I Can’t Sleep - McLaren | Calm Bedtime Reading for Sleep

Episode Date: March 31, 2025

Drift off with this calm bedtime reading about McLaren, created to ease insomnia and bring gentle rest. In this soothing episode, Benjamin explores the history of McLaren, from its founding as a racing team to its evolution into a world-renowned automotive company known for innovation and performance. His steady, reassuring narration turns fascinating engineering and racing history into peaceful storytelling, helping quiet your thoughts and reduce stress. There is no whispering or hypnosis, only calm, fact-filled narration to guide you toward sleep. Press play, settle in, and let McLaren’s story carry you into slumber. Want More? Request a Topic: https://www.icantsleeppodcast.com/request-a-topic Ad-Free Episodes: https://icantsleep.supportingcast.fm/ Shop Sleep-Friendly Products: https://www.icantsleeppodcast.com/sponsors Join the Discussion on Discord: https://discord.gg/myhGhVUhn7 This content is derived from the Wikipedia article on McLaren, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) license. Read the full article: Wikipedia – McLaren. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to a Glassbox media podcast. What if I told you that most of the modern day self-help advice you've been hearing could actually make you worse? The key to a better life isn't about feel-good gimmicks that sound catchy. The Mentally Stronger Podcast gives you access to a licensed therapist who shares science-backed tools that will actually change your life. Hi, I'm Amy Morin, psychotherapist, mental strength trainer, and international best-selling author. In each episode, we cover research-back strategies, like how to stop relying on willpower and start creating habits for lasting change. And the five mental strength-building exercises you can do from your couch. I also speak to world-class experts like Dr. Nicole Kane, who shares how to permanently heal anxiety by addressing the root cause.

With over 200 episodes in our catalog, this podcast is for you if you're ready to crush self-doubt, conquer challenges, become stronger than ever with therapist-approved strategies that can change your life. Listen to Mentally Stronger with Therapist Amy Morin, wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to the I Can't Sleep Podcast, where I bore you to sleep with my soothing voice, one fact at a time. I'm your host, Benjamin Boster, and today's episode is about the McLaren F-1 Racing Team. Thanks to Esther Haydock for sponsoring this episode. McLaren Racing Limited is a British Motor Racing Team based at the McLaren Technology Center and Woking, Surrey, England. The team is a subsidiary of the McLaren group, which owns a majority of the team.

McLaren is best known as a Formula One chassis constructor, the second oldest active team, and the second most successful Formula One team after Ferrari, having won 189 races. 12 Drivers' Championships, and 9 Constructors' Championships. McLaren also has a history in American Open Wheel Racing, has both an entrant and a chassis constructor, and is one the Canadian-American Challenge Cub Can-Am Sports Car Racing Championship. McLaren is one of only three constructors, and the only team to complete the Triple Crown of Motorsport.

wins at the Indianapolis 500, 24 hours of Le Mans, and Monaco Grand Prix. Founded in 1963 by New Zealander Bruce McLaren, the team won its first Grand Prix at the 1968 Belgian Grand Prix. But their greatest initial success was in Canem, which they dominated from 1967 to 1971. Further American triumph followed, with Indianapolis 500 wins and McLaren, cars for Mark Donahue in 1972 and Johnny Rutherford in 1974 and 1976.

After Bruce McLaren died in a testing accident in 1970, Teddy Mayer took over and led the team to their first Formula One Constructors Championship in 1974, with Emerson Fittipaldi and James Hunt winning the driver's championship in 1974 and 1976, respectively. In 1981, McLaren merged with Ron Dennis' project for racing. Dennis took over as team principal, and shortly afterwards organized a buy-out of the original McLaren shareholders to take full control of a team. This began the team's most successful era,

with Porsche and Honda engines, Nikki Lauda, Elaine Prost, and Erden Senna won seven drivers' championships between them, and the team took six Constructors' championships. The combination of Prost and Sina was particularly dominant. Together they won all but one race in 1988, but later their rivalry soured and Prost left for Ferrari. Fellow English team Williams

offered the most consistent challenge during this period, the two winning every constructor's title between 1984 and 1994. By the mid-1990s, Honda had withdrawn from Formula One. Sinha had moved to Williams, and the team went three seasons without a win. With Mercedes-Benz engines, West sponsorship, and former Williams designer Adrian Newey, further championships came in 1998 and 1999 with driver Mika Hackanan, and during the 2000s the team were consistent frontrunners, with Lewis Hamilton taking their latest driver's title in 2008.

Ron Dennis retired as McLaren team principal in 2009, handing over to longtime McLaren employee Martin Whitmarsh. At the end of 2013, after the team's worst season since 2004, Whitmarsh was ousted. McLaren announced in 2013 that they would be using Honda engines from 2015 onwards, replacing Mercedes. Benz. The team raced as McLaren Honda for the

first time since 1992 at the 2015 Australian Grand Prix. In September, 2017, McLaren announced they had agreed on an engine supply with Renault from 2018 to 2020. McLaren is using

Mercedes-Benz engines from the 2021 season until at least 2030. The team's ninth Constructors' Championship and first since 1998 was won in 2024. McLaren is a joint second most successful Formula One team of all time was nine Constructors Championships, a record shared with Williams as of the end of the 2024 season. After initially returning to the Indianapolis 500 in 2017 as a backer of Andretti Auto Sport

to run Fernando Alonzo and then, in 2019, as an independent entry. McLaren announced in August 2019 that they would run in conjunction with Aerosmith-Petersson Motorsports, starting in 2020, to run the full IndyCar series, the combined entry being named Aero McLaren SP. Initially having no ownership interest in the team, McLaren would purchase 75% of the operating. operation in 2021. McLaren entered the electric off-road racing series Extreme E in 2022, and also joined Formula E in the 2022-23 season. Bruce McLaren motor racing was founded in 1963 by New Zealander

Bruce McLaren. Bruce was a works driver for the British Formula One team Cooper, with whom he had won 3 Grand Prix and come second in the 1960 World Championship. Wanting to compete in the Australasian Tasman series, Bruce approached his employers, but when team owner Charles Cooper insisted on using 1.5-liter Formula 1 specification engines instead of the 2.5-liter motors, permitted by the Tasman rules, Bruce decided to set up his own team to run him and his prospective Formula One team-made Timmy Mayer with custom-built Cooper cars. Bruce won the 1964 series, but Mayor was killed in practice for the final race at the Longford Circuit in Tasmania.

When Bruce McLaren approached Teddy Mayer to help him with the purchase of the Xerox sports car from Roger Penske, Teddy Mayer and Bruce McLaren began discussing a business partnership. resulting in Teddy Mayer buying into Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Limited BMMR, and ultimately becoming its largest shareholder. The team, competing under a British racing license, was based in Valtham, England from 1963 to 1964, and in Colmbrook, England from 1965 until 1981, and has been based in Woking, England since 1981.

Despite this, Bruce never used the traditional British racing green on his cars. Instead, he used color schemes that were not based on national principles. E.g. his first Formula One car, the McLaren M2B car, raced at the 1966 Monaco Grand Prix, was painted with a green stripe to represent a fictional Yamorah team and John Frankenheimer's film Grand Prix. During this period, Bruce strove. for his team in sports car races in the United Kingdom and North America,

and also under the 1965 Tasman Series with Phil Hill, but did not win it. He continued to drive in Grands Prix for Cooper, but judging the team's form to be waning, decided to race his own cars in 1966. Bruce McLaren made the team's Grand Prix debut at the 1966 Monaco race of the current Formula One teams, only Ferrari is older. His race ended after nine laps due to a terminal oil leak. The 1966 car was the M2B designed by Robin Heard, but the program was hampered by a poor choice of engines,

a 3.0-liter version of Ford's Indianapolis 500 engine, and a Serenissima V8 were used, the latter scoring the team's first point in Britain, but both were underpowered and unreliable. For 1967, Bruce decided to use a British Racing Motors BRM V-12 engine, but due to delays with the engine, was forced initially to use a modified Formula 2 car called the M4B, powered by a 2.1-liter BRM V8. Later, building a similar but slightly larger car called the M5A for the V-12.

Neither car brought great success, the best result being a force at Monaco. For 1968, after driving McLaren's sole entry for the previous two years, Bruce was joined by 1967 champion and fellow New Zealander, Denny Holm, who was already racing for McLaren in Canham. The year's new M7A car, Hurd's final design for the team, was powered by Cosworth's new and soon to be ubiquitous, D-FV engine. The DFV would go on to be used by McLaren until 1983, and with it a major upturn and form proceeded. Bruce won the race of champions at the Brands Hatch circuit,

and Holm won the International Trophy at Silverstone, both non-championship races, before Bruce took the team's first championship win at the Belgian Grand Prix. Holm also won the Italian and Canadian Grands Prix later in the year, helping the team to second in the Constructors' championship. Using an updated C version on the M7, a further three podium finishes followed for Bruce in 1969. But the team's fifth win had to wait until the last race of the 1969 championship when Holm won the Mexican Grand Prix. That year, McLaren experimented with four-wheel drive in the M9A. But the car had to wait. had only a single outing driven by Derek Bell at the British Grand Prix.

Bruce described driving it as like trying to write your signature with somebody jogging your elbow. The year 1970s started with a second place each for Holm and Bruce in the first two Grands Prix. But in June, Bruce was killed in a crash at Goodwood while testing the new M-A-D-KANM car. After his death, Teddy Mayer took over effective control of the team. Holm continued with Dan Gurney and Peter Gesson partnering him. Gurney won the first two Canem events at most sport and St. Jovi'd and placed ninth and the third, but left the team mid-season, and Gessen took over from there. While 1971 began promisingly when Holm led the opening round in South Africa

before retiring was broken suspension, ultimately Holm, Gessen, who left for BRM mid-season, and Jackie Oliver again failed to score a win. The 1972 season saw improvements, though. Holm won the team's first Grand Prix for two and a half years in South Africa, and he and Peter Revson scored ten other podiums, the team finishing third in the Constructors' Championship. McLaren gave Jody Schechter his Formula One debut at the final race at Watkins Glen. All McLaren drivers used the Ford Causeworth engines, except for Andrea de Adamage and Nani Gali,

who used engines from Alpha Romeo in 1970. The McLaren M23 designed by Gordon Coppick was the team's new car for the 1973 season. sharing parts of the design of both McLaren's Formula 1 M19 and Indianapolis M16 cars, itself inspired by Lotus's 72. It was a mainstay for four years. Home won with it in Sweden and Revson took the only Grand Prix wins of his career in Britain and Canada. In 1974, Emerson Fittipaldi, world champion with Lotus two years earlier, joined McLaren. Holm, in his final Formula One campaign, won the Argentinian season opener.

Fittipaldi, with wins in Brazil, Belgium and Canada, took the driver's championship. It was a close fight for Fittipaldi, who secured the title with a force at the season-ending United States Grand Prix, putting him three points ahead of Ferrari's Clayo Regazzoni, With Holm and multiple motorcycle world champion Mike Hailwood, he also sealed McLaren's first Constructors' Championship. The year 1975 was less successful for the team. Fittipaldi was second in the championship behind Niki Lauda. Holmes' replacement, Yolkin Moss, took his sole GP win in Spain.

At the end of 1975, Fittipaldi left to join his brothers, Fittipaldi, co-pursuccar. team. Was the top drivers already signed to other teams, Mayor turned to James Hunt, a driver on whom biographer Gerald Donaldson reflected as having a dubious reputation. In 1976, Lauda was again strong in his Ferrari. At mid-season, he led the championship with 56 points, while Hunt had only 26, despite wins in Spain, a race from which he was initially disqualified in France. At the German Grand Prix, though, Lauda crashed heavily and was nearly killed and missed the next two races. Hunt capitalized by winning four more Grands Prix, giving him a three-point deficit going into the finale in Japan. Here it rained torrentially, Lauda retired because of safety concerns,

and Hunt sealed the driver's championship by finishing third. McLaren, though, lost the constructor's champion. ship to Ferrari. In 1977, the M23 was gradually replaced with the M26. The M23's final works outing being Gilles-Virnerve's Formula One debut, with a team and a one-off appearance at the British Grand Prix. Hunt won on three occasions a year, but the Lauda and Ferrari combination proved too strong, Hunt of McLaren managing just fifth and third in the respective championships. From there, results continued to worsen. Lotus and Mario Andretti took the 1978 titles with their 78 and 79 ground effect cars, and neither Hunt nor Moss's replacement,

Patrick Tambay, were able to seriously challenge the non-ground effect M26. Hunt was dropped at the end of 1978 in favor of Lotus's Ronnie Peterson. But when Peterson was killed by a crash, at the Italian Grand Prix, John Watson was signed instead. No improvement occurred in 1979. Coppix M28 design was described by Mayer as ghastly, a disaster, and quite diabolical, and the M29 did little to change the situation. Tambays scored no points, and Watson only 15, to place the team 8th at the end of the year. The 1980s started much as the 1970s had ended.

Elaine Prost took over from Tambay, but Watson and he rarely scored points. Under increasing pressure since the previous year from principal sponsor Philip Morris and their executive John Hogan, Mayor was coerced into merging McLaren with Ron Dennis' project for Formula 2 team, also sponsored by Philip Morris. Dennis and designer John Barnard, who, inspired by the carbon fiber rear wings of the BMW M1 race cars that Project 4 was preparing, had ideas for an innovative Formula 1 chassis constructed from carbon fiber instead of conventional aluminum alloy. On their own, they lacked the money to build it, but with investment that came was the merger,

it became the McLaren MP4, later called MP4 1 of 19. In 1981, driven by Watson and Andrea de Chessaris. In the MP4, Watson won the British Grand Prix and had three other podium finishes. Soon after the merger, McLaren moved from Colnbrook to a new base in Woking, and Dennis and Mayor initially shared the managing directorship of the company. By 1982, Mayor had departed, and Tyler Alexander's and his shareholdings had been bought by the new owners. In the early 1980s, teams like Renault, Ferrari, and Brabom were using 1.5-liter turbo-charged engines in favor of the 3.0-liter naturally aspirated engines that had been standard since 1966. Having seen in 1982 the need for a turbo engine of their own, Dennis had convinced

Williams' backer techniques to avant-garde to fund Porsche-built tag-branded turbo engines. made to Bernard's specifications. Tags founder, Monsour Oge, would later become a McLaren shareholder. In the meantime, they continued with Cosworth engines as old rival Lauda came out of retirement in 1982, the drive alongside Watson in that year's 1B development of the MP4. They each won two races, Watson notably from 17th place on the grid in Detroit, and at one stage of the season, McLaren, were second in the Constructors' Championship.

As part of a dispute with FISA, they boycotted the San Marino Grand Prix. Although 1983 was not so fruitful, Watson did win again in the United States, this time from 22nd on the grid at Long Beach. Having been fired by Renault, Prost returned to McLaren once again in 1984. Now using the tag engines, the team dominated, scoring 12 wins and two and a half times as many Constructors' points as nearest rival Ferrari. And the Drivers' Championship, Lauda prevailed over Prost by half a point, the narrowest margin ever. The McLaren tags were again strong in 1985.

A third Constructors' Championship came their way, while this time Prost won the driver's championship. In 1986, the Williams team were resurgent with their Honda engine and drivers Nigel Mansell and Nelson Piquet, while McLaren, Lauda's replacement, 1982 champion, Keik Roseburg, could not gel with the car. Williams took the Constructors' Championship, but for Prost, wins in San Marino, Monaco, and Austria, combined with the fact that the Williams drivers were taking points from each other, meant that he retained a chance going into the last race, the Australian Grand Prix. There, a puncture for Mansell and a precautionary pit stop for Piquet gave Prost the race win

and his second title, making him the first driver to win back-to-back championships since Jack Robham in 1959 and 1960. In 1987, Barnard departed for Ferrari to be replaced by Steve Nichols, who himself joined Ferrari in 1989. In the hands of Prost and Stefan Johansson, though, Nichols' MP4, 3, and the tag engine could not match the Williams Honda. For 1988,

on a switch their supply to McLaren and encouraged by Prost, Dennis signed Ayrton Senna to drive. Despite regulations, reducing the boost pressure and fuel capacity and therefore power of the turbo cars, Hanna persisted with a turbocharged engine. In the MP4-slash-4, Senna and Prost engaged in a season-long battle,

winning 15 of the 16 races. At the other race, said Monsa, Senna had been leading comfortably, but collided with black marker Jean-Louis Schleser. At the Portuguese Grand Prix, their relationship soured when Senna squeezed Prost against the pit wall. Prost won, but afterwards said it was dangerous.

If he wants the world championship that badly, he can have it. Proz scored more points that year, but because only the best 11 results counted, Senna took the title at the penultimate race in Japan. The next year, with Turbo's band, Honda supplied a new 3.5-liter naturally aspirated V-10 engine, and McLaren again won both titles, with the MP4-5. Their driver's relationship continued to deteriorate, though, especially when at the San Marino Grand Prix,

Prost felt that Senna had reneged on an agreement not to pass each other at the first corner. Believing that Honda and Dennis were favoring Senna, Prost announced mid-season that he would leave to drive at Ferrari the following year. For the second year in succession, the driver's championship was decided at the job, Japanese Grand Prix. This time in pro's favor after Senna had collided, Senna initially recovered and

won the race, but was later disqualified. With former McLaren men, Nichols and Prost, Barnard had moved to the Benetton team. Ferrari pushed the British team more closely in 1990. McLaren, in turn, brought in Ferrari's Gerhard Berger, but like the two seasons before, the driver's championship was led by Prost and Senna, and settled at the penultimate race in Japan. Here, Senna collided with Prost at the first corner, forcing both to retire, but this time Senna escaped punishment and took the title. McLaren also won the Constructors' Championship. The 1991 year was another for McLaren and Senna,

with the ascendant Renold Power Williams team, their closest challengers. By 1992, Williams, with their advanced FW14B car, had overtaken McLaren, breaking their four-year run as champions, despite the latter winning five races that year. As Honda withdrew from the sport at the end of 1992, McLaren sought a new engine supplier. A deal to secure Renault engines fell through. Subsequently, McLaren switched to customer Ford engines for the 1993 season. Senna, who initially agreed only to a race-by-race contract before later signing for the whole year, won five races, including a record-breaking 6th victory at Monaco, and a win at the European Grand Prix,

where he went from 5th to 1st on the opening lab. His teammate, 1991 card champion Michael Andretti, fared much worse. He scored only seven points and was replaced by test driver Mika Hagenin for the final three rounds of the season. Williams ultimately won both titles, and Senna, who had flirted with moving there for 1993, signed with them for the 1994 season. During the 1993 season, McLaren took part in a seven-part BBC television documentary called A Season with McLaren. McLaren tested a Lamborghini V-12 engine ahead of the 1994 season, as part of a potential deal with the then-Lamburgany owner Chrysler, before eventually deciding to use Peugeot engines.

With Peugeot power, the MP4-9 was driven by Hackan and Martin Brundel. Despite achieving eight podiums over the season, no wins were achieved. Pugéjo was dropped after a single year due to multiple engine failures. and unreliability, which cost McLaren potential race victories, and they switched to a Mercedes-Benz-branded Ilmore-designed engine. For the 1995 season onwards, McLaren ended their engine deal with Pugéor Sport and started an engine full-works partnership with Mercedes-Benz high-performance engines for the first time. after the German manufacturer spent one year in partnership with the Sauber team.

The partnership included free engines for Mercedes-Benz that built and assembled by Ilmore engineering. Mercedes-Benz official team vehicles, financial support, also earned full factory support from Daimler AG and Mercedes-Benz, and also Mercedes-Benz and Ilmore staff would work with the team at their woking base. McClaren's Formula One car for the 1995 season, the MP410, was not a frontrunner and Brundle's replacement, former champion Nigel Mansell, was unable to fit into the car at first, and departed after just two races, with Mark Blundell taking his place. While Williams dominated in 1996, McClaren now with David Coulthard, alongside Hackan, went a third successive season without a win. In 1997, however, Coulcert broke his run by winning the season opening Australian Grand Prix.

Hackan and he would each win another race before the end of the season, and highly rated designer Adrian Newey joined the team from Williams in August that year. Despite the car's improved pace, unreliability proved costly throughout the season, with retirements at the British and Luxembourg Grands Prix, occurring whilst Hecannon was in the lead. Was Newey able to take advantage of new technical regulations for 1998, and with Williams losing their works Renault engines following Renault's temporary withdrawal from the sport, McLaren were once again able to challenge for the championship. Hakenen and Colerd won five of the first six races,

despite the banning of the team's brake steer system, which allowed the rear brakes to be operated individually to reduce understeer after a protest by Ferrari at the second race in Brazil. Schumacher and Ferrari provided the greatest competition, The former leveled on points with Hackanin with two races to go, but wins to Hackanin at the Luxembourg and Japanese Grands Prix gave both him the driver's championship and McLaren the Constructors' Championship.

Hackan won his second driver's championship the following season, but due to a combination of driver errors and mechanical failures, the team lost the Constructors' title to Ferrari. In 2000, McLaren won seven races in a close fight with Ferrari, but ultimately Ferrari and Schumacher prevailed in both competitions. This marked the start of a decline in form, as Ferrari cemented their dominance of Formula One, and also beryllium engine material banned in Formula One that affected Mercedes engine performance. In 2001, Hakenen was outscored by Coulthard for the first time since 1997 and retired, ending Formula One's longest-ever driver partnership.

His plays taken by Kimmy Rickenen, then in 2002, Coulthard took their solitary win at Monaco, while Ferrari repeated McLaren's 19888 feet of 15 wins in a season. The year 2003 started promisingly, with one win each for Coles 3rd in Rikkonen at the first two Grands Prix. However, they were hampered when the MP418 car designed for that year suffered crash test and reliability problems, forcing them to continue using a D development of the year-old MP417 for longer than they had initially planned. Despite this, Rikinen scored points consistent.

and challenged for the championship up to the final race, eventually losing by two points. The team began 2004 with the MP419, which technical director Adrian Newey described as a debugged version of the MP418. It was not a success, though, and was replaced mid-season by the MP419B. With this, Rikinen scored the teams and his only win of the year at the Belgian Grand Prix, as McLaren finished fifth in the Constructors' Championship, their worst ranking since 1983. Coulthard left for Red Bull Racing in 2005 to be replaced by former cart champion Juan Pablo Montoya, for what was McLaren's most successful season in several years. as he and Reichenen won ten races.

However, both the team not being able to work out why the car could not heat its tires properly in the early stages of the season and the overall unreliability of the MP420 cost several race victories when Reikinen had been leading or in contention to win, and also costing him grid positions in some qualifying sessions, which allowed to allowed Renault and their driver Fernando Alonzo to capitalize and win both titles. In 2006, the superior reliability and speed of the Ferraris and Renaults prevented the team from gaining any victories for the first time in a decade. Montoya parted company acrimoniously with the team to race in NASCAR after the United States

Grand Prix, where he crashed into Reichenin at the start. Test driver Pedro de la Rosa deputized for the remainder of the season. The team also lost Racken into Ferrari at the end of the year. Steve Matchett argued that the poor reliability of McLaren in 2006 and recent previous years was due to a lack of team continuity and stability. His cited examples of instability are logistical challenges related to the move to the McLaren Technology Center, Adrian Newey's aborted move to Jaguar and later moved to Red Bull,

the subsequent move of Newey's deputy to Red Bull, and personnel changes at Ilmore. After scoring no victories in 2006, the team returned to competitive status in 2007. That year saw Fernando Alonzo race alongside Formula One debutante and longtime McLaren protege, Louis Hamilton. The pair scored four wins each and led the driver's championship for much of the year. But tensions arose within the team.

BBC sport claimed that Alonzo was unable to cope with Hamilton's competitiveness. At the Hungarian Grand Prix, Alonzo was judged to have deliberately impeded the teammate during qualifying, so the team were not allowed to score Constructors' points at the event. An internal agreement within the McLaren team stated that drivers would alternatively have an extra lab for qualifying. However, Lewis Hamilton refused to accept for the Hungarian Grand Prix. Subsequently, the McLaren team was investigated by the FIA for having proprietary technical blueprints of Ferrari's car, the so-called Spygate controversy. At the first hearing, McLaren management consistently denied all knowledge, blaming a single rogue engineer.

However, in the final hearing, McLaren was found guilty, and the team was excluded from the Constructors' Championship and fined $100 million. The drivers were allowed to continue without penalty, and while Hamilton led the driver's championship heading into the final race in Brazil, Reichenen and the Ferrari won the race and the driver's championship, a single point ahead of both McLaren drivers. In November, Alonzo and McLaren agreed to terminate their contract by mutual consent. In 2008, a close fight ensued between Hamilton and the Ferrari of Felipe Mesa and Reichenin. Hamilton won five times, and despite also crossing the finish line first at the Belgian Grand Prix, he was deemed to have gained an illegal advantage by cutting a chican during an overtake and was controversially demoted a third.

Going into the final race in Brazil, Hamilton had a seven-point lead over Masa. Masa won there, but Hamilton dramatically clinched his first driver's championship by moving into the necessary fifth position at the final corner of the final lap of the race. Despite winning his first Grand Prix in Hungary, Kovalinan finished the season only seventh in the overall standings, allowing Ferrari to take the constructor's title. Before the start of the 2009 season, Dennis retired as team principal, handing responsibility to Martin Whitmarsh.

But the year started badly. The MP424 car was off the pace, and the team was given a three-race suspended ban for misleading stewards of the Australian and Malaysian Grands Prix. Despite these early problems, a late revival had Hamilton win at the Hungarian and Singapore Grands Prix.