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McLaren’s most memorable wins after Lando Norris scores team’s 200th victory

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McLaren have marked their 200th Grand Prix victory, making them only the second team in Formula 1 history to achieve the monumental milestone.

The team have dominated the 2025 F1 season, with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri taking a combined 11 wins from the first 14 races.

There has been just one race this year where a McLaren did not appear on the podium, the Canadian Grand Prix, which was won by George Russell.

Despite starting in third place, Piastri was unable to fend off an overtake from Kimi Antonelli during the starting lap, and later contact with his teammate Norris on lap 67 of 70. This saw the Aussie fail to reclaim his position from the Mercedes.

With the team showing an impressive performance in 2025, it’s expected that there will be more wins for McLaren before the final race in Abu Dhabi in December.

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri smile whilst holding the 2025 Hungarian Grand Prix winning constructors' trophy after finishing first and second respectively
Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images

Lando Norris marks McLaren’s 200th Grand Prix win with ‘perfect’ Hungarian race strategy

Lando Norris claimed McLaren’s 200th win at the 2025 Hungarian Grand Prix after being the only driver in the leading pack to risk a one-stop strategy.

The Hungaroring Circuit is notoriously challenging on tyres, due to its amount of low-speed cornering and usually higher temperatures. Because of this, most teams opted for a two-stop strategy, including pole-sitter Charles Leclerc, second-place Piastri and Mercedes’ George Russell.

Norris initially lost his third-place starting position into Turn 1, being overtaken by Russell and Fernando Alonso, after attempting to cut down the inside of his teammate to take second. The Brit was offered a one-stop strategy with the hopes of bringing him back into contention for the win, a decision which paid off for Norris.

Piastri managed to catch his teammate with a handful of laps remaining, before making a late lunge for the win on the penultimate lap. Unfortunately for the Aussie, he locked his tyres into Turn 1, resulting in him backing off and settling for second place.

McLaren have been criticised for the mixed strategy calls, whilst in such a tight championship battle, but team principal Andrea Stella has since made an ‘outright’ rule that could impact their drivers’ strategy calls for the remainder of the season.

Bruce McLaren holds up the winner's floral bouquet after taking his first F1 victory at Spa Francorchamps for the Grand Prix of Belgium
Photo by Bernard Cahier/Getty Images

McLaren’s first victory taken by team founder Bruce in Belgium

After making their debut at the 1966 Monaco Grand Prix, it took team founder Bruce McLaren two years to claim the team’s maiden victory. McLaren had already taken three previous F1 victories with Cooper in 1959 (USA GP), 1960 (Argentine GP) & 1962 (Monaco GP), before founding McLaren in 1953.

McLaren had worked closely with mentor Jack Brabham at Cooper and hoped to follow in his footsteps and become the third driver to take a win in a car designed by themselves – Dan Gurney being the only other driver to have achieved the feat in that time.

McLaren had qualified sixth for the 1968 Belgian Grand Prix, but a number of retirements from the leading pack had seen him move up the order during the 28-lap race. Jackie Stewart in the Matra-Ford Cosworth looked sure to win the race after taking the lead on lap 12.

But disaster struck on the penultimate lap when the Scotsman’s car ran out of fuel and he was forced into the pits on the final lap. McLaren started the final lap in a tight duel with BRM’s Pedro Rodriguez, who he’d been fighting with all race.

Both drivers crossed the line thinking they were in second and third, not knowing that Stewart had been forced to pit and lost the lead.

McLaren claimed his fourth grand prix victory and the first for the McLaren team as a constructor, although this would be his final and only win with his own car.

Alain Prost claims McLaren’s 50th win in 1986

One of McLaren’s most decorated drivers, Alain Prost, brought the team their 50th victory during the 1986 Monaco Grand Prix. Prost had taken the world champion title with McLaren the year before and had already won the previous grand prix in San Marino before F1 headed to Monaco.

Prost displayed a dominant performance, leading the pack from the start and opening a gap of 25 seconds to second-place Keke Rosberg by the end of the race.

The victory was Prost’s 15th of 30 race wins for McLaren during his six-year career with the team, making him the second most decorated McLaren driver behind Ayrton Senna.

Ayrton Senna celebrates after the 1993 Brazilian Grand Prix
Photo by Paul-Henri Cahier/Getty Images

McLaren’s most decorated driver takes iconic 100th win for the team

It took McLaren just seven more years to claim their 100th Grand Prix victory, with the landmark win being taken by Ayrton Senna at his home race in 1993. The Brazilian is McLaren’s most decorated driver, with 35 victories during his six seasons with the team.

On lap 25 of a dramatic 71 lap race, Senna was handed a stop-go penalty for lapping a backmarker under yellow flag conditions, pushing him down into fourth. Heavy rain appeared during the race, seeing race leader Prost, who had opted not to pit for wet tyres, crashing into Emerson Fittipaldi, taking them both out of the race.

When the sun came out, the track began to dry rapidly, and every driver opted for slick tyres. Senna seized the opportunity to overtake Damon Hill soon after the pitstops, to take the lead and eventually bring home his second race win in front of a home crowd.

Fernando Alonso holds up the winner's trophy for the 2007 Monaco Grand Prix
Photo by Paul Gilham/Getty Images

Two-time reigning world champion takes McLaren’s 150th victory

It took McLaren over a decade to take their 150th victory from Senna’s iconic 100th in 1993, with Fernando Alonso claiming the win during his first season with the team.

Alonso joined McLaren at the start of 2007, following two back-to-back world championship wins with Renault in 2005 and 2006.

The Spaniard took his second win of the season, McLaren’s 150th at the 2007 Monaco Grand Prix. Alonso dominated the race, taking pole position, the fastest lap and the win.

Alonso and Hamilton, in the other McLaren, dominated the race, finishing first and second, with a shocking gap of 1 minute 9 seconds to Felipe Massa’s Ferrari in third.

Lewis Hamilton’s maiden Formula 1 win and other memorable McLaren victories

McLaren have seen 22 of their drivers stand on the top step of the podium from the 984, with many memorable moments coming from their 200 grand prix victories.

Senna took his first win at the Brazilian Grand Prix in 1991. The three-time world champion was driving with a failing gearbox that had left him with only sixth gear during rainy weather. Despite the difficult conditions, he managed to bring the car home much to the delight of the Brazilian crowd.

Lewis Hamilton claimed his maiden Formula 1 win with McLaren in 2007, just six races into his first season in the sport. Hamilton had an unprecedented start to the season, scoring podiums at the first five grands prix, leaving fans anticipating his first win.

The now seven-time world champion claimed pole for the 2007 Canadian Grand Prix and was able to keep the position despite a chaotic race, which saw four safety cars. The win was Hamilton’s first of 21 with McLaren and part of his record-breaking 105 victories.

Daniel Ricciardo doing his iconic 'shoey' at the 2021 Italian Grand Prix after winning the race for McLaren
Photo by Clive Mason – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images

Daniel Ricciardo scored the team their first win in 9 years during an exciting 2021 Italian Grand Prix. After starting the race in second place, the Aussie made quick work of passing Max Verstappen, and despite losing the place during the pit stops on lap 22, an issue with Verstappen’s car during his stop on the next lap saw Ricciardo retake the lead.

With Norris able to catch Charles Leclerc in second, the Brit gave McLaren their first 1-2 finish since Hamilton and Jenson Button in 2010.

Button arguably has one of the most memorable McLaren race wins, after he climbed to the top spot of the podium during a dramatic 2011 Canadian Grand Prix. The race was started behind a safety car, and saw its second cautionary period after Button and Hamilton collided on lap 8.

The race was resumed, but only to be red-flagged 12 laps later when heavy rain caused treacherous conditions. After a two-hour delay the cars were back racing, but following a safety car restart, the session was once again thrown under caution after Button and Alonso’s cars touched on lap 37, causing the Spaniard to spin.

Button had a punctured tyre and had dropped to last place, but after an impressive drive, managed to catch and overtake leading Sebastian Vettel on the final lap.