th place with 145 points, their best result since 2014 and 54 points ahead of their nearest competitor, Renault. McLaren retained Norris and Sainz for
8901-445: The best result being a fourth at Monaco . For 1968 , after driving McLaren's sole entry for the previous two years, Bruce was joined by 1967 champion and fellow New Zealander Denny Hulme , who was already racing for McLaren in Can-Am . That year's new M7A car, Herd's final design for the team, was powered by Cosworth 's new and soon to be ubiquitous DFV engine (the DFV would go on to be used by McLaren until 1983) and with it
9030-425: The body on the Camaro and had to caution people not to lean against it, for fear it would dent. The lightweight car was featured on an episode of Dream Car Garage on Speed TV in 2005. In 1970 new Javelin team owner Roger Penske and driver Mark Donohue breathed new life into the AMC team. Donohue drove the Javelin to three victories, with AMC finishing second overall in the Manufacturers' Championship. In 1971, of
9159-399: The car took their toll on Donohue. By 1973, the "Captain Nice" nickname he had earned earlier in his career was being supplanted by the nickname "Dark Monohue". Donohue announced that he would retire from racing after the 1973 Can-Am season. In addition, the horrific events at the 1973 Indianapolis 500 and the subsequent death of his friend, Swede Savage , pushed him to quit. His retirement
9288-468: The car. Coming out of turn seven at about 150 mph (240 km/h), the rear bodywork flew off the car, which became extremely unstable, lifted off the ground, and tumbled down the track. The front of the car was torn away, leaving Donohue, still strapped to his safety seat, with his legs dangling outside the car. Amazingly, Donohue only suffered an internal derangement of his knee with meniscus damage and limited cruciate plus collateral ligament damage. (He
9417-549: The championship up to the final race, eventually losing by two points. The team began 2004 with the MP4-19 , which technical director Adrian Newey described as "a debugged version of [the MP4-18]". It was not a success, though, and was replaced mid-season by the MP4-19B. With this, Räikkönen scored the team's and his only win of the year at the Belgian Grand Prix , as McLaren finished fifth in
9546-828: The constructors' championship with 202 points. Sainz finished the driver's championship in sixth with 105 points and Norris in ninth with 97 points. Mark Donohue Donohue is probably best known as the driver of the 1500+ bhp "Can-Am Killer" Porsche 917-30 and as the winner of the Indianapolis 500 in 1972 . Cars that Donohue raced include: AMC Javelin , AMC Matador , Chevrolet Camaro , Eagle- Offy , Elva Courier , Ford GT40 MK IV, Ferrari 250 LM, Ferrari 512 , Lola T70, Lola T330, Lotus 20 , McLaren M16, Porsche 911 , Porsche 917 /10, Porsche 917 /30, Shelby Cobra , and Shelby Mustang GT350R. Born in Haddon Township, New Jersey , Donohue grew up in Summit , graduated from
9675-496: The design of both McLaren's Formula One M19 and Indianapolis M16 cars (itself inspired by Lotus 's 72 ), it was a mainstay for four years. Hulme won with it in Sweden and Revson took the only Grand Prix wins of his career in Britain and Canada . In 1974 , Emerson Fittipaldi , world champion with Lotus two years earlier, joined McLaren. Hulme, in his final Formula One campaign, won
9804-456: The end of 1978 in favour of Lotus's Ronnie Peterson , but when Peterson was killed by a crash at the Italian Grand Prix , John Watson was signed, instead. No improvement occurred in 1979 ; Coppuck's M28 design was described by Mayer as "ghastly, a disaster" and "quite diabolical" and the M29 did little to change the situation. Tambay scored no points and Watson only 15 to place the team eighth at
9933-444: The end of the year. The 1980s started much as the 1970s had ended: Alain Prost took over from Tambay but Watson and he rarely scored points. Under increasing pressure since the previous year from principal sponsor Philip Morris and their executive John Hogan, Mayer was coerced into merging McLaren with Ron Dennis 's Project Four Formula Two team, also sponsored by Philip Morris. Dennis had designer John Barnard who, inspired by
10062-553: The final lap of the race. Despite winning his first Grand Prix in Hungary , Kovalainen finished the season only seventh in the overall standings, allowing Ferrari to take the constructors' title. Before the start of the 2009 season, Dennis retired as team principal, handing responsibility to Martin Whitmarsh , but the year started badly: the MP4-24 car was off the pace and the team was given
10191-461: The final race of the year at Daytona . The only person to beat Donohue was his former Penske Trans-Am teammate, George Follmer . In winning the first IROC championship, Donohue beat the best racing drivers of that era from all of the major championships, such as Denny Hulme , Richard Petty , A. J. Foyt , Emerson Fittipaldi , Bobby Allison , David Pearson , Peter Revson , Bobby Unser , and Gordon Johncock . The pressures of racing and designing
10320-508: The final three rounds of the season. Williams ultimately won both titles and Senna—who had flirted with moving there for 1993—signed with them for the 1994 season. During the 1993 season McLaren took part in a seven part BBC Television documentary called A Season With McLaren . McLaren tested a Lamborghini V12 engine ahead of the 1994 season, as part of a potential deal with the then-Lamborghini owner Chrysler , before eventually deciding to use Peugeot engines. With Peugeot power,
10449-606: The finale in Japan . Here it rained torrentially, Lauda retired because of safety concerns, and Hunt sealed the Drivers' Championship by finishing third. McLaren, though, lost the Constructors' Championship to Ferrari. In 1977 , the M23 was gradually replaced with the M26 , the M23's final works outing being Gilles Villeneuve 's Formula One debut with the team in a one-off appearance at the British Grand Prix . Hunt won on three occasions that year, but
10578-466: The finish line first at the Belgian Grand Prix , he was deemed to have gained an illegal advantage by cutting a chicane during an overtake and was controversially demoted to third. Going into the final race in Brazil , Hamilton had a seven-point lead over Massa. Massa won there, but Hamilton dramatically clinched his first Drivers' Championship by moving into the necessary fifth position at the final corner of
10707-542: The first 11 races that year in his All-Sport liveried Mustang. Donohue was considered a leading Trans-Am driver of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Had there been a Drivers' Championship in place at the time, he would have won three of them (his last in 1971) while driving Camaros in 1968 and 1969, and an AMC Javelin in 1971, all for Roger Penske Racing. During their enormous success in Trans-Am, Penske and Donohue began to experiment with their Camaros. They discovered that using
10836-521: The first corner. Believing that Honda and Dennis were favouring Senna, Prost announced mid-season that he would leave to drive at Ferrari the following year. For the second year in succession, the Drivers' Championship was decided at the Japanese Grand Prix , this time in Prost's favour after Senna and he collided (Senna initially recovered and won the race, but was later disqualified). With former McLaren men Nichols and Prost (Barnard had moved to
10965-467: The first time in a decade. Montoya parted company acrimoniously with the team to race in NASCAR after the United States Grand Prix , where he crashed into Räikkönen at the start; test driver Pedro de la Rosa deputised for the remainder of the season. The team also lost Räikkönen to Ferrari at the end of the year. Steve Matchett argued that the poor reliability of McLaren in 2006 and recent previous years
11094-604: The first time since 1992 at the 2015 Australian Grand Prix . In September 2017, McLaren announced they had agreed on an engine supply with Renault from 2018 to 2020. McLaren is using Mercedes-Benz engines from the 2021 season until at least 2030. After initially returning to the Indianapolis 500 in 2017 as a backer of Andretti Autosport to run Fernando Alonso and then in 2019 as an independent entry, McLaren announced in August 2019 that they would run in conjunction with Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports starting in 2020 to run
11223-549: The first time, after the German manufacturer spent one year in partnership with the Sauber team. The partnership included free engines from Mercedes-Benz that built and assembled by Ilmor Engineering , Mercedes-Benz official team vehicles, financial support, also earned full-factory support from Daimler AG and Mercedes-Benz and also Mercedes-Benz and Ilmor staff would work with the team at their Woking base. McLaren's Formula One car for
11352-406: The full IndyCar Series , the combined entry being named Arrow McLaren SP . Initially having no ownership interest in the team, McLaren would purchase 75% of the operation in 2021. McLaren entered the electric off-road racing series Extreme E in 2022 , and also joined Formula E in the 2022–23 season . Bruce McLaren Motor Racing was founded in 1963 by New Zealander Bruce McLaren . Bruce
11481-574: The grid. For 2015 , McLaren ended their engine deal with Mercedes which included buying back the 40% stake that Mercedes held in the team and reforging their historical partnership with Honda. The Honda deal not only meant they would supply engines, but that Honda staff would work with the team at their Woking base as well as received full-factory support from Honda including official team vehicles and free engines. The team announced Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button as their race drivers, with Kevin Magnussen demoted to test driver. During pre-season testing at
11610-588: The hands of Prost and Stefan Johansson , though, Nichols's MP4/3 and the TAG engine could not match the Williams-Honda. For 1988 , Honda switched their supply to McLaren and, encouraged by Prost, Dennis signed Ayrton Senna to drive. Despite regulations reducing the boost pressure and fuel capacity (and therefore, power) of the turbo cars, Honda persisted with a turbocharged engine. In the MP4/4 , Senna and Prost engaged in
11739-619: The hospital in Graz the next day, Donohue lapsed into a coma from a cerebral hemorrhage and died. He was survived by his second wife and two sons from his first marriage. Donohue is buried at St. Teresa Cemetery in Summit, New Jersey. The turn was tightened and became the Hella Licht Esses in 1977. Dononue's estate was involved in litigation against Penske and Goodyear that was settled in 1986, claiming tire failure killed Donohue. Goodyear paid
11868-433: The most consistent challenge during this period, the two winning every constructors' title between 1984 and 1994 . By the mid-1990s, Honda had withdrawn from Formula One, Senna had moved to Williams, and the team went three seasons without a win. With Mercedes-Benz engines, West sponsorship, and former Williams designer Adrian Newey , further championships came in 1998 and 1999 with driver Mika Häkkinen , and during
11997-587: The only team, to complete the Triple Crown of Motorsport (wins at the Indianapolis 500 , 24 Hours of Le Mans , and Monaco Grand Prix ). Founded in 1963 by New Zealander Bruce McLaren , the team won its first Grand Prix at the 1968 Belgian Grand Prix , but their greatest initial success was in Can-Am, which they dominated from 1967 to 1971. Further American triumph followed, with Indianapolis 500 wins in McLaren cars for Mark Donohue in 1972 and Johnny Rutherford in 1974 and 1976 . After Bruce McLaren died in
12126-508: The overall unreliability of the MP4-20 cost several race victories when Räikkönen had been leading or in contention to win and also costing him grid positions in some qualifying sessions, which allowed Renault and their driver Fernando Alonso to capitalise and win both titles. In 2006 , the superior reliability and speed of the Ferraris and Renaults prevented the team from gaining any victories for
12255-584: The points and challenged Michael Schumacher for the championship all the way up to the last race, eventually losing the title by only 2 points. The team again finished third in the Constructors' Championship, and having 142 points, just two points behind Williams F1 . McLaren used ' West ' logos in both seasons except at the French and British Grands Prix. ( key ) (results in bold indicate pole position, results in italics indicate fastest lap) Mercedes FO110P 3.0 V10 This Formula One –related article
12384-456: The primary test and development driver) was commissioned by Porsche to help develop the 917-10 to compete in the Can-Am series. During testing at Road Atlanta , Donohue recommended larger brake ducts, believing that more cooling would slow the brakes' degradation during a race. The Porsche engineers obliged, but the new ducts interfered with the bodywork closure pins that attached body panels to
12513-472: The rookie of the year award. Donohue raced at Indianapolis each year following, finishing second in 1970 and 25th in 1971 . Donohue won in 1972 , driving for Penske. He finished the race in his McLaren- Offy setting a record speed of over 162 mph (261 km/h), which stood for twelve years . The victory was the first for Penske in the Indy 500. Donohue raced in several NASCAR Grand American races and
12642-509: The season due to mechanical problems with the M6A. In 1969 he won the 24 Hours of Daytona driving a Lola-Chevrolet T70 for Penske. Donohue began his Trans-Am series campaign in 1967, winning three of twelve races in a Roger Penske -owned Chevrolet Camaro . In 1967 and 1968, Trans-Am schedule included two of the most prized endurance races in the world, the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring . Donohue finished fourth at Daytona and won
12771-662: The season with a sixth-place after qualifying third in a wet/dry session. After a disappointing display at their home race, the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, the team scored points at the next three rounds with six points in Hungary, four in Germany, and six points again thanks to an impressive seventh-place finish from Alonso at the Belgian Grand Prix . At the United States Grand Prix , McLaren matched their Monaco result with 12 points after an attacking race from Alonso saw him claim fifth position while Button once again finished ninth. After
12900-412: The season, Hamilton was involved in several incidents with other drivers including – most notably – multiple collisions with 2008 title rival Massa. In 2012 , McLaren won the first race of the year in Australia with a dominant victory by Button and a 3rd place from pole for Hamilton, while Hamilton went on to win in Canada , but by the mid-way mark of the season at the team's home race at Silverstone,
13029-452: The season-opening Australian Grand Prix ; Häkkinen and he would each win another race before the end of the season, and highly rated designer Adrian Newey joined the team from Williams in August that year. Despite the car's improved pace, unreliability proved costly throughout the season, with retirements at the British and Luxembourg Grands Prix occurring whilst Häkkinen was in the lead. It
13158-554: The second-oldest active team and the second-most successful Formula One team after Ferrari , having won 188 races, 12 Drivers' Championships , and eight Constructors' Championships . McLaren also has a history in American open wheel racing as both an entrant and a chassis constructor, and has won the Canadian-American Challenge Cup (Can-Am) sports car racing championship. McLaren is one of only three constructors, and
13287-422: The second-worst average qualifying ranking of any team, only ahead of Williams . The team finished the disappointing season – after being helped by the exclusion of Force India 's points from the first 12 races – in 6th place with 62 points, 357 points behind their target, Red Bull Racing, with the same engine. The 2019 season was much more positive for McLaren, with the team securely establishing themselves as
13416-480: The sport, McLaren were once again able to challenge for the championship. Häkkinen and Coulthard won five of the first six races despite the banning of the team's "brake steer" system, which allowed the rear brakes to be operated individually to reduce understeer , after a protest by Ferrari at the second race in Brazil . Schumacher and Ferrari provided the greatest competition, the former levelled on points with Häkkinen with two races to go, but wins for Häkkinen at
13545-540: The start of a decline in form as Ferrari cemented their dominance of Formula One and also beryllium engine material banned in Formula One that affected Mercedes engine performance. In 2001 , Häkkinen was outscored by Coulthard for the first time since 1997 and retired (ending Formula One's longest ever driver partnership), his place taken by Kimi Räikkönen , then in 2002 , Coulthard took their solitary win at Monaco while Ferrari repeated McLaren's 1988 feat of 15 wins in
13674-550: The team and its drivers numerous potential points, most notably in Singapore and Abu Dhabi , where Hamilton had been leading from the front in both races and in Italy where the team lost a 1-2 finish when Button's car failed with fuel problems on lap 33. Sergio Pérez replaced Hamilton for 2013 , after Hamilton decided to leave for Mercedes . The team's car for the season, the MP4-28 ,
13803-465: The team finishing third in the Constructors' Championship. McLaren gave Jody Scheckter his Formula One debut at the final race at Watkins Glen . All McLaren drivers used the Ford-Cosworth engines, except for Andrea de Adamich and Nanni Galli who used engines from Alfa Romeo in 1970. The McLaren M23 , designed by Gordon Coppuck, was the team's new car for the 1973 season. Sharing parts of
13932-434: The team into 2011 , with Hamilton winning three races – China , Germany , and Abu Dhabi and Button also winning three races – Canada , Hungary , and Japan . Button finished the Drivers' Championship in second place with 270 points behind 2011 Drivers' Champion Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull Racing, ahead of Hamilton's 227 points. McLaren was second in the Constructors' Championship to Red Bull Racing. Throughout
14061-516: The team mid-season, and Gethin took over from there. While 1971 began promisingly when Hulme led the opening round in South Africa before retiring with broken suspension, ultimately Hulme, Gethin (who left for BRM mid-season, ) and Jackie Oliver again failed to score a win. The 1972 season saw improvements though: Hulme won the team's first Grand Prix for 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 years in South Africa and he and Peter Revson scored ten other podiums,
14190-497: The team's Grand Prix debut at the 1966 Monaco race (of the current Formula One teams, only Ferrari is older ). His race ended after nine laps due to a terminal oil leak. The 1966 car was the M2B designed by Robin Herd , but the programme was hampered by a poor choice of engines: a 3.0-litre version of Ford 's Indianapolis 500 engine and a Serenissima V8 were used, the latter scoring
14319-516: The team's best finish since the 2016 Monaco Grand Prix with fifth, Alonso said that the team's target would be Red Bull Racing. McLaren had a relatively good start to the season with points finishes in the next four races, but in the next 16 races after Spain, McLaren only scored 22 points, 8 points less than in the same period in 2017. On 14 August 2018, Fernando Alonso announced he would not compete in Formula One in 2019, ending his four-year spell at
14448-407: The team's first (four) points of the season at the sixth round in Monaco . By contrast, Alonso scored his first point three races later at the British Grand Prix . The Hungarian Grand Prix saw the team score their best result of the season with Alonso and Button finishing fifth and ninth, respectively. However, McLaren did not score points in the next four races until Button finished ninth at
14577-550: The team's first point in Britain , but both were underpowered and unreliable. For 1967 Bruce decided to use a British Racing Motors (BRM) V12 engine , but due to delays with the engine, was forced initially to use a modified Formula Two car called the M4B powered by a 2.1-litre BRM V8, later building a similar but slightly larger car called the M5A for the V12. Neither car brought great success,
14706-457: The team's first point of the season with 10th place. The next points for McLaren came at the Russian Grand Prix with Alonso and Button finishing sixth and 10th respectively. The rain-affected Monaco Grand Prix was one of best races of the season for the team. Alonso finished fifth, having kept Nico Rosberg 's Mercedes behind him for 46 laps, while Button scored two points with ninth. At the Austrian Grand Prix , Button recorded his best result of
14835-439: The team. Carlos Sainz Jr. was signed as his replacement on a multi-year deal. On 3 September 2018, it was announced that Stoffel Vandoorne would be leaving the team at the end of the season, with Lando Norris being promoted from reserve driver to replace him in 2019. McLaren struggled with performance throughout the season, with the McLaren drivers being knocked out 21 times in the first qualifying session, and McLaren having
14964-414: The technical inspection before the race. Penske and Donohue did not stop acid-dipping after this, however. Continuing the practice of reducing weight allowed them to place weights of certain sizes strategically in specific locations within the car, thus helping to balance the car while being driven on the limit. Acid-dipping car bodies was prevalent with competing Trans-Am teams also. They continued to use
15093-586: The ten races that the Over 2.5L Class cars participated in, Donohue won seven of them, including the final six races in a row, with AMC winning the Manufacturers' championship for the first time ever. In the final race of the season, Javelins finished in first, second and third place, with George Follmer becoming the only other Javelin driver to win besides Donohue. In 1969 , Penske and Donohue raced in their first Indianapolis 500 , with Donohue finishing seventh, winning
15222-551: The wheels at the end of the straightaway in high gear." On August 9, 1975, Donohue drove the 917–30 to a world closed-course speed record at the Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Alabama. His average speed around the 2.66-mile (4.28 km) high-banked oval was 221.120 mph (355.858 km/h). Donohue held the record for 11 years, until it was broken by Rick Mears at Michigan International Speedway . The 917-30
15351-488: The widow and children $ 9.6 million. In 2003, in commemoration of Penske Racing's 50th NASCAR win, Nextel Cup driver Ryan Newman drove a Dodge Intrepid painted to resemble Donohue's 1973 AMC (with a No. 12 and current Alltel decals) at the fall Rockingham, North Carolina, race. Penske's new Penske Racing complex in Mooresville, North Carolina is decorated with various murals of Donohue and his racing cars, most notably
15480-510: The year, one each for Coulthard and Räikkönen. However, rival teams soon caught up as McLaren was sidetracked by the development of the McLaren MP4-18 , a radical new design, which due to reliability problems, never raced in anger. As a result, the team gradually fell slightly further back as the season progressed, allowing rivals, developing their cars more efficiently, to catch up. However, despite this setback, Räikkönen consistently finished in
15609-731: Was a works driver for the British Formula One team Cooper with whom he had won three Grands Prix and come second in the 1960 World Championship. Wanting to compete in the Australasian Tasman Series , Bruce approached his employers, but when team owner Charles Cooper insisted on using 1.5-litre Formula One-specification engines instead of the 2.5-litre motors permitted by the Tasman rules, Bruce decided to set up his own team to run him and his prospective Formula One teammate Timmy Mayer with custom-built Cooper cars. Bruce won
15738-419: Was about to have his race victory taken away for cheating, but Roger Penske stepped in. Penske warned that any disqualification would have the potential of motivating Chevrolet to pull all support for the Trans-Am series. After considering the potential consequences, the race stewards allowed Donohue's victory to stand, but the rules for the 1968 season incorporated a change whereby all cars would be weighed during
15867-507: Was again strong in his Ferrari; at midseason, he led the championship with 56 points while Hunt had only 26 despite wins in Spain (a race from which he was initially disqualified ) and France . At the German Grand Prix , though, Lauda crashed heavily, was nearly killed, and missed the next two races. Hunt capitalised by winning four more Grands Prix giving him a three-point deficit going into
15996-584: Was also at the start of this season that saw long time sponsor, Marlboro, shift its support to long time rival Ferrari. For the first time since the 1974 season, McLaren would have a new identity, shifting to fellow tobacco sponsor West. This saw the traditional red and white replaced with silver, grey, white and red. McLaren would retain this colour scheme (or very similar) for twenty years until 2017. With Newey able to take advantage of new technical regulations for 1998 , and with Williams losing their works Renault engines following Renault's temporary withdrawal from
16125-565: Was due to a lack of team continuity and stability. His cited examples of instability are logistical challenges related to the move to the McLaren Technology Centre , Adrian Newey's aborted move to Jaguar and later move to Red Bull, the subsequent move of Newey's deputy to Red Bull, and personnel changes at Ilmor. After scoring no victories in 2006, the team returned to competitive status in 2007 . That year saw Fernando Alonso race alongside Formula One debutant and long-time McLaren protégé Lewis Hamilton . The pair scored four wins each and led
16254-425: Was launched on 31 January 2013. The car struggled to compete with the other top teams and the season had McLaren fail to produce a podium finish for the first time since 1980 . Kevin Magnussen replaced Pérez for 2014 , and Ron Dennis, who had remained at arm's length since stepping down from the team principal role, returned as CEO of the operation. McLaren was the first team to officially launch their 2014 car,
16383-443: Was less successful for the team: Fittipaldi was second in the championship behind Niki Lauda . Hulme's replacement Jochen Mass took his sole GP win in Spain . At the end of 1975, Fittipaldi left to join his brother's Fittipaldi/Copersucar team. With the top drivers already signed to other teams, Mayer turned to James Hunt , a driver on whom biographer Gerald Donaldson reflected as having "a dubious reputation". In 1976 , Lauda
16512-461: Was operated on at Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta by Drs. J. Funk and J. L. Watts.) George Follmer, Donohue's old Trans-Am teammate, took over testing the 917-10 for Donohue, who said: It just doesn't feel right. Seeing another man driving your car, a car you know so well. I imagine it must feel like watching another man in bed with your wife. Porsche, Penske, and Donohue quickly started the development of
16641-432: Was short-lived, however, as he was lured back to full-time competitive driving by Penske when he formed a Formula One team, Penske Cars Ltd , to compete in the final two events of the 1974 Formula One World Championship , and to continue competing in 1975 with the new Penske PC1 . Donohue previously had debuted in Formula One in the 1971 season on September 19, 1971, with a Penske-sponsored McLaren car entered by
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