Later in his career, Alain Prost became ‘Le Professeur’ for his studious approach to racing, but when he was first paired with Niki Lauda at McLaren, the Austrian was the thinker and Alain the young charger. Niki narrowly won the battle in 1984, but by 1985, Prost had all the tools to exceed his mentor.

Alain went into the Italian Grand Prix with a slender three-point lead over Ferrari’s Michele Alboreto, but had his work cut out at Ferrari’s home turf. The beautiful MP4/2B was well down on Qualifying pace but Alain was supreme on the Sunday, coming through the field from P5 to win by a healthy 51 seconds. It broke Ferrari, who suffered a torrid end to the season and allowed Alain to run away with the title in the final four rounds. Niki retired at the end of the season, but the baton had been passed. Alain went on to greater glory… though he had another tough team-mate on the way.

Our final years in red and white saw a decline in results as the search for a competitive engine partner had left the team chopping and changing every season… but things started looking up when we linked up with Mercedes in 1995, and the team began to return to the podium on a regular basis.

It was at Suzuka in 1996 that a red and white-coloured MP4 raced for the final time, a fitting finale given the livery’s famous – and infamous – history in Japan. Mika Häkkinen ensured the era ended with a trophy, finishing third after a typically gutsy drive that held the promise of the great days to come – albeit in a sequence of McLarens that would look very different. When we think of the era of the Flying Finn, it’s always tinged with silver – but it started in red and white.

More than five years on from Ayrton Senna’s first McLaren victory, the legend of the red-and-white cars was firmly established, but our team’s fortunes had begun to wane. Yet, it was in this season, Ayrton's last with McLaren, that he secured what is possibly the greatest of his 41 victories.

Ayrton won five times in his McLaren swansong season, but his victory on a miserably wet day at Donington Park in the European Grand Prix stands out above the rest. Racing in the English Midlands on Easter Sunday, the weather was predictably dire: winter temperatures, dark clouds, heavy showers – but those huddled in the grandstands were privileged to see Ayrton deliver perhaps the greatest first lap in F1 history. It started badly as he fell from P4 to P5 off the line, but he then overtook Michael Schumacher through Redgate, Karl Wendlinger around the outside at the Craner Curves, Damon Hill at McLean’s, and Alain Prost into the Melbourne Hairpin. Aryton made five stops during the race and won by nearly a minute and a half. Mesmeric.

Is 1988’s MP4/4 the best F1 car? Writing in 2024, there are a couple of other contenders, but with 15 victories from 16 races, it’s certainly in the conversation. McLaren dominated in 1988, and virtually any race could be used to illustrate its authority, but the second round of the season has a special place in our hearts…

The 1988 San Marino Grand Prix marked the first of many, many victories for McLaren by arguably our greatest driver, Ayrton Senna. Ayrton and Alain Prost locked out the front row, with the Brazilian on pole, 3.352s ahead of reigning World Champion Nelson Piquet, down in third. That level of dominance continued into the race, and, at the flag, Ayrton and Alain, two seconds apart, were the only cars on the lead lap. A historic era had begun…  

This is less about where John Watson and Niki Lauda finished, more about where they started. Wearing different tyres to their rivals, the McLaren drivers were slow in both Qualifying sessions and lined up 22nd and 23rd, respectively. The tyres that didn’t work in Qualifying looked much better on Sunday, and the two MP4/1Cs scythed through the field. They were running one-two by Lap 45 of the 75-lap race and Watty’s victory remains the F1 record for winning from furthest back.

It had been nearly 10 years since our first Constructors’ title, and Niki had been surprisingly coaxed out of retirement with the optimism of winning a second. Although he finished second in Long Beach, Niki had already won races following his return in ’82 and this one-two – only McLaren’s second one-two finish, coming 15 years after their first – showed our potential to dominate. More would follow, with Niki leading the charge.