This weekend, the famous Monaco Grand Prix will take place as the sixth race in the 2026 Formula 1 season, and it will be very special for McLaren as they will celebrate their 1,000th Formula 1 start. They are only the second team to reach that number of F1 races, after Ferrari, who reached the 1,000 starts milestone in 2020, and now are have had 1,127 race starts.
Ferrari also remain the most successful Formula 1 team, with 840 podium finishes, 248 wins, 16 Constructor's Championships (the last one in 2008) and Drivers' Championships (the last one in 2007), but McLaren has been more successful lately: 561 podium finishes, 203 wins, 10 Constructors' Championships (including 2024 and 2025) and 13 Drivers' Championships (including 2025).
McLaren is also the second oldest active F1 team, founded by New Zealander Bruce McLaren in 1963, who died at the age of 32 in a car test. They have employed F1 champions like Emerson Fittipaldi (1974), James Hunt (1976), Niki Lauda (1984), Alain Prost (1985, 1986, 1989), Ayrton Senna (1988, 1990, 1991), Mika Hakkinen (1998, 1991) and Lewis Hamilton (2008), and most recently Lando Norris, who won last year.
This season Mercedes owns the championship, having won all five races so far and amassing 219 points, followed by Ferrari with 147 points. Andrea Kimi Antonelli is the unexpected leader with 131 points, followed by George Russell with 88 points. Defending champion Lando Norris is fifth with 58 points, after only achieving one podium finish.