McLaren F1 Drivers Championship Wins

McLaren Racing is a British motorsport team that competes as the McLaren F1 Racing team for the 2025 season. It was founded by Bruce McLaren in 1963, and the team won its first Grand Prix at the Belgian Grand Prix in 1968. With its first taste of success, the team has gone on to win 192 races with 12 drivers’ championship titles. In 1981, McLaren appointed Ron Dennis as the team principal and brought about the most successful era in McLaren’s F1 history.

Legendary drivers such as Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost, along with Niki Lauda, won seven drivers' championships and six constructors' championships during that period. The last drivers' championship was won in 1999 by Mika Hakkinen. McLaren did not win the title for the next nine years until Lewis Hamilton won it again in 2008.

McLaren F1 Drivers Championship Wins

The very first taste of championship success was achieved by Emerson Fittipaldi in 1974 for McLaren. He won three races out of 15 but embraced every podium finish throughout the season. In 1976, James Hunt won his first and only driver’s championship title from Ferrari’s defending champion Niki Lauda by just one point. The golden era of McLaren’s history came in the early 1980s when Niki Lauda won his third title, followed by the Prost-Senna era.

Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna were the dominant force. Both drivers won the driver's title for the second time with the team. This rivalry came to an end after 1998 when new rookie Mika Häkkinen won the drivers championship two times in a year, from 1998 to 1999.

Given below is the list of specific years of McLaren F1 Championship winners.