1966 — 19801966–1980: the driver-constructor years
Bruce McLaren Motor Racing
Driver-founded constructor; Can-Am and Indy success funded the F1 effort.
Bruce McLaren left Cooper to build his own cars, entering Formula One in 1966 with a team run out of Colnbrook. The early cars were unreliable, but McLaren's Can-Am programme funded the operation and made it professional years ahead of most British rivals.
Bruce McLaren was killed testing a Can-Am car at Goodwood in June 1970. Teddy Mayer took over, and the team kept winning: Emerson Fittipaldi took the 1974 drivers' title and McLaren its first constructors' championship, followed by James Hunt in 1976.
By the end of the 1970s the M28 and M29 were off the pace and sponsor Philip Morris was losing patience. Marlboro pushed for a management change rather than a new sponsor.
1991 — Present1991 to today: the modern group
McLaren Racing
Woking Technology Centre, Mercedes power, and a 2020s revival.
As the group diversified into road cars and technology, the racing entity settled as McLaren Racing under the McLaren Group umbrella. Senna's third title in 1991 closed the Honda era; Mercedes power and Mika Häkkinen brought titles back in 1998 and 1999, and Lewis Hamilton won in 2008.
The 2015–2017 Honda reunion was a costly failure, and Ron Dennis left in 2017. Under Zak Brown and Andrea Stella the team rebuilt around the Woking wind tunnel and a young pairing of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, returning to the front of the grid in the mid-2020s.
1981 — 19901981–1990: Project Four and total dominance
McLaren International
Project Four merger. Ron Dennis takes control; carbon-fibre era begins.
Ron Dennis's Project Four Racing was merged with McLaren in late 1980 to form McLaren International, with Dennis and John Barnard in charge and Mayer edged out. Barnard's MP4/1 was the first carbon-fibre monocoque Formula One car and reset the sport's construction standards.
With Porsche-built TAG turbo engines, McLaren won drivers' titles with Niki Lauda in 1984 and Alain Prost in 1985 and 1986. The Honda-engined MP4/4 of 1988, driven by Prost and Ayrton Senna, won fifteen of sixteen races — still the benchmark for a dominant season.