Guide to the McLaren Racing Live: Miami Showrun – presented by Iron Mountain

The only thing finer than getting an M23 out into the sunshine again, is getting an M23 out into the sunshine again, and having Emmo drive it. The Gordon Copuck-designed M23 first appeared in 1973, given a debut by Denny Hulme who promptly put it on Pole – surprisingly, the only one of the 1967 World Champions’ F1 career – at the South African Grand Prix.

Based on the M16 IndyCar, but carrying over the rear suspension from its F1 predecessor, the M19, the car used the traditional combo of Cosworth DFV engine and Hewland gearbox and would add victories for Peter Revson in Britain and Canada to its 1973 palmarès, but greater achievements were to arrive in 1974. Our first Championship season was a double. It started with Denny winning in Argentina, but victories in Brazil, Belgium and Canada for new recruit Emerson Fittipaldi were enough to give the Brazilian a second Drivers’ Championship, and earn McLaren a first Constructors’ Championship.

The M23 provided a second Drivers’ Championship in 1976, when James Hunt took six victories. It raced on until mid-1977 as a works entry, where it furnished Gilles Villeneuve with a debut drive at the British Grand Prix. Succeeded by the M26 during that season, it retired with a record of 16 victories from 83 appearances.

The MP4/6 raced in 1991. Ayrton Senna won his third and final Drivers’ Championship at the wheel, while he and team-mate Gerhard Berger garnered a seventh Constructors’ Championship for the team, and a fourth in succession. The MP4/6 was the final car to win a World Championship with a manual gearbox, and the only car to win a title with a V12 engine. It’s the best-sounding F1 car you will ever hear, as residents of Coconut Grove will shortly discover. Probably residents of the Coral Gables and Miami Beach too.

Brunno Senna raced in F1 between 2010-2012, with the HRT, Renault and Williams teams, before becoming a serial winner in WEC, contesting the LMGTE classes, LMP2 and LMP1, winning the LMP2 title in 2017. Bruno is an ambassador and active representative of the Instituto Ayrton Senna, supporting its mission to provide educational opportunities to underprivileged children in Brazil. He’s a regular demo driver for us, appearing in a range of his uncle’s original cars.

1999’s MP4/14 took Mika Häkkinen to his second Drivers’ World Championship. In the hands of the Flying Finn and team-mate David Coulthard, the car won seven times, with Mika taking five of those wins, including a dramatic victory at Suzuka on the last day of the season to overcome a points deficit to Ferrari’s Eddie Irvine, and in doing so, join the short list of drivers to win back-to-back F1 World Championships.

Designed under the technical leadership of Adrian Newey, with illustrious McLaren names such as Neil Oatley and Steve Nichols adding their experience. The MP4/14 was powered by a mighty Mercedes 72° 3.0l V10 engine, and was the first time McLaren used a seven-speed sequential gearbox. The car was the quickest of the field in 1999, taking 16 podium finishes in total from its 16 races, plus 11 Pole positions and nine fastest laps. Sadly, it also had 12 DNFs, including a double at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, and narrowly failed to retain the Constructors’ Championship for McLaren.

The MP4/23 was McLaren’s entry in the 2008 F1 World Championship, powering Lewis Hamilton to his first Drivers’ World Championship. The car won six races in 2008, with Lewis taking five victories and Heikki Kovalainen grabbing his first and only F1 win at the Hungarian Grand Prix. The car, however, is perhaps most famous for Hamilton’s drive at Interlagos, when an overtake in the rain on the approach to the Chequered Flag gave him the fifth place he needed to take the title by a point from Ferrari’s Felipe Massa. The car was the first McLaren V8 to win a World Championship since 1976… though the 2.4l Mercedes FO 108V, producing around 810hp at 19,000rpm was quite a step forward from James Hunt’s Cosworth DFV.

Oscar’s the lucky duck who gets to drive the silver machine. He was just seven years old when the MP4/23 was on track, and more accustomed to racing radio-controlled cars. This was very much the gateway to karting and then single-seaters, where Oscar’s dramatic run of Formula Renault Eurocup, Formula 3, and Formula 2 titles tipped him as a future star of F1. He made his F1 debut with us in 2023, and became a rookie winner, finishing first in the Qatar Sprint. He has since taken victory in nine Grands Prix, including last year’s race in Miami.

2023’s MCL60 was our first regular podium contender of the modern era. Initially towards the back of the field, a mid-season upgrade unlocked its full potential, and the car was able to record nine podiums and three fastest laps from the British Grand Prix onwards. It accustomed Lando and Oscar to running at the front of the field, and sharped the crew into the outfit that would win consecutive Constructors’ Championships in the following two seasons. The car is a product of a short-lived ground-effect era, running ultra-low to ‘seal’ the Venturi tunnels under the car and produce stunning cornering pace that resets the bar at many circuits.

The car’s name – MCL60 – references the 60^th anniversary of Bruce McLaren founding his eponymous racing team in 1963. Our fleet of MCL60s haven’t been given over to the Heritage Department just yet: they’re still pounding around the world’s race track in the service of our TPC (testing of previous cars) programme, giving the next generation from the McLaren Driver Development Programme a chance to sample F1 machinery – as well as the occasional refresher for Oscar and Lando.

Our 2026 IndyCar challenger is also joining the party this week, with Tony Kanaan at the wheel of the 2.2l twin-turbo V6 Chevrolet-powered Dallara DW12. Coming out of last week’s Long Beach round, Pato O’Ward lies fourth in the series, one place ahead of team-mate Christian Lundgaard, with Nolan Siegal enduring a tough start to his campaign, down in 23^rd.

Team Principal Tony Kanaan is getting back under the helmet for the McLaren Live event. Across a storied career, the Brazilian driver was Indy Lights champion in 1997, IndyCar series champion in 2004 and an Indy500 winner in 2013. Following a spell in CART, his full-time IndyCar career ran from 2002 to 2019, with occasional appearances until 2023, with his final outing – to date – appropriately being with us at the 2023 Indy 500. He’s taken 16 victories, 11 Pole positions, and 73 podiums. Outside American open-wheel racing, Tony has raced all around the world, everywhere from Formula Nippon to Stock Car Brasil, taking in the 24 Heures Du Mans along the way. His sports car record in Florida is particularly fine, with a victory in the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring.