Information about McLaren - Mercedes

McLaren are one of the oldest teams still running in F1, having been founded in 1963 by driver Bruce McLaren who went on to win their first race at Spa in 1968 and achieve a second place in the Constructors' Championship. Tragically he was killed two years later while testing at Goodwood. In 1976 James Hunt took their first drivers' title, winning by a single point over Nikki Lauda. Lauda later won the title for McLaren in 1984 by half a point from Alain Prost, who in turn won it for them in 1986. From 1988 to 1991 they would dominate F1 as Prost, teaming up with the legendary Ayrton Senna rotated victory back and forth between them. It would be 10 years later before they returned to form, dominating again under severe rule change circumstances to hand Mikka Hakkinen two Drivers' Championships in a row along with a Constructors’ Championship in 1998. In 2000 and 2001 they finished second in both titles behind Ferrari, but managed only third in the Constructors' in 2002 and 2003, with promising new star Kimi Raikkonen only just missing out on the Drivers’ Championship to Michael Schumacher at the last race of the season. 2004 was a season to forget and a poor start to the season in 2005 over reliability problems meant their ‘fastest' car on the track’ – provided by Mercedes who had re-entered F1 after a lengthy self-imposed absence – meant they couldn't quite catch Renault for either title and settled for second in both. 2006 proved a disappointing season for them, finishing a distance third as Ferrari and Renault raced away as the main rival contenders. Poor reliability meant finishing winless for the first time in 10 years, compounded by the mid-season departure of Montoya. This however paled next to the disappointment of seeing a potential double disappear late in the season as they were disqualified from the Constructors’ Title after a spying scandal erupted with Ferrari. They had a runaway lead at the time and also suffered a highly public rift with reigning champion Fernando Alonso, who accused them of favouritism towards rookie driver Lewis Hamilton who stunned everyone by leading the Drivers’ championship most the season. In the end both drivers lost out in the final race to Kimi Raikkonen who benefitted from some bad luck suffered by McLaren. Hamilton finished second overall and Alonso third. The Spaniard subsequently left the team to return to Renault swapping seats with Heikki Kovalainen. They will be going head to head with Ferrari in 2008, given slighly lesser odds by the bookies for both titles.

Base: Woking, UK
Drivers: Lewis Hamilton (UK) and Heikki Kovalainen (FIN), (test drivers: P. De la Rosa, G Paffett).

Lewis Hamilton: made his debut in 2007 having been groomed by McLaren for more than 10 years. The Briton became F1’s first full time black driver and had made an impressive rise through motor racing, winning the GP2 Championship at his first attempt in 2006, immediately being invited thereafter to test for this team. He dominated the F3 Euroseries in 2005 and finished fifth overall in 2004. Also won the Formula Renault series in 2003. By the end of the year he had stunned the racing world by almost winning the title on his debut, losing out only to an unfortunate run of bad luck in the final race during a three way title dash with teammate Fernando Alonso and eventual winner Kimi Raikkonen. He consistently finished on the podium and lead the points chase for most the season but became embroiled in a team favouritism fight with Alonso. All eyes will be on him to pull it off in 2008, and with his cool head and killer instinct much is expected of his F1 career.

Statistics
Date of Birth: 21 July 1981
First Grand Prix win: Canadian GP 2007
Number of Grand Prix driven: 17
Grand Prix wins: 4
Pole positions: 6
Podiums: 12
Career points: 109

Heikki Kovalainen: a 2007 rookie, he stepped into Alonso's empty seat after being the official third driver in 2006 at Renault, only to swap seats with him for 2008 after Alonso fell out with McLaren and wanted to return. Previously he was one of the team's test drivers and finished runner up to Nico Rosberg in the 2005 GP2 Series. He has also won the Nissan World Series and been rookie of the year in the British Formula Three series (2002). He had a very promising debut, finishing seventh overall, consistently in the points with a second place in Japan. Behind the wheel of the McLaren and up against the Ferraris he will find the pressure much greater in 2008 but is likely to be a front-runner.

Statistics
Date of Birth: 19 December 1981
Career points: 30
First Grand Prix win: none
Number of Grand Prix driven: 17
Grand Prix wins: 0
Pole positions: none 6 (x3)
Podiums: 1

Technical details and statistics:
Chassis: MP4-24
Engine: Mercedes-Benz FO 108V
Tyres: Bridgestone
First Season: 1966
World championships: 8
Highest race finish (number of times): 1 (156)
Pole positions: 133
Official web-site: http://www.mclaren.net

note: Statistics up to the end of 2007 season