Formula 1

McLaren

Woking, United Kingdom

Team profile

Series: Formula 1
Car: MCL39
Base: Woking, United Kingdom
Line-up: Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri

The benchmark for race pace and the calmest pit wall in the paddock.

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Founded

1963

Debut season

1966

Titles / race wins

9 / 190+

2026 line-up

The drivers

#4 • United Kingdom

Lando Norris

Titles 0 • Wins 8 • Podiums 32

Driver profile

#81 • Australia

Oscar Piastri

Titles 0 • Wins 5 • Podiums 18

Driver profile

Race history

How McLaren got here

Bruce McLaren founded the team in 1963 and put it on the Formula 1 grid three years later. Six decades on, the same workshop in Woking still builds every part of the car in-house, which is why upgrades usually arrive in one clear step rather than a series of small patches.

The modern era is built on two ideas: a wind tunnel programme that runs continuously through the season, and a driver pairing that gives the engineers two consistent reference points. Norris leads the qualifying work, Piastri takes the long-run comparisons, and the pit wall gets usable data from both cars.

What makes McLaren dangerous in 2026 is not one standout lap but the repeatability of the whole weekend. Their tyre warm-up windows are predictable, their pit stops sit around the two-second mark, and the strategy team rarely gambles unless the timing screens give them a reason.

From the archive