When Autosport celebrated 60 years of McLaren in 2023, we track-tested three grand prix-winning cars, two of which won a world title, and picked out the team’s top 10 Formula 1 drivers (a list Lando Norris would now surely be on!).
To mark six decades of McLaren in the F1 world championship, we’ve decided to shine a spotlight on some of the less obvious cars and people that have contributed to its rich history.
The story and significance of the Honda-powered MP4/3B grew the more we looked into it and spoke to the people involved. Even though it never raced, it played a key role in forming one of F1’s great combinations and showed the way to McLaren’s future.
McLaren veteran Indy Lall was involved in that project and many more. Eight pages is really insufficient to cover all of his 40 years at McLaren, but we hope we’ve done justice to his impact.
Like everyone else involved in the project, including Ayrton Senna and Mika Hakkinen, Lall was excited by the McLaren-Lamborghini experiment in 1993. The unique MP4/8B, which showed impressive pace in testing, sat at McLaren for three decades after an engine blow-up but the Heritage team has now brought it back to life.
It was a privilege to be there when the V12 screamed once again and Gary Watkins spoke to the key players for our article. Look out for our accompanying (and loud!) video on autosport.com soon.
Maurice Hamilton takes a more light-hearted look at the reasons behind McLaren’s early liveries in his regular column, while Alex Albon tells Jake Boxall-Legge about his record-breaking experience at Williams.
Elsewhere in this issue, we have bumper coverage of the British GP, where Charles Leclerc took a fine victory after trouble befell Kimi Antonelli, as well as our usual debriefs on the Austrian and Belgian races.
Watkins also reports on the Spa 24 Hours and Interlagos World Endurance round, and outlines Stephane Ratel’s concerns about the future of his successful GT3 category. Are some of the manufacturers pushing things too far?
A lot has happened on the UK scene since our last issue. The National section includes a rising star, an unusual rally car and our Goodwood Festival of Speed highlights, plus Ed Hardy outlines a new initiative created jointly by the British Racing Drivers’ Club and Motorsport UK.
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– The Autosport.com Team
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