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McLaren recently dipped its toe into the proverbial river as the team tried to insert itself in the Lewis Hamilton versus Felipe Massa saga. The 2008 F1 season, Crashgate, and the title battle have ruffled a lot of feathers in the last few weeks. All of this is well documented already. But what wasn't realized in all of this was the role that McLaren played.
The 2008 F1 championship triumph for Lewis Hamilton was the last time McLaren brought home the title. It's been 15 years since the Woking-based squad's last title triumph. Fast forward from 2008 to 2023 and the team is a shell of itself right now. The last time the squad fought for the title was in 2012 and up until then, McLaren was a regular podium contender.
However, the true decline started a few years earlier. McLaren meant dominance in the world of F1 as it was the team to be in during the 1980s and the 1990s. What happened to that team? Why is even a podium a far cry for a team that won all but one race in 1988? Let's take a look.
McLaren's era of dominance and prosperity (1980s and 1990s)
McLaren's true peak in its journey came in the 1980s and 1990s. Ron Dennis took over the team and had a renaissance of sorts. Dennis' acumen shone through at the time as what was to follow was unprecedented. From 1984 to 1991, McLaren will drop only one driver's title (Nelson Piquet in 1987) and become the benchmark in F1.
It was during this time that legends like Niki Lauda, Alain Prost, and Ayrton Senna drove for the team and won numerous titles. It all started with Lauda's title triumph in 1984 and was followed by three titles each for Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna. The team's Marlboro livery became iconic at the time and every top driver wanted to drive for Ron Dennis.
The era also included two legendary engine partnerships with TAG-Porsche and Honda. With Honda leaving the sport at the end of 1992, the team started to struggle. Ayrton Senna left for Williams and Dennis had to build things up again with a new potential superstar in Mika Hakkinen.
It took Dennis five years to get the house in order. However, in 1997 with Mercedes as their engine partner and Hakkinen as the only possible answer to Michael Schumacher's talents, the team was ready. The Finnish driver won the title in 1998 and 1999 in cars built by a certain aero wizard named Adrian Newey.
By the end of the 1999 F1 season, McLaren was back on top!
The first sign of complacency and blip in performance (2000-2008)
The year 2000 was the beginning of the most dominant era in F1 at the time. Michael Schumacher and Ferrari worked away for five years to build the perfect team. By 2000, the team was ready and it started delivering.
The combo reeled off five championship triumphs one after another and every other team struggled to keep up. McLaren did put together a valiant fight in 2000 and 2003 but it was not a match.
It was during this time that the complacency and arrogance that had grown over two decades of success started surfacing. Whether it was Dennis missing a golden opportunity of poaching Michael Schumacher in 1995 and almost being offended by it or how Adrian Newey was mishandled within the team, something he has written about in his book.
McLaren was not the metronomic force of the 1980s or the 1990s, it was erratic and peaky. The team fought for the title in 2003 but went nowhere in 2004. The team fought for the title again in 2005 but went nowhere in 2006 as well.
To make things worse, Newey was poached by Red Bull in the coming years (and we all know how that panned out), and in 2007, the team was involved in the biggest scandal in F1. Spygate not only cost McLaren $100 million, but it also sowed the seeds for a Mercedes works team.
McLaren did win the 2008 F1 championship with Lewis Hamilton, but the consistency and the aura of brilliance were no longer there.
Complete capitulation (2009-Present)
McLaren's final step to its downfall started in 2009 with the new regulations. The remnants of the structure that had been put in place over years of hard work helped the team continue to be a frontrunner. However, when it came to being a title runner and having all the pieces fall into place, it didn't happen.
McLaren continued to become more and more susceptive to mistakes over the years and by 2012, Lewis Hamilton had lost faith in the team and moved to Mercedes. Hamilton's exit was a moment of total capitulation for the team.
While it was still a frontrunner in 2012, McLaren went back and forth between being a midfield team or a shambolic backmarker during the Honda partnership days. It's not the most sought-after team anymore and it's not a team that you'd want to join if you had title-winning aspirations.
Since 2012, McLaren has had one win and one pole position. A team that won seven driver titles in eight years at one time in F1 is nothing but a mere shadow now.
Why did this happen?
There are multiple ways in which one can be critical of McLaren, but it does appear that everything comes down to the team's lack of management skills. This is where Ron Dennis, the man who built the team's legacy, should take the blame as well.
He fumbled big time when trying to poach Michael Schumacher in the mid-1990s. Having a driver that could win with a team like Ferrari could have helped give McLaren a sustained period of success.
The mismanagement of Adrian Newey, where Dennis proved to be majorly incompetent in getting the best out of the designer, was a major flaw. Especially if we see how Newey has flourished at Red Bull and is still producing race-winning cars 15 years later.
Finally, it's hard to deny how poorly Honda was treated at McLaren during the turbo hybrid era. If the same Japanese outfit can produce one of the best power units in F1 right now, questions need to be asked about why the Woking-based squad was unable to get things done the way Red Bull has.
At the end of the day, it might be a bit of a harsh take, but McLaren's rise and fall could arguably be attributed to the same man. Ron Dennis is majorly responsible for the kind of success the team had in the 1980s and the 1990s and he was also responsible for the drastic decline that the team is going through right now.
What's next?
This is a very interesting question because F1 is going through a transitional phase at the moment. Teams like Aston Martin and Alpine have started to take steps towards the front of the grid and things are starting to get closer.
When it comes to talking about the future, the Woking-based squad might be lagging behind right now. The technical team is going through a transition as David Sanchez returns from Ferrari. The Windtunnel is still in transit and it will take some time to become fully functional. More importantly, the pressure is starting to build.
Zak Brown has been able to bring in some impressive sponsorships for the team but the on-track situation is not as pleasant. Purely in terms of the pecking order, McLaren is on the decline. It was P3 in 2020, P4 in 2021, and P5 in 2022. This season as well, it does appear that P6 might be the best it can hope for.
For a team as capable as McLaren, the next 12 months could prove to be an inflection point. Either it kicks on and starts showing improvements or it treads the same path as Williams did and regresses even further.
As a sport, it's very hard to continue to stay competitive in F1. It will be interesting to see if the Woking-based squad can turn things around and become that iconic brand again.
