Mclaren

McLaren is one of the oldest teams on the Formula 1 circuit and since the time they have been formed, the most successful. But the going has not been exactly the easiest over the last few years.

Founded in 1963 by Bruce McLaren, they have won 11 Drivers' Championship titles and 8 Constructors' titles. Their most successful years have been 1974, 84, 85, 88, 89, 90, 91 and 98 when they won both titles in the same year. Over the years, McLaren has employed some of the best drivers of their times including Denny Hulme in the late 1960s, Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost and Gerhard Berger in the 1980s and Mika Hakkinen in the later part of the '90s.

The MP4 chassis of the McLaren F1 team that has been in use for almost 25 years now came about when a struggling team known as Project 4, sponsored by Marlboro was brought together with the McLaren team. At the time (in the early 1980s), McLaren had funds and a set up to nurture a good team while Project 4 had a good engine, designer and a new concept of fibre-glass body but no money. The term MP4 in fact stands for "Marlboro Project 4" but has over the years been conveniently dubbed as "McLaren Project 4".

The last season was a bit of an up and down one for them. They were always in contention and near the top of the pack, but lack of reliability prevented them from going any further. For the first time in ten years, McLaren failed to win a race through the season. But hopes are high for 2007 with the signing of Fernando Alonso and the new Mercedes engine.

Team Boss: Ron Dennis

Races: 627

Race Wins: 153

Constructor's Championships: 8

Engine: Mercedes V8 FO 108T

Chassis: MP4-22 - McLaren

Suspension: Koni

Brakes: Carbon discs

Tyres: Bridgestone

Transmission: Semi-auto 7 speeds

Other:
Engine power: Over 18,500 rpm
GearBox: 7-speed unit + reverse
Weight: 605 kgs (including driver, camera and ballast)
Dimensions: Approx. 4800 mm x 1800 mm x 950 mm
Valves: 4 valves per cylinder; pneumatic valve system
Total displacement: -


Team Personnel:
Team manager: Ron Dennis
Designer: Mike Coughlan
Chief engineer: Norbert Haug
Drivers: Fernando Alonso (Spain), Lewis Hamilton (Great Britain)
Test drivers: Pedro de la Rosa, Gary Paffett

We made Ferrari look good says McLaren boss

McLaren boss Ron Dennis believes that a poor weekend from his team at Magny-Cours made Ferrari appear faster than they actually were.

Ferrari drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa finished first and second respectively in Sunday's French Grand Prix and the Italian team have welcomed the result as a sign that recent technical upgrades have significantly improved their pace.

However, Dennis does not believe that Ferrari have gained a speed advantage over his team who will now look to reassert themselves in next weekend's British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

"We flattered them [Ferrari] this weekend," said Dennis. "They did a good job, and probably improved the car a little bit. But we made them look a lot better than they were. Hopefully, we will demonstrate that at Silverstone."

McLaren never found the ideal set-up for the idiosyncrasies of the Magny-Cours circuit and were also hindered by Spaniard Fernando Alonso starting tenth on the grid after suffering a gearbox problem in qualifying.

Alonso could only recover to finish seventh and his British rookie teammate Lewis Hamilton finished third, half a minute behind the Ferraris.

But as Hamilton remains top of the driver's championship and McLaren are 25 points clear in the constructor's standings, Dennis is not too disheartened by Ferrari's French dominance.

"Overall, it was damage limitation from beginning to end," he said, reflecting on the weekend's events.

"Obviously we're delighted that Kimi won over Massa. It means he is only a couple of points closer to Lewis, and didn't close the gap that much, even on Fernando.

"If this is going to be our worst race then we'll be comfortable with that. And if we hadn't had such good races before, we wouldn't be where we are in the world championship. So we've got to put it down to the fact you can't win every race, and this is one we didn't win.

"But we've won here previously, and there is no reason that we can't win at Silverstone. You know, as history has shown, when you have got a good lead in the world championship, you have got to be pragmatic about your races.

"Lewis did a really solid job at finishing third. It's his eighth podium position, and there is no luck that gives you that sort of result. For me, I loved Fernando's fight; I think he was fighting from beginning to end, and he got the most out of a difficult situation. And that's motor racing."