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Much like our Formula 1 team, the McLaren Driver Development Programme has progressed significantly in the last two years.

Although the ultimate aims and ideology remain the same, the way in which it operates has been refined. Seven drivers are currently part of our programme, from karting to Formula 2 and F1 Academy, and an expanded leadership team has been hired to provide the best support to each of them. Each driver has been appointed because we believe they have the attributes to succeed at the highest level.

Led by Alessandro Alunni Bravi, who joined McLaren Racing from Sauber at the start of February, the aim is to become motorsport’s leading driver development programme, which can act as a talent pipeline for our Formula 1 and IndyCar teams, as well as our upcoming World Endurance Championship entry, creating a long-term succession plan for each. 

“We want to be the home of excellence for drivers, with the best environment for a driver to become successful in every category,” Alessandro outlines. "The Driver Development has been at the centre of McLaren’s racing strategy in the past few years, and will become even more fundamental.”

McLaren’s long-standing history of developing talent

Over the past decade, this type of programme has become essential in Formula 1, with teams increasingly aiming to bring through their own talent, rather than signing it from rivals.

At McLaren, the desire to develop top talent has long existed. The Driver Development Programme was officially founded in 2023, but we have a storied history of giving young prospects a chance.

Our two most statistically successful drivers in the past 25 years were signed before they had reached Formula 1. Lewis Hamilton had been with McLaren for nearly 10 years when he made his F1 debut in 2007, while Lando had already been with the team for two seasons as a Test and Reserve Driver when he was promoted to F1 in 2019.

Oscar also joined us as a rookie, while there are numerous other examples of McLaren opting for youth over experience during the past 30 years: Mika Häkkinen, David Coulthard, Kimi Räikkönen, and Heikki Kovalainen all signed with McLaren in the very early stages of their careers. 

While bringing a driver through the ranks or signing them as a rookie isn’t without risk, it allows a team to mould the driver in their image, both in terms of mentality and driving style.

Why the programme is “not a junior driver academy”

Alessandro is very clear: McLaren’s programme is not an academy, and its aim isn’t solely to feed our racing teams with top talent, though that is the key metric.

The objective is to develop drivers and help them realise their potential, whether they’re in the very early stages of their careers, like Dries Van Langendonck, or already established race winners competing in a leading F1 feeder category, such as Alex Dunne in Formula 2.

In a perfect world, every driver who passes through our doors as part of the programme would go on to race for one of the McLaren racing programmes, but we’re also searching for drivers who could aid us in a reserve and development capacity. While, those who go on to enjoy success elsewhere serve as a source of great pride - see Gabriel Bortoleto, who won the Formula 2 title as a member of the programme before earning an F1 seat with Sauber.

It's about ensuring the best talent doesn’t slip through the net. McLaren is run by people who are obsessed with racing, and they want to help guide young drivers, whether they end up racing in papaya or not.

However, we are better positioned than most to offer young drivers a future race seat. From 2027, we’ll become the only team to compete in Formula 1, INDYCAR and the World Endurance Championship.

“There is no better place in Formula 1, or any other motorsport category, than McLaren,” Alessandro says. “There are a lot of opportunities for our drivers, not just in Formula 1.”

How do we recruit drivers, and what are we looking for?

In recent months, Alex Dunne and Ella Lloyd have become race winners for the first time in Formula 2 and F1 Academy, respectively. Both drivers were identified before stepping up to their current race seats, and our team plotted their paths accordingly. 

Young talent is unearthed in various ways, but the aim is to do it as early as possible.

Increasingly, the best prospects will already belong to a junior programme by the time they’ve reached a series that competes on F1’s support card at a Grand Prix, such as F1 Academy or Formula 3.

There are some exceptions - Bortoleto, for example, joined during his title-winning Formula 3 season - but the aim is to provide drivers with support and guidance from a younger age, so that when they reach F1A or F3, they’re better equipped to take on that challenge. 

“We need to take care of our drivers from the very beginning so that we can shape and guide them, and teach them to become a professional driver,” Alessandro says.

That thinking was behind the decision to bring in a dedicated karting scout. Gastão Fráguas Filho, a Brazilian former karting world champion, has recently been added to the team and will attend all major international karting races to scout potential future stars.

“Gastão is a karting world champion and has been working in karting in Europe and South America, and with different factory teams and drivers,” Alessandro says. “He’s an important addition to the Driver Development Programme.

“We'll be at those races not just to watch the drivers, but to see who has the elements that we think are important at McLaren, to understand whether they have the potential to become a driver in one of our racing programmes,” Alessandro says.

As Alessandro alludes to, speed and talent aren’t nearly enough on their own - a driver needs to have the right personality.

“We are looking for drivers who share our values and winning culture,” he explains. “The reason we’re successful in the different categories we compete in is because we have a different approach to others and because we value and support our people.

“Drivers need to have talent, discipline and the correct approach. Our aim is then to bring them into the McLaren family and support them through our culture and our development tools.”

As part of the recruitment process, our team will speak with people who have worked with the drivers, such as team managers and engineers, to gauge their personalities and temperaments. The final step will typically involve a tour of the factory with the driver’s family, before a final decision is made and a contract is signed. 

“When you sign a driver who is only 12 or 13 years old, you are not just expecting to develop his/her driving skills, but to develop him/her as a human being,” Alessandro says. “To make this assessment, you can’t only be there watching the races.

“You need to speak with the teams to understand how the drivers provide feedback, how they prepare for and approach a race weekend, and their background. Family is also important because being in the right environment is key for success.”

Who is involved in the McLaren Driver Development Programme?

Alessandro’s task is to take the programme forward and build on the foundations that have been laid since its inception two years ago.

The team has expanded during this time, and renowned driver coach Warren Hughes has become central to the day-to-day delivery of the programme. The British former racer has vast experience in various forms of motorsport, from the World Endurance Championship, to British Touring Cars, and the FIA GT1 World Championships, dating back to an early career in junior single-seaters.

He initially joined the programme to support our F1 Academy efforts, but has since taken on greater responsibility as Head of The McLaren Driver Development Programme, overseeing the overall operation.

“He is in charge of the programme from a performance perspective and responsible for identifying the areas where our drivers need to improve, such as their driving style or their racing attitude,” Alessandro says.

The programme has its own specialised team of experts – an ever-growing group that will include a nutritionist, mental coach, and comms specialist, and receives regular support from our testing, simulator, and engineering teams. 

“We provide a full package of support,” Alessandro explains. “The technical support is core to this as it allows us to assess a driver’s performance and to improve specific areas on the simulator, such as car preparation, tyre management and anything else that is important for driving performance. We are using the expertise and knowledge of those here at McLaren to benefit the drivers in the Programme.”

What support do drivers receive?

The Programme does not take a one-size-fits-all approach. Each driver receives a bespoke development programme, which includes different levels of support and access depending on their progress at that time.

“A driver in karting or Formula 4 has different needs from a driver currently in Formula 2,” Alessandro explains.

This includes race weekend support. Since becoming fully integrated into the programme, Warren has become a familiar face in the different junior series paddocks. He watches every test, session, and race, and is in touch with each driver throughout their rounds, whether in person or over the phone.

He’s there to assess progress and offer support, but is always mindful not to interfere with the work our drivers are already doing with their teams. This will include thorough debriefs and time on the team’s simulator.

Each driver has access to the McLaren Technology Centre and will spend time at the factory, but as they become more experienced, they are more widely integrated within McLaren Racing.

Alex Dunne’s progress in 2024 earned him a role as the Reserve and Development Driver for our Formula E team. More recently, he also made his debut in F1 machinery, driving the MCL60 at a test in Zandvoort. The Irish racer has started strongly in Formula 2 this year and proved to the team that he was ready with his performances on the simulator at the MTC.

“The more the driver progresses through the junior categories, the more we can prepare them for the next step,” Alessandro says. “We are very focused on the driver's targets, more than on the targets of the programme itself.”

In addition to time on the simulator and in previous F1 cars, the drivers also gain access to the McLaren garage when competing on an F1 Grand Prix weekend, allowing them to see how our teams work.

Alex and Ella have both visited the garage during the season and will have learnt a lot about how Lando and Oscar work with the team, from the language they use to how they study the data.

Alessandro’s long-term strategy

The Driver Development Programme is in the infancy of what Alessandro refers to as a “five-year strategy”, at the end of which, they hope to have success stories in senior racing roles across our series, and to be in an even stronger position to help the following generation.

“This is a long journey, and we are still developing our facilities, tools, and structure to become even more effective and supportive for our drivers,” Alessandro says.

“We are working on a five-year strategy for the Programme, but the target is excellence. We want drivers to think of McLaren as the best environment in which to become a successful professional driver in every category.”