9 November 2023 15:30 (UTC)
Take a look at the cars our team will be sporting in Sonoma this weekend
This weekend, McLaren Racing will take to the track in Sonoma, California, for , one of the premier annual events for car enthusiasts around the world. The event hosts an unparalleled lineup of the rarest cars in the world, where attendees will see modern hypercars, historic Formula 1 cars, popular vintage racing groups and more in the paddock and on the track.
McLaren Racing drivers Lando Norris, Pato O’Ward, Alexander Rossi, David Malukas, Tanner Foust, Tony Kanaan and CEO Zak Brown will help show off nine iconic cars from McLaren’s history. Each car represents significant moments, from world championships to key turning points in technical innovation. The six drivers and Zak will rotate between driving the cars throughout the weekend.
Here, we take a look at the cars our team will be sporting in Sonoma this weekend and why they’re so meaningful.
The M7C-1 was a one-off chassis designed by Gordon Coppuck and driven in Formula 1 in 1969. It was first driven by the team’s founder, Bruce McLaren, who debuted the car at Silverstone in a non-championship event.
The M7C-1 later delivered podiums in championship events at Barcelona (P2), Silverstone (P3) and Nurburgring (P3).
The car in which Bruce tragically lost his life. During a test at Goodwood in 1970, our founder drove out of the pits for the last time in the M8D, never to return.
Our founder's untimely death inspired McLaren to one of their greatest Can-Am triumphs in this car, winning nine races from just 10 rounds, with Bruce's teammate Denny Hulme dominantly clinching the title.
The car was an evolution of the 1969 McLaren M8B, with its outlawed high wing replaced a by a lower version integrated into the rear bodywork. This new look of the wings earned it the “Batmobile” nickname.
The M23-5, built for Emerson Fittipaldi to drive in the 1974 season, was used in five consecutive seasons by McLaren Racing. Introduced in the 1973 season, the wedge-shaped, “angular” car took some of its design inspiration from the M16 in our INDYCAR program and the Lotus 72 F1 car.
The M23 model was made famous in 1974 when it won McLaren’s first World Championship, This was followed by a second title in the M23 in 1976, at the hands of James Hunt. A total of 13 M23 cars were built between 1973-77, and all but one remaining.
Driven by Hunt in the 1977 season, the M26-2 was the first F1 car to use aluminium honeycomb sandwich construction for the monocoque, which became standard practice in the “wing car” era a couple of years later.
Hunt drove the M26-2 to wins at Silverstone and Watkins Glen in 1977, while he also drove a sister model of the car to a race win at Mount Fuji.
Used in one of the most dominant F1 seasons in McLaren’s history, the MP4/2-1 was driven by Niki Lauda and Alain Prost in 1984.
The MP4/2 won 12 of the 16 races that season, seven by Prost and five by Lauda. Despite winning fewer races, it was Lauda who clinched the Drivers' Championship with a second place finish in Estoril, winning by just half a point. McLaren managed four one-two finishes in 1984 with this car.
An upgraded version of our legendary title-winning 1984 car, 1985's MP4/2B-3 won six races at the hands of Prost and Lauda, as the former won the Drivers' Championship.
This chassis began as an MP4/2 in 1984 but was converted to this model to serve as both a test and race car. In all, only six MP4/2-MP4/2B models were built and all remain.
The MP4/6-10 has the distinction of being the last car to win a World Championship and a Grand Prix with a manual stick shift transmission.
Driven by Ayrton Senna and Gerhard Berger, the MP4/6-10 powered eight race wins in the 1991 season, seven by Senna. The MP4/6-10 was the first and only V12 engine to win an F1 Championship.
Mika Häkkinen and David Coulthard took the reigns of the MP4/14A-04 in 1999, which scored the second of Häkkinen's two straight Drivers' World Championships. The MP4/14A was an evolutionary development of the MP4/13A concept that Häkkinen had operated in the 1998 season.
The MP4/14A won seven races in 1999, and this particular chassis was used in the title-clinching race in Suzuka, in which Häkkinen led from start to finish.
The MP4/23A-05 - known for its spectacular chrome livery - suceeded 2007's MP4/22A, which had been driven by Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton, both narrowly missing out on the title by one point.
Heikki Kovalainen replaced Alonso for 2008 as Hamilton's teammate and the pairing drove the car to six wins and 13 podiums. Hamilton won the Drivers' Championship by one point on the last lap in final race of the year in Brazil.
