McLaren’s journey back towards the front of the Formula 1 pack has been one of the most compelling feel-good stories of the past two years. On the one hand, more recent fans of the sport would see it as something of a surprise considering that around the time Drive to Survive first came out, McLaren finished 9th and 6th in the points table in 2017 and 2018 respectively. On the other hand, older fans would say ‘this is McLaren, not Minardi! It’s where they’re meant to be.’
The history books say the Woking team last won the Constructors’ championship in 1998, although of course it lost the 2007 title following the Spygate scandal. More than a quarter of a century (or even 17 years) is a long time for the sport’s second most successful team – by combined Constructors’ and Drivers’ titles – to have been missing from the winner’s enclosure. More so when you consider that from 1984 to 1999, McLaren finished in first or second in 12 out of 16 seasons.
Since that brilliant 1998 campaign when the first Adrian Newey McLaren MP4/13 arrived at the opening race in Melbourne and Mika Häkkinen and David Coulthard lapped the entire field, the team has been on something of a journey. It was an era when Ron Dennis still had his hand firmly on the tiller. He was an absolute visionary and through the 1980s and 1990s raised the bar in terms of how a Grand Prix team should look, operate and create value for its partners.
