Having just missed out on a second drivers’ crown in 1973 with Lotus, Emerson – impressed by the signs McLaren were showing on and off track – jumped ship and drove the M23 for the first time in December 1973 at Paul Ricard. “Straight away I felt really comfortable in it.” he later explained. “As I’d observed when racing against Peter [Revson] and Denny [Hulme] throughout that year, it was very good in fast corners: very stable, very well balanced, and very quick.” Emerson's decision to switch teams proved inspired, as he went on to win the drivers’ title, McLaren’s first, in 1974.

After two years away from the sport, Niki returned to the seat of an F1 car with the help of Ron Dennis who arranged a test for the Austrian in the MP4/1 at Donington Park on 16 September 1981. “It was very nice to be back in a racing car,” said Niki. “I enjoyed it, and actually felt quite emotional about it. But by the first corner I had forgotten the emotion. By then I was already a racing driver again, giving all my attention to controlling the car.” Back in the groove and with a taste for the fiercely competitive world of F1 again, Niki raced for McLaren for four consecutive seasons from 1982 and clinched the 1984 drivers’ title.

Even very early in his career, Alain’s talent was clear to see. After winning both the French and European F3 championships in 1979 and having turned down the chance to race for McLaren at the season-ending US GP for fear of not being fully prepared, Alain took part in a McLaren test at Paul Ricard later that year. He did nothing but impress in the M29, lapping three tenths quicker than the benchmark time set by number one driver John Watson. McLaren team boss Teddy Mayer immediately liked what he saw and later revealed: “I watched him for 10 laps, then ran to my car to get out a contract!”

Just two days after winning the British F3 championship, Ayrton drove a McLaren F1 car for the first time on 25 October 1983 at Silverstone. He immediately felt comfortable in the MP4/1 and, after just six tours of the circuit, the Brazilian recorded a sub-1m15s lap – almost a second quicker than John Watson’s best qualifying time in the same car at the British Grand Prix earlier that year. Having also tested for Williams and Toleman that same week, Ayrton opted to race for the latter in 1984 but he would go on to join McLaren from 1988 and the rest, as they say, is history.

Juan Pablo will contest this year’s Indy 500 with Arrow McLaren SP but his relationship with McLaren goes back to 2004. On 29 November of that year, he debuted for McLaren in a test at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya as the team prepared for the 2005 season. The Colombian completed 52 laps in the MP4-19B and ended the day at the top of the timesheets with a lap of 1m14.203s. “It’s been an exciting day today and the first time I actually went out of the garage in a McLaren Mercedes Formula 1 car was special,” he said. "I know a lot of the guys in the team already and I’m really looking forward to working with everybody.”

As a member of the McLaren Young Driver Development Programme, Lewis’ first taste of F1 power came with the team at Silverstone in 2004 when he enjoyed 21 laps at the wheel of the MP4-19. His first official test for the team followed in September 2006, once again at Silverstone, just days after the conclusion of his GP2-title winning campaign. On the final day of the test, Lewis recorded the third-fastest time and outpaced McLaren driver Pedro de la Rosa. It effectively secured him his race seat and later that month Ron Dennis told Lewis that he would partner Fernando Alonso for the 2007 season.

Fernando first drove a McLaren F1 car on the final day of testing at Jerez on 15 December 2006. Despite remaining under contract to Renault until the end of the year, Renault agreed to release Fernando for a day’s testing in an unbranded MP4-21. The Spaniard wound up third fastest, two and half tenths off his new team-mate Lewis Hamilton. “I’m pleased that I was able to drive the McLaren Mercedes Formula 1 car earlier than expected and would like to thank Renault and Flavio Briatore for agreeing to this,” said Fernando.

Jenson joined McLaren in 2010 on the back of winning the Drivers’ World Championship and his first on-track appearance as a McLaren driver came on 3 February in a pre-season test at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit, Valencia. But the first time he got behind the wheel of a McLaren F1 car, or any F1 car for that matter, was in 1999 as part of his prize for winning the 1998 McLaren Autosport BRDC Award.

Like Jenson, Lando is another McLaren Autosport BRDC Award winner and he got the chance to rack up the miles in the MP4-26 during a two-day test at Portimão on 1 and 2 June 2017, ahead of his first official F1 test which took place at the Hungaroring in August later that year. 17-year-old Lando made an immediate impression, setting the second-quickest time of the second day of the test. Three months later, he was confirmed as the team’s test and reserve driver for 2018, and subsequently promoted to race driver for 2019.

Although Carlos wasn’t set to race with McLaren until 2019, he was able to get some mileage in the MCL33 during the 2018 Pirelli tyre test in Abu Dhabi. A driver’s first on-track experience with a team is always an important one but, in an exclusive McLaren.com interview last year, Carlos went as far as saying the test was one of his defining moments as a McLaren driver: “It’s the first time I got to really meet the team and the test immediately made me feel at home at McLaren. It put me in a very relaxed and positive frame of mind heading into the winter. Those first 150 laps were so important.”

Daniel made his eagerly anticipated debut at the wheel of a McLaren F1 car at Silverstone on 16 February 2021. The wet weather did little to dampen spirits as Daniel trialled the team’s 2021 challenger, the MCL35M, less than 24 hours after it had been unveiled to the world at the McLaren Technology Centre. “Slowly shaken out some cobwebs, first few laps done,” reported Daniel as he jumped out the car.