McLaren reaches 1,000 Formula One starts, joins exclusive milestone club

McLaren celebrates its 1,000th Formula One start in Monaco as a reigning champion, marking six decades of achievement, innovation and resilience since Bruce McLaren founded the team with a bold vision.

Bruce McLaren, in a 1964 eulogy for late friend and fellow driver Timmy Mayer, said "life is measured in achievement, not in years alone" and more than 60 years later his team are still living by the maxim.

Founded by the late New Zealander, with barely a handful of employees, McLaren celebrate their 1,000th Formula One start in Monaco this weekend as only the second outfit after Ferrari to reach such a mighty milestone.

They stand alone in getting there as champions.

A Legacy Built on Achievement

In terms of achievement, McLaren are the second most successful Formula One team of all time with 203 grand prix victories since the first in 1968.

They have won 10 constructors' championships and 13 drivers' titles since Brazilian Emerson Fittipaldi took the first in 1974, with Britain's Lando Norris the latest in 2025.

Ferrari, competing since the start of the championship in 1950, reached the 1,000 race milestone at their home Mugello circuit in 2020 and have 16 constructors' titles and 15 drivers' crowns with 247 wins.

The Italians have not won a title since 2008, however.

"It (McLaren) is just an iconic, legendary racing team," said Zak Brown, who became CEO in 2018 and has led his men and women back to the top after years in the doldrums.

"The drivers that we've had over the years are amazing".

Roll Call of Champions From Fittipaldi to Norris

The roll call of champions testifies to that, with Britain's Norris the latest on the list.

After Fittipaldi came James Hunt (1976), Niki Lauda (1984), Alain Prost (1985, 1986, 1989), Ayrton Senna (1988, 1990, 1991), Mika Hakkinen (1998, 1991) and Lewis Hamilton (2008).

Other champions to have raced for the team at some point include Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button, Denny Hulme, Nigel Mansell, Kimi Raikkonen, Keke Rosberg and Jody Scheckter.

"To see my name alongside some of these guys is very special," said Norris, who has driven for the team since his F1 debut in 2019.

The Briton described the current team as 'one big happy family', which was not always the case.

McLaren, in the Ron Dennis era that started in 1981, were an innovative powerhouse with seven constructors' titles between 1984 and 1998.

Dennis started out as a mechanic and stood out for his attention to detail and vision -- the award-winning factory in Woking and road car company are testament to that -- while taking McLaren back to the top from a late 1970s slump.

While he could appear obsessive and abrasive in a less fan-focused era, and was famed also for his use of convoluted 'Ronspeak' expressions, the team's success was enviable.

In 1988 McLaren won all but one race with Senna and Prost, whose rivalry and feuding lit up the track in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

In 2007, Hamilton's debut year, McLaren were fined a record $100 million by the governing FIA for being found illegally in possession of confidential Ferrari information in an infamous 'spygate' case.

From Decline to Dominance Again

Dennis was ousted in 2017, the sporting giant's reign ended after a boardroom coup with Bahrain's Mumtalakat investment fund in control.

McLaren returned to the top in 2024 with the constructors' title and both championships in 2025, the fan-focused team returning to the bright papaya colours of old.

"It's all about people," said Brown, an American. "When I started, the team had definitely gone through tough times. We were ninth in the championship, we didn't have many partners and the partners we had weren't very happy.

"Our fans were disgruntled, a lot of politics inside the racing team.

"What was great was our brand. It wasn't in a great place but you can't take away the history and heritage".

Team principal Andrea Stella, who worked at Ferrari during a golden era with seven-times champion Michael Schumacher, said McLaren -- like the Italian team -- were defined by their legacy.

"It started with our founder Bruce McLaren, a young guy, he wanted to build something incredible and he followed his dreams, he made it happen," said the Italian.

Have a look at the milestones in the team's history:

• 1963 - New Zealander Bruce McLaren, who had been racing for Cooper in Formula One since 1958, founded his own team in partnership with American Teddy Mayer.

• 1966 - First F1 race, Monaco, May 22. The Robin Herd-designed McLaren M2B qualified 10th and retired with an oil leak on lap 10. McLaren had a team of six people, including the founder and his wife.

• 1968 - First F1 podium with Denny Hulme second at Jarama in Spain. First win at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium with Bruce McLaren at the wheel after starting sixth. McLaren became only the third driver to win in a car of his own construction after Jack Brabham and Dan Gurney.

• 1970 - Bruce McLaren died, aged 32, in a crash at Goodwood on June 2 while testing a new Can-Am car, Mayer takes over.

• 1974 - Brazilian Emerson Fittipaldi gave McLaren their first drivers' title, with the team also taking a first constructors' crown. That same season McLaren also took their first win from pole (in Brazil).

• 1976 - James Hunt was crowned champion after a memorable battle with Ferrari's Niki Lauda down to the last race at Fuji. The Briton became the first McLaren driver to win a race from pole position with fastest lap (U.S. Grand Prix)

• 1981 - McLaren moved to Woking, Ron Dennis took over and designer John Barnard came up with F1's first carbon fibre composite chassis.

• 1983 - British driver John Watson won the Long Beach-U.S. GP West from 22nd place, a record from furthest back on the grid.

• 1984 - Lauda beat French teammate Alain Prost to the title by half a point, still the slimmest margin in F1 history in seasons where all points counted for the championship. Prost won seven races to Lauda's five and also gave McLaren a first Monaco win.

• 1985 - Prost is crowned champion, the first of the four times world champion's three titles with McLaren.

• 1986 - Monaco, McLaren's 50th win. Prost won from pole with fastest lap.

• 1988 - Brazilian Ayrton Senna joins alongside Prost. McLaren won 15 of the season's 16 races with Honda power.

• 1989 - Senna and Prost collided at Suzuka on lap 47 of 53. Senna finished first but was then disqualified, handing the title to the Frenchman who had retired.

• 1990 - Senna and Prost, now at Ferrari, collided again at Suzuka and this time Senna was champion. The two Suzuka clashes rank among the most infamous in the sport's history.

• 1991 - Senna's third title. The Brazilian also won at home in the rain at Interlagos for the first time in his career. Exhausted, and lifted from a car that had been stuck in sixth gear over the final laps, he barely managed to raise the trophy.

• 1993 - Senna wins the European Grand Prix in heavy rain at Donington Park. The Brazilian went from fifth on the grid to lead at the end of the first lap after picking off Michael Schumacher, Damon Hill, Prost and Karl Wendlinger.

• 1998 - Finland's Mika Hakkinen took his first of two titles.

• 1999 - Hakkinen became a back-to-back title winner.

• 2005 - Kimi Raikkonen won the Japanese Grand Prix from 17th place.

• 2007 - Bahrain holding company Mumtalakat became a stakeholder.

• 2007 - Formula One is rocked by the 'Spygate' scandal, with McLaren fined a record $100 million for possession of confidential Ferrari data. Lewis Hamilton made his F1 debut and went on to take a first win in Canada.

• 2008 - Hamilton secured the first of his seven titles, the other six all won with Mercedes.

• 2009 - McLaren handed a suspended three-race ban for misleading stewards in a 'Liegate' case that could have led to Toyota's Jarno Trulli missing out on a third place in Australia. Sporting director Dave Ryan was fired as a result.

• 2011 - Jenson Button won Formula One's longest race in Canada. He had been last after 40 of the 70 laps.

• 2014 - End of the Mercedes partnership after 78 wins together.

• 2015 - Honda made an ill-fated return as engine supplier, failing to replicate the Senna and Prost glory years. The team suffered 12 retirements and no podiums that year. The partnership lasted three unhappy seasons.

• 2017 - McLaren returned to their founder's papaya colours.

• 2018 - American Zak Brown appointed CEO of McLaren Racing.

• 2021 - Australian Daniel Ricciardo ended the team's nine-year win drought with a win at Monza, a rare highlight in an otherwise difficult stint that ended in early termination of his contract.

• 2022 - Italian Andrea Stella, who worked at Ferrari during their golden years in the early 2000s, is appointed principal.

• 2024 - McLaren are constructors' champions for the first time since 1998.

• 2025 - The team become the second most successful of all time with a 10th constructors' title. They celebrate their 200th win at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Norris wins in Monaco, the team's record 16th in the principality.