Unusually among Formula One’s elite teams, McLaren has a
history of signing relatively unproven drivers. Indeed, Sergio Perez – who
joined the ranks of the illustrious British team at the start of the year in
place of the departed Lewis Hamilton – is the sixth man to join the Woking
outfit without a race win to his name in the last twenty years.
So, the question is, has McLaren’s approach paid off? There
have been stories of success and failure; a couple have gone on to have title
glory with the team, whilst others failed to make much impact at all during
their tenure at Woking. Allow me to guide you through each of them…
Michael Andretti (US)
– MISS
Career prior to McLaren: 1991 CART champion. McLaren career:
13 starts, 7 points.
On the back of his Stateside success, McLaren team boss Ron
Dennis described Andretti as one of fewer than five drivers who had the
necessary aggression to become F1 champion. Despite this show of confidence
however, numerous factors conspired to make the American’s sole season with
McLaren in 1993 little more than a disaster.
Having never raced extensively outside of his native North
America, Andretti first of all had the disadvantage of having to learn
virtually every track on the F1 calendar. Additionally, he would have to acclimatise
himself to the highly technological MP4/8, complete with systems such as active
suspension and traction control, which was poles apart from the IndyCar
machinery he had been driving for most of his career.
Admittedly, his failure to relocate to Europe hardly helped
matters, preventing him from testing as extensively as he may have done
pre-season. The net result was a series of basic errors, which, combined with
some bad luck, limited Andretti to just three points by the time Dennis decided
to terminate his contract in the late summer.
Ironically, already aware that it was his final outing in
F1, the Italian Grand Prix was by far Andretti’s best performance of the year,
charging through the field from an early spin to finish in third place and on
the podium. By that point however, it was decided that the vacated McLaren
cockpit would be occupied by a certain blonde-haired Finn for the next race….
Mika Hakkinen (FIN) –
HIT
Career prior to McLaren: 30 starts, 13 points. McLaren
career: 2 world titles, 20 wins.
Hakkinen was signed as McLaren’s test driver in 1993 on the
back of two promising seasons for Team Lotus, and with Ayrton Senna angling for
a move to Williams, a promotion to a race seat for the Finn seemed imminent.
Andretti’s lacklustre season however gave Hakkinen an early promotion to a race
seat, who wasted no time in making an impression.
Hakkinen out-qualified teammate Senna on his McLaren debut
at Estoril, and took his maiden podium finish next time out at Suzuka. Sadly,
he would have to endure relatively uncompetitive machinery for the next three
seasons, but in the meantime succeeded in making numerous teammates, not least
of all Nigel Mansell, seem rather average indeed.
Some bad luck during the 1997 season delayed Hakkinen’s
maiden race victory until the season finale at Jerez, but with McLaren doing
the best job with the new ‘narrow-track’ regulations of 1998, not even Michael
Schumacher and Ferrari could prevent Hakkinen from storming to that year’s
title. A successful title defence followed in 1999, with perennial number two
Eddie Irvine providing the stiffest opposition with Schumacher sidelined due to
injury.
A great head-to-head battle in 2000 went in Schumacher’s
favour, with Hakkinen comfortably securing the runner-up spot, but a heavy
crash in the opening round of the 2001 season set the tone for a subdued season
which transpired to be the double champion’s last. By the time Mika announced
his retirement, McLaren had nonetheless secured the services of another fast
Finn…
Kimi Raikkonen (FIN)
– HIT
Career prior to McLaren: 17 starts, 9 points. McLaren
career: 9 wins, two-time WDC runner-up
Having made the giant step up to F1 in 2001 from the
entry-level British Formula Renault series, Raikkonen proved all of his
doubters wrong with a sublime maiden season for Sauber. Hakkinen’s departure
left Ron Dennis in need of a driver, with Raikkonen getting the nod over his
more experienced teammate Nick Heidfeld to many people’s surprise.
2002 was a tough season for McLaren amid total domination by
Schumacher and Ferrari, but Raikkonen would have taken a maiden victory at
Magny-Cours if not for an oil slick. He wouldn’t have to wait long to reach the top step of the podium for the first time however, doing so at Sepang in 2003. This formed
the basis of a serious title challenge, but failing to win a race again that
year meant Raikkonen ultimately fell just short of deposing Schumacher.
2004 was a write-off as Schumacher and Ferrari returned to
their dominant ways, but the rule changes for 2005 benefited the Michelin-shod
McLaren team. Experiencing more than his fair share of unreliability, Raikkonen nonetheless just lost out to Fernando Alonso and Renault that year, and after a barren 2006 campaign
in which McLaren were off the pace, Raikkonen headed for Ferrari in 2007.
Lewis Hamilton (GB) –
HIT
Career prior to McLaren: 2006 GP2 champion. McLaren career:
1 world title, 21 wins.
It’s not often that a driver is able to make their F1 debut
for the one of the best teams on the grid, but Hamilton is among the lucky few
who have. On the back of his runaway successes in F3 and GP2, combined with
copious amounts of testing, the 22-year-old Brit was arguably a fairly low-risk
option when it came to choosing a McLaren teammate for reigning champion Alonso
in 2007.
Nobody however could have foreseen quite how close Hamilton
would get to the championship in an almost error-free rookie season, coming
within a single point of beating Raikkonen and Ferrari. In doing so, Hamilton
instantly made the team his own, with a disgruntled Alonso heading back to
Renault and the end of the year.
Now McLaren’s main focus in his sophomore season, Hamilton
snatched the title from Felipe Massa at the 59th minute of the 11th
hour at a sodden Interlagos, becoming the youngest ever champion to boot. The
new regulations for 2009 wrong-footed McLaren, costing Hamilton the chance to
defend his title, whilst Red Bull’s rise to ascendancy would put paid to his
title ambitions for the next two years.
Hamilton appeared to have the machinery to challenge for his
second title last year, but luck deserted the McLaren team on numerous
occasions, costing the English driver any real opportunity to challenge Vettel or Alonso at the end of the year. Amid that backdrop, Hamilton couldn’t resist
an offer to join Mercedes, bringing a close to a long and fruitful association
that dated all the way back to 1998.
Heikki Kovalainen
(FIN) – MISS
Career prior to McLaren: 17 starts, 30 points. McLaren
career: 1 win, 3 podiums.
With Alonso out of the McLaren picture for 2008, the Woking
team was in need of a replacement to partner Hamilton. Beating off competition
from the likes of Nico Rosberg and Ralf Schumacher, Kovalainen was deemed the
man for the job after a solid if perhaps slightly unspectacular debut season at
Renault – continuing McLaren’s tendency to hire Finnish drivers.
Kovalainen showed himself to be a capable competitor, taking
his first podium in just his second outing at Malaysia, but clearly unable to
match Hamilton’s prodigious speed. A first win came at Hungary, but only after
Massa suffered a late engine failure whilst looking certain to win, and
Kovalainen failed to beat Toro Rosso driver Vettel in the wet at Monza despite
starting alongside the young German.
Whilst Hamilton won the 2008 title, Kovalainen finished just
seventh in the standings, costing McLaren the constructors’ crown in the
process. More of the same was to come in 2009, with the Finn scoring steadily
in the latter half of the year but failing to prove himself to be of McLaren
quality. Finishing just twelfth in the standings, Kovalainen was replaced by
Jenson Button for 2010 and was forced to seek refuge with newcomers Lotus.
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