The Korean Grand Prix will mark a very special anniversary for the McLaren outfit. It will be their 700th Grand Prix start, a figure second only to Formula 1’s oldest team, Ferrari.
The outfit began life in 1966 at the Monaco GP. Founder, Bruce McLaren, was behind the wheel of the teams very first F1 car, the M2B. His race was short lived following an oil leak. Come the end of the season, the team finished ninth with two points.
Things have come a very long way since then. McLaren is the second most successful team in the sport and holds many, many records, some of which have been listed below.
Most wins in a season: McLaren won 15 races in 1988, just one race win shy of a clean sweep. Ferrari also won 15 races in 2002, however that season consisted of 17 races, giving McLaren the edge.
Most consecutive wins: In the same season (1988), McLaren managed to eleven races in a row; Brazilian, San Marino, Monaco, Mexican, Canadian, Detroit, French, British, German, Hungarian and the Belgium GP.
Most pole positions in a season: Again, 1988, such a dominant season. McLaren took 15 poles from 16 races. They matched that feat the following year. The Woking outfit shares this record with Williams, a team which managed the same number of poles from the same number of races in 1992 and 1993. Red Bull looks likely to beat this record as they too have 15 poles from 15 races.
12 Drivers’ championships: 1974, 1976, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1998, 1999 and 2008. Ferrari leads with 15.
8 Constructors’ championships: 1974, 1984, 1985, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991 and 1998. Again, second to Ferrari on 16.
Second highest number of pole positions: 146, 59 shy of Ferrari and 20 more than Williams.
Second highest number of race wins: 174 wins from 699 races means McLaren have won 24.93% of the races they’ve entered. Ferrari once again lead, with victory (216) in 26.12% of the 827 races the Italian team have contended. (Brawn actually lead with 47.06%, after winning 8 races from 17 GP’s.
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