For those of you who don’t follow Formula 1, McLaren is one of the oldest and most successful teams ever to put a car on the grid with eight Constructors’ and 12 Drivers’ World Championships.
It has won 182 races and a whooping 155 pole positions since it first entered the sport in 1966, with founder’s Bruce McLaren car powered by a 3.0-liter V8 Ford engine.
Only Ferrari and Williams have claimed more titles than the Woking-based outfit, with the latter holding down only one additional title to McLaren’s eight.
If you’re already intrigued, then it’s definitely time to play the clip and watch some true classic onboard footage starting with the 1975 season where you’ll be riding on board with none other than Emerson Fittipaldi in his Ford Cosworth-powered car.
Next up is James Hunt himself in the car from 1976, after which you’re free to listen as the V8 Cosworths kept howling until 1983, when McLaren made the switch to V6 TAG units.
Honda came into play in 1988 and the two made history together along with the late, great Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost. The Japanese remained McLaren’s official engine supplier until 1992. In 1993 and 1994 they used a Ford V8 followed by a Peugeot V10 the next year. Not the best of times, but no one can stay on top of the game forever.
Yet, it then hooked up with Mercedes-Benz, a partnership that lasted for 19 years until the Germans launched their own factory team and McLaren rekindled their relationship with Honda last season.
So here’s a trip down memory lane of Formula 1’s most successful teams ever.