JUNE 10, 2008

Forty years of winning for McLaren

Monday was the 40th anniversary of McLaren's first Grand Prix victory, although Bruce McLaren did win the non-championship Race of Champions prior to his victory at Spa on June 9 1968. Forty years on the team had little to celebrate at the Canadian Grand Prix, with Lewis Hamilton not only crashing out of the race but also being landed with a 10-place grid penalty that will hurt his race in France in two weeks.

Monday was the 40th anniversary of McLaren's first Grand Prix victory, although Bruce McLaren did win the non-championship Race of Champions prior to his victory at Spa on June 9 1968. Forty years on the team had little to celebrate at the Canadian Grand Prix, with Lewis Hamilton not only crashing out of the race but also being landed with a 10-place grid penalty that will hurt his race in France in two weeks.

In the course of the four decades of F1 racing, McLaren has started 637 Grands Prix and won 158 races. The team has collected eight Formula 1 Constructors™ World Championships and Drivers™ titles and has employed a total of 47 drivers from 18 different nations.

Back in 1968 the team had fewer than 30 people, but two of the originals are still there: Tyler Alexander, who was once a shareholder in the team, works as a systems engineer today while Ray Rowe continues to build gearboxes. Today there are 1115 people working at Woking, Brixworth and in Stuttgart.