McLaren

McLaren last won the constructors’ title in 1998 with Mika Hakkinen at the helm. It has since then been 11 long and barren seasons for the Woking-based outfit. The thirst for success was quenched only recently by the enrolment of a young prodigy, Lewis Hamilton.

Over the last decade, the team has employed the services of star drivers like Kimi Räikkönen, Fernando Alonso, Juan Pablo Montoya and David Coulthard. However, the championship has been out of its reach and the outfit has only managed a best result of runner-up five times in those unfruitful years.

One of the stories of the last decade in Formula 1 has been that of a deep rivalry between McLaren and Ferrari, giving birth to controversies such as the ‘spy scandal’ of 2007. In the latter half of this decade, the Scuderia have won two championships while McLaren can hold up its 2008 triumph as its most memorable achievement.

Names well known in the F1 paddock have been associated with McLaren. Ron Dennis, who stepped down as team principal at the end of the 2008 season, aerodynamics genius Adrian Newey who is now with Red Bull and current FOTA Chairman and McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh have been instrumental in the development of the team over the last ten years.

The UK-based outfit fields two British drivers in an all-English line-up this season. So, it has not one, but two world champions driving the MP4-25. 2009 World Champion Jenson Button partners the preceding year’s winner Lewis Hamilton making this McLaren’s best chance in years to seize the Constructors’ title.

This year, albeit with a car which is not on par with the Red Bulls, the team has managed to produce results and stay in the running for both the championships. Hamilton has emerged as the leading driver but it remains to be seen whether they will keep the momentum until the last race.