17 June 2026 11:00 (UTC)
A statue of the Flying Finn was unveiled at the McLaren factory as the team came together to celebrate a historic landmark
Read time: 6 minutes
Whenever Lando pulls into his grid spot ahead of a race, he closes his eyes and takes a moment to reflect on the fact that he’s building on McLaren’s legacy. It’s when he feels most connected to the team, he says.
“We’ll never be the oldest team, but we can definitely become the most successful,” Oscar adds.
Heritage and ambition are fitting themes as Lando and Oscar stand before their McLaren teammates alongside CEO Zak Brown, Team Principal Andrea Stella and two-time World Champion Mika Häkkinen. Gathered on the Boulevard, home to six decades of Championship-winning cars and trophies, the team have come together to commemorate McLaren’s 1000th Grand Prix, achieved in the recent Monaco Grand Prix.
As part of the celebration, Lando and Oscar unveiled a bronze statue of Mika, created by renowned artist Paul Oz, honouring the Flying Finn’s Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championship-winning 1998 season. It joins statues of Bruce McLaren, James Hunt, Niki Lauda, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna, and stands alongside Mika’s title-winning MP4/13.
The event also included a Q&A with Zak, Andrea, Mika, Lando and Oscar, reflecting on their journeys with McLaren and what it means to each of them to have played a part in the team’s history. Here’s how it unfolded.
Zak Brown: Winning the Constructors' Championship in 2024 for the first time in 26 years. There have been so many proud moments along the way, including my first day on the job, showing up and walking down the Boulevard, taking in the history of this racing team and its iconic drivers. That’s my proudest moment, but in terms of results, we’re here to win, so it has to be that first Constructors' Championship.
Andrea Stella: It’s the team itself. If you listen to any interview or watch any documentary in which Bruce McLaren is talking about his vision for his team, you will see how central each and every person is. That’s what defines us, and that is what we want to carry into the future.
Zak: First of all, that it was an unbelievable turnaround. When I think of the McLaren that I grew up watching, they always had the best, most iconic racing drivers in the world - Mika, Räikkönen, Senna, Prost – and that’s what we have today as well, with Oscar and Lando. McLaren also always had the best team, with the highest standards, and they were the most determined to win. When I walked into this building 10 years ago, that wasn’t the case, but it is today, and that is thanks to everyone in this room.
We want to prevail, we want to win, and we want to beat our rivals, but it is important that we do this in our way, with our values. So I am very proud of not only what we have achieved but how we have achieved it.
When I look back on my career that is what I'll take away. Everyone’s trajectory here will be different, but I think we’re going to win a lot more races and Championships together.
Andrea: It's an incredible honour. We have a responsibility to keep filling our trophy cabinets as those before us have done. That is both honour, and immensely motivating.
Zak: More than 100 Formula 1 teams have come and gone since McLaren made its debut. We are the second-most successful team in history and the second oldest. That all comes down to the DNA Bruce McLaren instilled in this team. It is unbelievably special to work here, and it’s important for us all to take a moment to enjoy that, because we are the ones in the room at this moment in time, and we are the ones making history happen.
Mika Häkkinen: Every time here with you all, it makes me want to go back to racing! I joined McLaren 35 years ago. It was a different time, we were in a different location, it was a smaller factory, but the family feeling, the team spirit, and the determination to win was exactly the same.
Oscar Piastri: My first time here was actually in 2019 - I had a tour of the factory – when I was at the start of my single-seater career. Naturally, you always think of the cars that you grew up watching, so to see the chrome-coloured cars of the late 2000s and early 2010s on the Boulevard was incredibly special.
But then, when I walked into the factory for the first time as a McLaren driver, and I met the team, and was given my own pass, it was an even more unbelievable feeling. I always really appreciated the effort that Zak, Andrea, and everyone put into making me a part of this team. I was ecstatic just to have McLaren's interest.
I have to say, it’s been unbelievable experience so far. There have been some bumps in the road for sure, btu that is part of racing, and it is what makes the good times so good. We’re only a few years into this journey, but it’s been a real privilege. This team has so much history and that makes you want to write your own chapters. Adding to McLaren’s Constructors' Championships is something I will always be able to look back on. But there are plenty more chapters to write and more history to add.
Lando Norris: Probably when I am on the grid. That’s the moment when I am out there representing everyone in this room, under the McLaren name, trying to write history. It’s important to stop and remind yourself that you are racing for McLaren. I am one of the lucky guys in history who has been able to say that, so every single race is special. This is a pretty special moment to be in.
Oscar: It makes you want to add to their success. It adds a bit of pressure, because a lot of people have won with this team, but that’s good pressure. There is an intensity to keep winning. In my short time with this team, from us being in quite a tricky place when I joined, to climbing to the top of the mountain. Now, we want to stay there. The success in our past inspires us to go and do it again. We want more World Championships. We are the second-oldest team in Formula 1 history - we’ll never be the oldest, but we can definitely become the most successful. That’s what we are striving to do.
There aren’t many other teams that are as connected to their history as we are, and whose former drivers are still so actively involved with the team. Sitting next to Mika right now, I can’t speak for him, but I imagine that if he didn’t want to be here, he wouldn’t be. It means a lot that Mika still wants to be such a big part of this team.
Lando: Every driver who has raced for McLaren has achieved something great, so that adds pressure for any new drivers coming in, because you feel like you have to live up to them. Whether that is drivers like Senna, Prost, or Mika, or drivers like Fernando and Lewis, whom I grew up watching and am now racing against. In Barcelona last weekend, I got to share a podium with Lewis and George, and it was the first time there were three Brits on the podium since 1968. Moments like that are ones you appreciate hugely. When I was a kid watching Formula 1, I looked up Lewis. I would see him on the podium and wonder what it felt like. Now, I get to be up there with him. That’s very special.
So many of the best races in Formula 1 history involve McLaren drivers like Mika and Lewis. They’re amazing guys, not just because of what they have achieved, but because of who they are as people. For me, they set a gold standard for what we should want to be like.
Mika: Keep working hard and believing in these two guys. I have spent 35 years with McLaren, and I think what the team is doing right now is incredible. The most important thing for people to remember is that it is not individuals behind McLaren’s success, but the whole team.
Mika: Wow… Good memories! This is me in Suzuka, when I won my first World Championship, the beginning of something very special. When you spend your whole life racing, there is pressure on you to win a World Championship, and you never know whether you are going to. That day in Suzuka, before the race, I just remember thinking ‘okay, let’s do this, let’s go for it’. An amazing moment. Thank you all.
