It was in the 1968 Formula 1 season when we first started locking horns with Ferrari, but it wasn’t until 1974 that we both had cars capable of regularly winning races. A fast-developing British team taking on the might of the magical Italian Scuderia was immensely appealing to fans, as McLaren’s Emerson Fittipaldi and Ferrari’s Niki Lauda dominated at the front of the field.

Niki was still maturing, however. He won in Spain and Holland, but fell from the reckoning after some youthful errors. Emerson, Brazil’s experienced trailblazer, thus found himself facing Ferrari’s grisled veteran Clay Regazzoni as the title fight came down to the US GP. For the first time in history, two title contenders went into the finale on equal points... While James Hunt and Hesketh battled the Brabhams of Carlos Reutemann and Carlos Pace for victory, fourth was enough for Emerson as Ferrari faded from contention due to handling difficulties. Emerson was crowned World Champion for the second time, and his drive secured a first Constructors’ Championship for McLaren. To have beaten Enzo Ferrari’s legendary team was to have beaten the best.

In 1975, the fight continued, McLaren won three races and Ferrari six, as the Italians reclaimed the Championship through Niki. The die was cast, and the following year it intensified…

Was there ever a more dramatic, Hollywood-style, season than 1976?

When James Hunt stepped into Emerson Fittipaldi's vacated McLaren M23, he and a fully matured Niki Lauda, now a World Champion with Ferrari, went head-to-head. James proved his mettle immediately. He and Niki had been friends since their Formula 3 days, but they were rivals too, and fans quickly engaged with their battle. James was the flamboyant playboy, Niki was candid and cool, and so pragmatic he was like a computer. Fire versus ice.

In a topsy-turvy season, the luck initially ran with Niki, as James was disqualified from victory in Spain then reinstated, only to lose another win, at home, to the rule makers. Then Niki crashed violently in Germany, and James maximised his two-race absence. They went into the rain-swept Japanese finale separated by just three points. Drivers agreed to do two laps, then pit, but only Niki, Emerson and Carlos Pace did. James, adrenaline surging, drove the race of his life, taking third place, sufficient to beat Niki by a point. Except, James initially argued with team boss Teddy Mayer, believing he had fallen short of the title. He felt so beleaguered by the season-long arguments with officialdom that it wasn’t until very late in the evening that he was finally persuaded to believe he was World Champion.

A year later, Niki regained his crown as James suffered from poor reliability, although he still managed to match Niki’s three victories.

Ferrari won Constructors’ titles in 1982 and ’83, but McLaren dominated in 1984 as Niki Lauda and new signing Alain Prost won 12 of the 16 races. The remarkable strength and forward thinking of the now-Ron Dennis-run McLaren was becoming fully apparent. After Niki won his third title by half a point, Alain continued the success in 1985 to be crowned France’s first F1 World Champion, a feat he repeated in 1986.

He was sufficiently confident to welcome Ayrton Senna in 1988, thus ushering in an era of McLaren dominance over Ferrari and the rest of the field – a period widely regarded as one of the greatest chapters in F1's history. Ayrton knew that if he was to be regarded as the world’s best, he had to beat Alain, and their rivalry was intense. '88 remains our most successful season, with the team winning all bar one of the 16 races. The title fight was an intrateam affair, decided at Suzuka, when Ayrton came from behind to beat Alain and win his first World Championship.

In 1989, it was Alain’s turn, as the intensity of their rivalry captivated fans and elevated F1 to the front pages. In the end, Woking wasn’t big enough for the both of them, and as Alain switched to Ferrari, McLaren’s long-standing battle with the Italian team was reactivated yet again. Honours were evenly split as the two went head-to-head, until a collision in the first corner at the season finale in Suzuka settled things in Ayrton’s favour.

After several years of watching Williams and Benetton trade titles between them, by 1998, we were again going wheel-to-wheel with our old rival. Now it was Mika Häkkinen taking on Michael Schumacher, and even Ferrari acknowledged that over a single lap the Finn was faster.

After a difficult period in the early-to-mid nineties, a switch to Mercedes power had seen us progress quickly. Victories for David Coulthard and Mika book-ended the 1997 season and we felt ready to take on Ferrari the following year. Mika won seven races, DC one and Schumacher six, but a surprise win for Ferrari in Monza had brought them within 10 points of our Constructors’ Championship lead and the fight went to the wire in Suzuka. This was the first time that Mika had faced such a situation, but calming advice from veteran Race Engineer Tyler Alexander to “just keep doing what you do,” was the balm he needed. Mika won to clinch our eighth and most recent Constuctors' title, and his first.

Their fight continued into the following season as Mika won the Drivers’ title again in 1999, before Schumacher took the honours in 2000. Their rivalry was perhaps best illustrated at Spa in '00 when, having been compromised early in the race, Mika recovered to pull off the most dazzling overtake going up to Les Combes. Locked in a three-way battle, as Schumacher went to the left, Mika dived right, passing Ricardo Zonta’s BAR to grab the lead and snatch victory. Even Michael was impressed.

Racing is a cyclical affair, and by the time Michael Schumacher retired at the end of 2006, Fernando Alonso had emerged as F1’s newest star, winning two Championships with Renault. He joined McLaren for 2007 to fight Ferrari’s new driver pairing, Kimi Räikkönen and Felipe Massa, the former having joined from McLaren. But rookie Lewis Hamilton was also immensely fast in the other McLaren. As he and Alonso battled one, Kimi emerged triumphant in the final race, beating them by a single point.

In 2008, Hamilton - paired with new teammate Heikki Kovalainen - spearheaded the fight once again, and in a gripping year, fortunes pivoted back and forth. He won six races, but a penalty in the Belgian GP dropped him to third. Their fight came down to the season finale in Brazil, where Hamilton had lost to Kimi the previous year. In a wet but drying encounter, Massa won - to the delight of the home crowd – and secured the Constructors’ Championship for Ferrari. For 38 seconds after crossing the Chequered Flag, he was also the World Champion, with Hamilton one position down on where he needed to be, to win the Drivers’ title. However, in the very last corner of the very last race of the year, Hamilton lunged past Timo Glock’s struggling Toyota to grab the fifth place he needed to become the champion. The televised scenes captured in the respective garages remain one of motor racing’s most poignant moments, and it was somehow apposite that the competition between McLaren and Ferrari had created it.

Whilst we worked on a crucial upgrade that would bring the MCL38 to its intended 2024 specification, Ferrari began the season as the team best able to fight against Red Bull, who themselves were on the back of three Constructors’ titles in a row.

Once the update had been installed for Miami, it transformed us into a winning force, allowing Lando to fight for and clinch his first F1 victory that same race. By mid-season, we were on a trajectory that would see us take the lead of the Constructors’ standings after Azerbaijan. Lando had notched a second victory in Zandvoort, whilst Oscar won for the first time at Hungaroring and then again in Baku. Another win for Lando, in Singapore, consolidated our position.

However, in what will go down as one of F1’s most exciting recent seasons, major upgrades for Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull in the second half of the season saw each emerge as regular race winners. All claimed multiple victories, but only Ferrari lasted the course, and we went into a title-deciding season finale with a 21-point advantage over our old foes.  

Lando and Oscar locked out the front row, and although Oscar was taken out of contention on the opening corner by Max Verstappen, Lando controlled the race ahead of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc. His fourth win, our sixth of the season, sealed us our first Constructors’ title in 26 years.