McLaren's club of eight world champions

With Lando Norris' world championship win last weekend, McLaren has written in gold the new chapter of a story that spans more than sixty years, and which remains one of the most fascinating in the discipline.

Published 11/12/2025 à 09:00

Gautier Calmels

  Comment on this article! 4

McLaren's club of eight world champions

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Fittipaldi and Hunt, the pioneers

How could you imagine two more contrasting world champions? The first world title of McLaren Emerson Fittipaldi returned in 1974. At the start of the season, the question arose as to what the 1972 Lotus world champion was doing in this friendly little venture. The team, founded in 1963 by Bruce McLaren, had already demonstrated its ability to build cars capable of winning Grand Prix races with the M7A, M14, and M19, but it was not yet considered a major player in the sport.

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Gautier Calmels

Journalist MotoGP, Nascar, Rallye France, Endurance and Classic... Among others.

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4 Comment (s)

Yves-Henri RANDIER

12/12/2025 at 05:11 a.m.

Certainly the least charismatic and most "hard-working" of all the world champions crowned at the wheel of a McLaren! But times and F1 have changed...

A

Alain Féguenne (🇱🇺 Luxembourg)

11/12/2025 at 09:13 a.m.

Let's not forget... Lewis... 👍👍. A truly great... Champion... ‼️‼️ 😎👏👏👏👏👏👏👏 …… 👍

A

Alain Féguenne (🇱🇺 Luxembourg)

11/12/2025 at 09:08 a.m.

Fittipaldi…🇧🇷 a truly great… champion ‼️ James Hunt… Thanks to Niki… Then the return of Lauda… an exceptional champion, then naturally… one of the greatest champions of all time 🇫🇷 Alain Prost… 👍👍👍👍 then of course… Ayrton Senna… a driver… beyond compare. 🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷. Then… Mika… A double champion against Michael… 👍 And now… Lando… but with luck… against Max… !!!!! alainkf1@pt.lu Exhibition: Exceptional… Ayrton Senna Forever Galleria 610 (GRIDX) President: Ayrton Senna Memorial Club of Luxembourg 🇱🇺. Lux 🇱🇺 / Wickrange. To everyone… I can only recommend it. November 11 / May 11, 2026 🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷

V

vincent moyet

11/12/2025 at 09:25 a.m.

I still think the end of the season was generally disappointing. McLaren deserves praise for letting their two drivers battle it out, thus avoiding another predetermined season, which also allowed Verstappen's return. But the duel between the two teammates barely materialized (except for two or three races), and they didn't finish in the top two, with Piastri finding himself third behind the two remaining title contenders in the last two or three races. And above all, each of the three drivers mainly benefited from the others' successive mistakes or technical problems without ever truly putting up a fight. So overall, a well-deserved title for Norris, who proved to be the most resilient and consistent of the three despite setbacks, but no real battle at the front nor any overwhelming dominance from McLaren.

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