It’s not always fun to start with a blank sheet of paper. Oftentimes, inspiration fails to take hold, and I find myself staring anxiously at the empty Word document sitting open and expectant on the screen of my desktop computer.
Sometimes, however, a blank sheet is the tantalising start of an adventure, an unlimited landscape upon which to pepper and populate my most firmly held thoughts and reflections.
And that’s exactly what it felt like when McLaren asked your humble correspondent to write this week’s column about Le Mans. More specifically, they asked me to identify who, if I were given absolute carte blanche to select from McLaren’s driver roster both past and present, would I choose to populate two hypothetical three-driver McLaren-only teams to tackle this weekend’s enduro epic at La Sarthe.
It’s a refreshing brief in that it allows me briefly to escape the shackles of ‘normal’ journalism and reflect on what might have been had I been a team manager, sporting director or team principal – in other words, someone tasked with making history, rather than only writing about it.
So, where to begin?
McLaren and Le Mans have had a long and successful relationship. To the casual fan, that’s perhaps not immediately apparent, but consider this: in 1995, as a constructor, McLaren won Le Mans at its very first attempt, placing its legendary F1 GTRs first, third, fourth and fifth. A year later, they were still in the fight, albeit finishing fourth, fifth, sixth, eighth, ninth and 11th.
McLaren’s founding father, Bruce McLaren, also found success at the famous French circuit, partnering Chris Amon to victory aboard the classic Ford GT40 in the 1966 edition of the race. It almost went unnoticed on the podium, but Ford chairman Henry Ford II tugged at his right cuff to loosen his costly Rolex from his wrist, handing it to Bruce as acknowledgement of his fabulous efforts. You’d have had to have been looking very closely indeed to see Mr Ford reclaim the watch after the celebrations had calmed down a touch!
Bruce’s countryman and old friend, Denny Hulme, finished second in the sister GT40. American racer Dan Gurney, another McLaren linchpin during the team’s darkest hour in 1970, also won the race in a GT40 – in 1967.
Other Le Mans winners to have driven for McLaren include five-time winner Derek Bell (he drove a one-off race in the M9A in the 1969 British GP), two-time winner Alex Wurz (while mainly a super-expert F1 tester, Wurzy raced one grand prix for McLaren in 2005, at Imola, finishing third). Stefan Johansson, who drove for McLaren alongside Alain Prost in 1987, won Le Mans a decade later, while Mark Blundell, who was parachuted into the seat of the unloved 1995 car after it had first been widened for, and then abandoned by, Nigel Mansell, won the race in 1992.
McLaren testers Emanuele Pirro (five wins) and Allan McNish (three wins) also have something of a Le Mans record – perhaps you’ve heard of their sportscar successes?
Farther back in time, Jacky Ickx, who raced a McLaren once in 1973 (at the Nurburgring, finishing third), has won the 24-hour race no fewer than six times.
So, the question of McLaren and Le Mans is less a question of where you start, and more of where you stop.
So, let’s set some ground rules: my selection will be limited exclusively to drivers who haven’t previously competed at Le Mans, which makes it a little more finite and, hopefully, a little easier. So let’s take a fanciful sashay down memory lane – notebooks open – and reach back in time to decide just who would the ideal McLaren all-stars for Le Mans would be.
CAR ONE
FERNANDO ALONSO
A slightly left-field choice, but I think the fiery Spaniard would even be quick if you put him behind the wheel of a heavily laden tractor, so being asked to drive a sports-car fast would be little challenge for him. Fernando is also a very technically savvy operator, so he’d be a linchpin for his car, helping to fettle it during the early practice sessions.
But he’d be my hire simply for his unquenchable determination. In the 90 minutes of a grand prix, Fernando explodes with raw, aggressive pace, often achieving results that are beyond the scope of his machinery. Just imagine what he could achieve if he helmed a three-man Le Mans squad for 24 hours – he’d be the unequivocal team leader, the galvanising factor behind the whole endeavour.
Best time to put him in the car:
Thursday night, for qualifying – who better to wring the neck of the car when it needed it most? And Sunday lunchtime – if the car has fallen behind, I’d relish seeing the plucky little ’Nando pushing like crazy to make up lost ground. Wouldn’t that be scintillating to watch?
EMERSON FITTIPALDI
I’m fortunate here: it has always been to Emmo’s considerable personal regret that he never managed to mount an attack on the 24 Hours. He tried once, back in the early 1990s, looking to hook up with Mario Andretti and Mario’s son Michael, but, alas, the race clashed with an Indycar event, in which they were all competing, so the idea was sadly shelved.
Still, Emmo’s loss is my gain. Like Fernando, Emerson has a unique ability to read a race: he knows which way the wind blows (quite literally, in the case of his brilliant win at Silverstone in 1975), he can nurse a car with a mechanical defect, he can look after tyres, and his long and successful career in North American racing proves beyond doubt that he has the focus and discipline to run at ultra-high speeds for long periods of time.
Best time to put him in the car:
At 7.00pm on Saturday night. With the dark slowly drawing in, almost the entirety of the race left to run, and the potential for weather and traffic to up-end even carefully laid plans, the canny Brazilian would be the rock-solid, super-fast foundation that would establish the car’s position into the night, a critical stage of the race.
MIKA HAKKINEN
For a driver with such a long and storied career, the lack of a Le Mans entry seems a strange omission – yet, indeed, the Flying Finn never managed to make the start at the classic enduro. People tend to think of Mika as a blazingly rapid robot, but in fact he was hugely interested in the set-up of his cars, and always worked very hard to tune them to his liking.
If Fernando adds the fire to this particular driver line-up, then Mika certainly brings the ice: he wouldn’t be cowed by Alonso, he’d work well to cajole the threesome to gel well together, and, also, importantly, he’s be relaxed enough to ensure problems never acquired critical mass. A great team-player.
Best time to put him in the car:
On the startline on Saturday afternoon. I can’t think of a better driver to kick off the race – he’d leave the others for dust.
CAR TWO
JENSON BUTTON
Jenson has never realistically discussed the prospect of racing at Le Mans – he’s currently suggested that a career in rallycross, like that of his ol’ dad, would be more up his street once he retires from F1 – but I’m left in little doubt that, if he gave it a prolonged go, Jenson could become one of the greatest drivers in Le Mans history.
You needn’t look far to see his credentials – he’s a world champion, a multiple grand prix winner, a team-player, a motivator, and, lest we forget, simply untouchable whenever a track surface becomes treacherous. With his delicate touch and tendency to prefer a softly understeering car, he’d be an incredible sports car driver – and he’d look after the tyres across a stint better than anyone in the business.
Best time to put him in the car:
At 5.00am on Sunday morning, when the overnight rain has stopped, the field is contemplating a switch back to slicks but with the track still too dark and overcast to shed the standing water. Out of that dank greyness, Jenson could well drive the defining stint of the race.
ALAIN PROST
I chose to put Alain in Jenson’s team, first because I think their styles would be very compatible, but also because there’s a mutual appreciation society going on there that I think would work very satisfactorily.
Like Jenson, Alain is another racer who, despite seeming a natural for the category, never made the jump into sports cars. He’d be a talisman for the team – and the French public – and, like Fernando in the sister car, he’d be key in defining both the car’s set-up and the team’s operational strategy.
Best time to put him in the car:
Sunday mid-morning. It’s the make-or-break stage of the race when fatigue is at its highest and the finish line is still hours away. Alain is the kind of positive and relentless guy who’d just get in the car and drive lap after lap without making a single mistake – perfect for consolidating track position before the final chase to the flag.
DAVID COULTHARD
Okay, I’m winging it here a little – David did indeed take part in one Le Mans, for TWR Jaguar back in 1993, but he was disqualified from the race. So – technically – he can still stake a claim in my all-stars line-up because he didn’t officially take part!
Like his fellow Scot, Allan McNish, I can’t help feeling that DC’s ability, competence, intelligence and work ethic would make him a potentially great sports car driver.
Best time to put him in the car:
A double-stint at 2.00am on Sunday morning. If you’re looking for a safe pair of hands, someone who’ll bring the car back in one piece, and who’ll consolidate the position, look no further than David. As a Scot, he’s a hard-working, no-nonsense guy too, and he’d relish the gritty intensity of racing the car hard throughout the night.
