McLaren’s history of changing the game can be traced back to our F1 debut at the 1966 Monaco Grand Prix, when the M2B ran in a white livery with a green central stripe, and not the green and silver it ‘should’ have been running. At that point, teams still ran in their national colours: blue for France, red for Italy, green for Britain, white/silver for Germany and so on.

Bruce, however, eschewed convention and did not run in the colours of New Zealand, having done a deal with movie director John Frankenheimer to have the McLaren car double as the fictional Yamura of Tim Randolph (as played by 1961 World Champion, Phil Hill). Going forward, the way F1 cars look became very different. As for McLaren’s famous papaya, that started in 1967 with the team’s Can-Am programme, having been chosen, in part, on the basis it might stand out better on black and white TV.

Formula 1 was an early adopter of carbon composite materials. The lightweight-but-strong material seems a perfect fit for a sport where weight-saving really is everything. Carbon fibre components began to appear in the 1970s but McLaren were the first to take that to its logical conclusion and introduce the first carbon fibre monocoque.

The tub, forerunner of the modern survival cells, was introduced on 1981’s MP4 (later renamed the MP4/1). The use of carbon was partially inspired by the team’s engineers visiting Rolls-Royce to see the carbon materials used in the RB211 jet engine. The science was so new to F1 that the first units were made for McLaren in America – because we didn’t have the autoclaves.

We’re still pushing the boundaries of the technology, with the MCL60 becoming the first F1 car to feature recycled carbon fibre as we push to make the sport more sustainable.

F1 cars have two pedals, they used to have three pedals – and David Coulthard’s briefly had four. Brake steer was a novel concept invented by McLaren to allow the drivers to balance out understeer, braking only the inside rear wheel at the appropriate corners. The system was initially tested by Mika Häkkinen – because Mika used a hand-clutch, and that made for more space in the footwell for a third pedal. Impressed by Mika’s pace, David followed suit, and hence the four-pedal MP4/12.

It hadn’t been a priority for the team, but a relatively simple installation made it an end-of-day test item after everything else on the list had been completed. Eyebrows were raised when the new gizmo propelled Mika half a second quicker. 

Neil Oatley, a long-time McLaren Chief Designer recalls it being one of the more straightforward developments the team has ever delivered. “It was an incredibly simple system – a few hundred pounds’ worth of parts really!"

The team used it in 1997 without attracting much attention, setting the car up with more oversteer, which could be balanced out by using the fiddle brake in whichever direction the majority of corners went. However, at the beginning of 1998, when the MP4/13 came out of the blocks quicker than anything else. Protests inevitably followed and the system was removed – though we still won both championships.  

When 2010's MP4-25 was unveiled, it had some… unusual features. Internally, this was project RW80… but it had a rather more popular name in the outside world.

The F-duct was a one-season wonder: it raced in 2010, and was banned for 2011. The system stalled the rear wing, reducing drag and thereby increasing top speed. Air flow from the airbox above the driver was directed along the shark-fin engine cover, exiting where it would disrupt airflow around the rear flap, effectively detaching the upper and lower airflow. The system got around the thorny ‘moveable aerodynamic device’ prohibition by having it operated by the driver blocking a cockpit vent with his elbow.

“We came up with the idea in late-2009, and it evolved through the Autumn,” recalls Neil. “We had some ideas about stalling the rear wing, and that led into what became the F-duct."

It's sometimes been stated that the F-duct was the forerunner of DRS. The aim – stalling the rear wing to improve straight-line speed – is certainly the same, but a stronger link is tough to demonstrate conclusively. “There wasn’t really any mention of a DRS until the first race of 2010, at which point it evolved fairly quickly over the following months,” recalls Neil. “The F-duct had been seen at that point so it’s possible it influenced the discussion – but it’s difficult to really be sure about that.”

Innovation hasn’t slowed down in the modern era – but perhaps the direction of travel has changed to suit the times. Regulations regarding geometry and materials science make it more difficult to show up with something ground-breaking – but around the margins, the white heat of technology is still central to the F1 experience.

In 2020, McLaren became the first team to create a seat from renewable textile fibres. The seat, with flax fibres replacing the usual carbon composites, debuted on the MCL35. The flax itself is a carbon-neutral crop, and constructing a seat with the material reduces its eco-footprint by 75 per cent. At end-of-life it can be either ground down and reused, or thermally recycled with no residue. It’s not a technological avenue that would have occurred to Bruce McLaren – but we’d like to think he’d have approved of its elegance.

It is technologies like the flax seat, and the use of recycled carbon that strongly indicate the direction of travel for F1 innovation. “The regulations are going to push teams to adopt more environmental technology and how best we adapt will be a focus for the future,” says Neil.

“As we come more into the present, teams are more and more hemmed-in by regulations, and the innovation becomes a question of how best to exploit the constraints within those regulations, rather than inventing something new. Innovation at the green end of the spectrum is a good example.”

Where else is F1 going to fight its off-track battles in the coming years? Neil’s career at McLaren stretches back 37 years and in that time, he’s witnesses many technological trends and regulation reboots. “Where is F1 going in the medium-term? I think the cars in 2024 are very difficult to drive, very sensitive. I think building cars that are more driver-friendly is going to be important. I think the 2026 regs are going to see a sea-change in how cars are operated and driven. Whether that’s a good or bad thing, we’ll have to wait and see!”