McLaren

This is the second in a series about successful F1 teams.

McLaren is one of a small group of highly successful F1 teams that dates back to the 1960's. Since their debut in 1966 at the Monaco GP, McLaren has won a staggering 8 constructors championships ('74, '84, '85, '88, '89, '90, '91, '98) and a total of 12 driver's championships ('74, '76, '84, '85, '86, '88, '89, '90, '91, 98, '99, '08). Along the way, the elite team has accumulated 182 race victories, 155 pole positions, 152 fastest laps, 47 one-two finishes, resulting in 391 podium appearances.

Founded in 1963 by F1 driver Bruce McLaren in order to run the Australian Tasman Series, the New Zealand native had already tasted victory with three F1 wins under his belt with the British F1 team Cooper. A consummate engineer, Bruce would push far beyond the envelop in the early days of F1. To watch a short video about the man, click here. For the 50th anniversary video, click here.

Fittipaldi in a MP 23

The Brazilian Emerson Fittipaldi was the driver who restored McLaren as a top contender after four years of rebuilding, after the passing of the founder in a testing accident at Goodwood in 1970. A couple of years later, Britain's James Hunt won one of the tightest championships in F1 history, in an epic championship battle with Niki Lauda that has now been put on the big screen as "Rush".

Prost and Senna in 1988 

After a couple of uncompetitive years, the team bounced back by winning seven championships through the mid-80's to early 90's in what can be only categorized as in F1's greatest era. With Lauda setting the stage by winning the championship in 1984, Alain Prost followed in 1985 and 1986, and with the legendary Ayrton Senna joining team, together they won 15 out of 16 races the following  year, with Senna wining the championship by a small margin.

As the technological side of F1 racing increased in importance, so did the brain trust. With Adrian Newey making technological improvements, Mika Hakkinen won back-to-back driver's championships with McLaren in 1998 and 1999. Only in 2008 would a McLaren win the title again, this time with Lewis Hamilton behind the wheel.

For the 2015 season, two time world champion Fernando Alonso joins Jenson Button in what will be known as the season in which the all conquering partnership of McLaren-Honda, first established back in 1988, will resume. Back then the powerful MP4/4 won a staggering 15 out of 16 races!

Below the list of 30 of the most famous McLaren drivers:
- David Coulthard

Early McLaren logo

- Mikka Hakkinen
- Lewis Hamilton
- Alain Prost
- Jenson Button
- Kimi Raikkonen
- Denny Hulme
- John Watson
- Niki Lauda

- Jochen Mass
- James Hunt
- Gergard Berger
- Bruce McLaren
- Emerson Fittipaldi

Modern day logo

- Juan Pablo Montoya
- Fernando Alonso
- Martin Brundle
- Keke Rosberg
- Michael Andretti
- Mike Hailwood
- Jody Scheckter

Marlboro, main sponsor for 23 yrs

- John Surtees
- Nelson Piquet
- David Hobbs
- Nigel Mansell
- Mark Donohue
- Jacky Ickx
- Pillippe Alliot
- Derek Bell

- Gilles Villeneuve


Source: McLaren, Wikipedia
Photo/image credit: McLaren F1, own files, others are unknown.

The race weekend that was - UPDATED

NASCAR, at Pocono:
This unique track's 2.5-mile tri-oval has challenged Nascar's best since they first ran there back in 1973. And everyone knew that the 400 [miles long race] would be a difficult race, especially pole-sitter Joey Logano, since no one had gone from pole to win the race in a long time. But in the closing laps of the race, he found himself saying: "I can do this. I can do this."

Logano taking the win from pole

With just four laps to go Logano shows veteran Mark Martin no respect and gives him the bump and run for the lead and wins. Mark Martin finishes for the seventh time in second place, and made the following statement on the youths' winning move:
"Well, I'd call that a bump-and-run. It's been acceptable in this racing for a long time. It's not how I would have done it, but certainly, if I'd have a fast enough car, he would have gotten a return [bump]. But I couldn't quite keep up with him".

The race result are as follows: 1. Joey Logano, 2. Mark Martin, 3. Tony Stewart, 4. Jimmie Johnson, 5. Denny Hamlin.

The bizarre aspect of this race was the quantity of pit-road speed violations. A total of 22 were handed down, with Jimmie Johnson, Brad Keselowski and three others being penalized twice for speeding in the pits.

Below a short video on the bump-and-pass winning move by Logano.



The next race will be held in Michigan on June 17. Fore more info, please click here.


Formula One, at the Canadian GP:

The street circuit Gilles-Villeneuve, in Montreal, was the venue for the seventh round of the world championship. And yes, there was a seventh different winner here too.

The first five on the grid of the Canadian GP were: 1. S. Vettel, 2. L. Hamilton, 3. F. Alonso, 4. M. Webber, 5. N. Rosberg.

The first corner and subsequently first lap of the race was free of racing incidents, which is remarkable for a narrow street circuit. In the opening stage of the race different tire strategies became the center of attention, with teams trying to position their drivers with the best strategy to win the race.

2nd place R. Grosjean

As all the front runners (RBR, McLaren and Ferrari) seemed to be running a two-stop tire strategy, the Britton Lewis Hamilton flinched first and came into the pits, but when it became apparent that the other two were running on a one-stop strategy, he was forced to pass them "the old fashion way". Go around them on the track!

And so he did. At this time Hamilton was lapping a second quicker a lap and first passed Sebastian Vettel and just two laps from the finish he passed Fernando Alonso for the lead. In the end, Lewis Hamilton defied a two-stop strategy to claim his third win in Canada and assume the F1 world champion lead.

The one-lap tire strategy proved to be the wrong one, as both Alonso and Vettel dropped outside of the podium, when the were passed by Romain Grosjean (Lotus) and Sergio Perez (Sauber).

Mexican Sergio Perez and Sauber team

The podium looked like this:
1. Lewis Hamilton, 2. Romain Grosjean, 3. Sergio Perez, 4. Sebastian Vettel, 5. Fernando Alonso.

For more information on the race, including selected quotes, please click here.

Hamilton on his win. "...I'd say it's one of the best races I've had for a very long time."

Below the post Canadian GP interview.



Since the drivers were on "our" side of the pond, and the new american races are closer to reality, Bernie encouraged some airtime for the races in Texas and New Jersey.

Below you can watch the skid from the Late Night Show David Letterman with Vettel as guest.




The next race will be GP of Europe, at Valencia, on June 22-24, 2012. For more info, please click here.

Thanks for reading.

Source: Formula One, Crash.net, Wikipedia, Nascar.