Ricciardo's Redemption: From McLaren Exit to a Return to F1 Glory
Oct.3 - Daniel Ricciardo is not hiding that he is eyeing the cockpit alongside Max Verstappen. The Australian, currently recovering from a broken hand, dropped out of Formula 1..
Name | McLaren |
Country | ![]() |
Season Entries | 58 |
Total Drivers | 62 |
First Race | 1966 Monaco F1 GP |
Last Race | 2023 Japanese F1 GP |
First Pole | 1972 Canadian F1 GP |
Last Pole | 2021 Russian F1 GP |
First Win | 1968 Belgian F1 GP |
Last Win | 2021 Italian F1 GP |
First Podium | 1968 Spanish F1 GP |
Last Podium | 2023 Japanese F1 GP |
McLaren F1 Stats | |
Constructors' Titles | 8 |
Drivers' Titles | 12 |
Race Entries | 943 |
Race Starts | 940 |
Race Wins | 183 (19,4%) |
Podiums | 499 (52,9%) |
One-Two Finishes | 48 (5,1%) |
Pole Positions | 156 (16,5%) |
Front row Starts | 63 (6,7%) |
Fastest Laps | 162 (17,2%) |
Total Points | 6251.5 |
Total Laps | 99508 |
Retirements | 647 (68,6%) |
4. Lando Norris
Lando Norris F1 Stats | |
Race Entries | 98 |
Race Starts | 98 |
Race Wins | 0 |
Pole Positions | 1 (1,0%) |
Fastest Laps | 5 (5,1%) |
Podiums | 10 (10,2%) |
Points Finishes | 73 (74,5%) |
Retirements | 9 (9,2%) |
Front Row Starts | 4 |
Total Points | 543 |
Total Laps | 5.552 |
81. Oscar Piastri
Oscar Piastri F1 Stats | |
Race Entries | 16 |
Race Starts | 16 |
Race Wins | 0 |
Pole Positions | 0 |
Fastest Laps | 1 (6,3%) |
Podiums | 1 (6,3%) |
Points Finishes | 8 (50,0%) |
Retirements | 2 (12,5%) |
Front Row Starts | 1 |
Total Points | 57 |
Total Laps | 870 |
Driver | GP | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Pod | Pole | Laps | FL | PTS |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() |
150 | 12 | 21 | 18 | 51 | 7 | 7755 | 14 | 412 |
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136 | 8 | 10 | 8 | 26 | 1 | 7455 | 6 | 908 |
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131 | 20 | 14 | 17 | 51 | 26 | 6277 | 25 | 407 |
![]() |
110 | 21 | 16 | 12 | 49 | 26 | 6065 | 12 | 913 |
![]() |
107 | 30 | 21 | 12 | 63 | 10 | 5832 | 24 | 458.5 |
![]() |
98 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 1 | 5552 | 5 | 543 |
![]() |
96 | 35 | 12 | 8 | 55 | 46 | 5157 | 12 | 451 |
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94 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 12 | 2 | 4725 | 5 | 241 |
![]() |
87 | 9 | 15 | 12 | 36 | 11 | 4253 | 19 | 337 |
![]() |
86 | 6 | 5 | 10 | 21 | 1 | 4862 | 5 | 174 |
![]() |
73 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 13 | 0 | 3717 | 3 | 109 |
![]() |
58 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 15 | 0 | 2783 | 8 | 128 |
![]() |
49 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 8 | 0 | 2361 | 2 | 64 |
![]() |
49 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 14 | 14 | 2241 | 5 | 117 |
![]() |
48 | 3 | 7 | 8 | 18 | 4 | 2323 | 7 | 135 |
![]() |
44 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2463 | 1 | 152 |
![]() |
41 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2216 | 0 | 26 |
![]() |
37 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2015 | 1 | 201 |
![]() |
35 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 1828 | 0 | 60 |
![]() |
35 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1799 | 2 | 75 |
![]() |
28 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1232 | 0 | 8 |
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28 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 13 | 2 | 1567 | 1 | 100 |
![]() |
26 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 1268 | 1 | 86 |
![]() |
23 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 1 | 1402 | 0 | 61 |
![]() |
19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1115 | 1 | 49 |
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19 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1112 | 0 | 55 |
![]() |
17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 826 | 0 | 0 |
![]() |
16 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 672 | 0 | 16 |
![]() |
16 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 697 | 0 | 22 |
![]() |
16 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 771 | 0 | 30 |
![]() |
16 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 870 | 1 | 57 |
![]() |
15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 798 | 0 | 13 |
![]() |
14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 629 | 0 | 1 |
![]() |
14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 448 | 0 | 1 |
![]() |
13 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 427 | 0 | 7 |
![]() |
11 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 566 | 0 | 12 |
![]() |
11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 375 | 0 | 1 |
![]() |
9 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 456 | 1 | 23 |
![]() |
6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 309 | 0 | 0 |
![]() |
6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 264 | 0 | 4 |
![]() |
6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 247 | 0 | 0 |
![]() |
5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 216 | 0 | 0 |
![]() |
4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 229 | 1 | 1 |
![]() |
4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 203 | 0 | 3 |
![]() |
3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 60 | 0 | 0 |
![]() |
3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 108 | 0 | 0 |
![]() |
3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 162 | 0 | 0 |
![]() |
3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 129 | 0 | 4 |
![]() |
2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 79 | 0 | 0 |
![]() |
2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 120 | 0 | 0 |
![]() |
2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 147 | 0 | 0 |
![]() |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 4 |
![]() |
1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 0 | 0 |
![]() |
1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
![]() |
1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 81 | 0 | 0 |
![]() |
1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 66 | 0 | 0 |
![]() |
1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 0 |
![]() |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 62 | 0 | 6 |
![]() |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 64 | 0 | 4 |
McLaren are one of the oldest and most successful teams in Formula 1, and are the great rivals of the illustrious Ferrari team.
Since their debut back in 1966, the team has gone on to win eight Constructors Championships and 12 Drivers' titles.
They have also seen some of the sport’s greatest names at the wheel of their cars. Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost, Niki Lauda, Mika Hakkinen and Lewis Hamilton, to name a few.
Founded by New Zealand driver Bruce McLaren back in 1963, the team had to wait a further three years for its debut, at Monte-Carlo.
After two years of little success as the team’s only driver, Bruce was joined by fellow Kiwi Denny Hulme in 1968. They won three races that season, with Bruce claiming their maiden victory at Spa.
After the founder’s death in 1970, their progress was halted but after four years of rebuilding, they finally claimed their first world championship, courtesy of Emerson Fittipaldi in the McLaren M23
They backed that up in 1976 when Britain’s James Hunt won one of the tightest championship seasons ever in 1976, holding off Lauda's Ferrari.
However, a run of uncompetitive years left McLaren scrapping for points lower down the grid. But seven championships in eight years through the mid-80s to early 90s was arguably as dominant as any team has ever been in possibly F1’s greatest era.
Lauda held off team-mate Prost to claim the 1984 F1 championship by half a point before the meticulous Prost went on the win in both 1985 and 1986.
After Lauda moved on, Prost was joined by the up-and-coming Ayrton Senna, the team was so dominant that the pair won 15 of 16 races in 1988. Senna won a very tight maiden championship as the MP4/4 won 15 of the 16 races in 1988.
In 1989, the relationship between Prost and Senna started to crumble and soured further when the pair clashed in Japan, with Prost controversially winning the title in another year of McLaren dominance.
After the Professor left to join Ferrari, Senna had a free reign and won back-to-back titles in 1990 and 1991.
There has been further success for Hakkinen (1998 and 1999) and Lewis Hamilton (2008) but despite remaining competitive, three championships in 24 years are not what McLaren expected since their dominant decade.
They remain a big team but with the financial backing of other teams, their task to return to the front is harder than ever.
The Honda engine adventure (2015-2017) turned out to a big disaster. The team had a dramatic 2015 F1 season, in which McLaren had to settle for ninth position in the constructors' championship. Even though the team had a tremendous lineup of drivers with two world champions, Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button, the Honda power unit wasn't great at the time, and the rest of the car also had many issues.
Every start of a new season the hopes get up high, but 2016 turned out bad for McLaren and Ron Dennis, who achieved a lot of success in the earlier Honda years with Senna and Prost, left the team
For the 2017 F1 season the team came up with a new livery (orange/black) but the 2017 season turned out to be one of the worst in the history of the team. The Honda engine still was not powerful and reliable enough to be competitive. The team ended up in ninth place in the constructors' championship again. Stoffel Vandoorne, the team's new driver back then, also had difficulty adapting to the high downforce F1 cars.
For 2018 the team had managed to swap engines with Red Bull Racing. They got the Renault engine and the car now became completely orange (Papaya) like in the old days. Red Bull was very interested to pick up the Honda project, as their cooperation with Renault had deteriorated quickly after many reliability problems and Renault had bought away Daniel Ricciardo from Red Bull. The McLaren team had to put a lot of effort into adapting to the Renault engine.
Lewis Hamilton F1 Champion 2008
Vandoorne and Alonso were still driving for McLaren and the team did a bit better by going up three places to end up as sixth in the WCC. But the 2018 F1 season still wasn't one to quickly forget with no podium finishes and a fifth-place as the best result in the very first race. It was time to change the drivers now, as Alonso took a sabbatical and Vandoorne left the team.
In 2019, McLaren gave another rookie a chance to shine. Zak Brown who was the new CEO of McLaren was enthusiastic about a young 19-year-old British driver called Lando Norris. He was paired with Carlos Sainz, who came from Renault after the team went all-in on Daniel Ricciardo in the drivers' market.
In 2019, McLaren showed lots of promise and finished fourth in the World Constructors' Championship after consistent and reliable performances from their drivers, especially Sainz, who finished sixth in the WDC. With 145 points in 2019, McLaren had their best year since 2014.
The team returned to the Formula 1 podium after more than five years, with Sainz finishing third in the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix.
The 2020 campaign was consistent for McLaren, again, and the team was able to finish third in the WCC with 202 points, its best tally since the 2012 F1 season.
AUTODROMO NAZIONALE MONZA, ITALY - SEPTEMBER 12: Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren MCL35M, leads Lando Norris, McLaren MCL35M during the Italian GP at Autodromo Nazionale Monza on Sunday September 12, 2021 in Monza, Italy. (Photo by Mark Sutton / LAT Images)
Norris finished the first race of the 2020 F1 season on the podium with a third-place, while Sainz scored another podium for the Woking-based team, coming close to winning the 2020 Italian Grand Prix, but ultimately finishing second.
A return to victory for McLaren came in 2021 when Daniel Ricciardo led a McLaren 1-2 at Monza to win the 2021 Italian Grand Prix. As championship contenders Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) and Max Verstappen (Red Bull) crashed out of the race, it'd be easy for many to think that that was the reason behind McLaren's win at Monza in 2021.
However, Ricciardo had started the race in second place and got off the line brilliantly to lead into the first corner, ahead of Verstappen. Then, he led comfortably, winning the race after leading all but five laps of the 53-lap race. It was McLaren's first win since the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix and the first 1-2 finish since the 2010 Canadian Grand Prix.
Ultimately, McLaren finished the season in fourth place in the WCC, as the team's form dipped a bit after the win at Monza.
The team managed to be fifth in the 2022 World Constructors' Championship under F1's new era. Although the team, consisting of Norris and Ricciardo again, scored its lowest tally of points since 2019 (159), McLaren was the only team outside of the Top 3 to score a podium.
Norris finished third for McLaren in the 2022 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, which was the team's best result of the year.
On 24 August 2022, the team and Ricciardo announced that the partnership would end after the 2022 season, although he still had a year remaining in his contract. Ricciardo scored 37 points, which looked unsuccessful alongside Norris' 122 for the season.
On 2 September 2022, McLaren announced Australian Oscar Piastri as their driver for 2023. The Australian, who won the 2021 F2 championship, and McLaren had to go through a contract dispute with Alpine which was settled by Formula 1's Contract Recognition Board (CRB).
Another change for 2023 included Andreas Seidl's departure, as McLaren's former Team Principal went to Alfa Romeo. Moreover, Andrea Stella took the Team Principal job for McLaren.
MELBOURNE GRAND PRIX CIRCUIT, AUSTRALIA - MARCH 31: Lando Norris, McLaren MCL60 during the Australian GP at Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit on Friday March 31, 2023 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Lionel Ng / LAT Images)
McLaren started the 2023 campaign clearly on the back foot, with two scoreless outings in the first two Grands Prix of the year in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
The team managed to take advantage of others' mistakes and favorable circumstances in the 2023 Australian Grand Prix and jumped from being scoreless to fifth in the World Constructors' Championship after Norris and the rookie Piastri finished sixth and eighth in the event.
Despite looking like the sixth-strongest car, the ninth race of the 2023 F1 season saw McLaren performing at a high level, with Norris finishing fourth in that race.
Moreover, the 10th race of the year, the 2023 British Grand Prix, was special for the team. McLaren painted its cars with the iconic chrome silver, which was present when the team won its most recent title in 2008.
In that race, Norris and Piastri qualified second and third and Norris finished the event in second place, achieving his seventh F1 podium and McLaren's 495th in its history. On his side, the rookie Piastri finished fourth, his best result in Formula 1 so far.
Official McLaren F1 website: https://www.mclaren.com/racing/
1th | 183 Times |
2th | 164 Times |
3th | 152 Times |
4th | 127 Times |
5th | 130 Times |
6th | 109 Times |
7th | 103 Times |
8th | 71 Times |
9th | 71 Times |
10th | 49 Times |
11th | 53 Times |
12th | 49 Times |
13th | 31 Times |
14th | 31 Times |
15th | 18 Times |
16th | 18 Times |
17th | 11 Times |
18th | 9 Times |
19th | 4 Times |
20th | 2 Times |
DNF | 527 Times |
DSQ | 12 Times |
NC | 8 Times |
DNPQ | 2 Times |
DNQ | 25 Times |
DNS | 15 Times |
1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
8th | 9th | 2th | 4th | 5th | 6th | 3th | 3th |
1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 |
1th | 3th | 2th | 3th | 8th | 7th | 9th | 6th |
1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 |
2th | 5th | 1th | 1th | 2th | 2th | 1th | 1th |
1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 |
1th | 1th | 2th | 2th | 4th | 4th | 4th | 4th |
1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 |
1th | 2th | 2th | 2th | 3th | 3th | 5th | 2th |
2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 |
3th | 11th | 2th | 3th | 2th | 2th | 3th | 5th |
2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
5th | 9th | 6th | 9th | 6th | 4th | 3th | 4th |
2022 | 2023 | ||||||
5th | 5th |
Oct.3 - Daniel Ricciardo is not hiding that he is eyeing the cockpit alongside Max Verstappen. The Australian, currently recovering from a broken hand, dropped out of Formula 1..
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Sep.21 - McLaren CEO Zak Brown has pulled itself off the Formula 1 driver market for now. The Woking based team announced ahead of the Japanese GP that its newest recruit,..
Sep.6 - Relations between McLaren's two young drivers could get "a little more restless" in the coming months. That is the prediction of former F1 driver Timo Glock, after McLaren..
Sep.6 - Alex Palou admits he might never get the chance to switch to Formula 1. Now with his second Indycar title in his pocket, the 26-year-old Spaniard had appeared destined for..
Sep.5 - Dr Helmut Marko admits it's 'unfortunate' that Lando Norris' McLaren contract has ruled him out of contention for a Red Bull seat for now. Marko, fellow Red Bull chief..
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