McLaren sealed the constructors’ championship with a third and fourth-placed finish at the Singapore Grand Prix, which now means that they have become just the second team in history to claim ten constructors’ titles.
To mark the occasion, let us have a look at stand-out McLaren races, that you can watch for free on the F1TV app.
1991 Brazilian Grand Prix
By this point, the great Ayrton Senna was in his eighth Formula 1 season and had a pair of drivers’ championships to his name but not once had he stood on the top step of the podium at his home race, the Brazilian Grand Prix.
As a much-thirsted home win was starting to roll into view, the McLaren driver battled gearbox troubles (as was customary in the early part of the ’91 season) and his chances of finishing the race, let alone winning it, were diminishing.
The issues worsened and by the race’s end, he was only using sixth gear. Also factor in the now-falling rain and how quickly Riccardo Patrese’s Williams was closing in, there was a fight for the win.
Although you will have to watch the race, and the post-race scenes, to see who actually won, a thunderous emotion was shared by everyone at the track, with the winning driver having been helped out of his car, such was the discomfort of cramp that had hit him in the closing stages.
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2008 British Grand Prix
Lewis Hamilton was destined for greatness from the very first lap that he drove in a grand prix. But a year on from that, the zenith of his storied career likely came at his home race, the British Grand Prix.
Having started fourth, on a sodden Silverstone Sunday, he was up to second mere metres into the race and then overwhelmed teammate Heikki Kovalainen to take a lead that he would never lose.
The rain increased and decreased throughout and Hamilton, in his MP4-23, was always on top of it. At times on tyres not suited to the ferocity of the rain, and during others nearly half a dozen seconds a lap quicker than opposition on the same compound, he danced his way to his first home victory, on a day in which others drowned in the deluge.
Arguably no win since, even from Hamilton, has been topped, as he won by over a minute.
2021 Italian Grand Prix
Nearly nine years, that was the wait for McLaren to win again, but courtesy of Daniel Ricciardo they ended that void. Having passed pole-sitter Max Verstappen, on lap one, the Australian driver’s place at the front became more assured the moment that title rivals Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton collided.
In the second half of the race, the second McLaren of Lando Norris followed the lead Papaya car yet wheel-to-wheel action was had and the pair cruised to the team’s first one-two finish in over 11 years. That win also proved to be Ricciardo’s last in the sport.
What it means 💪
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 7, 2022
Look at how the emotions poured out of Daniel Ricciardo after such a hard-fought win - his first for McLaren! #ItalianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/J32TemwOcx
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