After 3,213 days, McLaren finally wins a Formula 1 Grand Prix

In McLaren’s notable Formula One history, McLaren has won 20 world titles and has been represented by legends of the sport, but it competed at the weekend of the Italian Grand Prix after missing its 182 victories in nearly nine years.

When Jenson Button lifted the trophy in Brazil at the end of the 2012 season, McLaren thought it was well placed to fight for titles. But McLaren plunged into midfield the following season, paralyzed by its own lackluster machinery, while a 2015 power reunion with Honda for electricity promised but yielded little.

Rather than reviving the glory years of the late 1980s, Champions Button and Fernando Alonso spent years dealing with chronically underpowered and unreliable equipment while both brands were humiliated and humiliated. McLaren crashed to ninth place twice in the overall standings. In his worst season, he scored 27 points on winning the title from Mercedes 703.

Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris gave McLaren its first 1: 2 result in Formula 1 since 2010.

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A split from Honda and alignment with Renault before 2018 left McLaren confident about rejuvenating its prospects, but it was another bad morning. Instead, that partnership exposed weaknesses within the McLaren organization, with fingers once pointing to Honda and instead pointing to itself, and resulted in a lengthy internal reshuffle.

For 2019 came the new team boss Andreas Seidl, a new technical director in James Key and a new driver line-up from Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz, and McLaren rose from sixth to fourth place by returning to the podium, a position that they improved in 2020. Sainz moved to Ferrari for 2021 but McLaren rushed to recruit Daniel Ricciardo while he also took the option, excited about McLaren’s return to Mercedes. When Ricciardo was looking for a career change two years earlier, he was not convinced of McLaren’s prospects and instead switched to Renault.

On Sunday, all of the hard work and persistence paid off at the lowest moments as all the cards were aligned in McLaren’s favor.

Daniel Ricciardo leads Max Verstappen at the start of the Italian F1 Grand Prix on Sunday.

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The MCL35M had been fast all weekend, aided by its Mercedes engine in the high-speed Monza, and the result of the sprint left Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris in second and third place on the grid, respectively.

Ricciardo took over the lead from pole sitter Max Verstappen at the start and maintained his position at the top.

A slow pit stop for Verstappen put Norris in second place and while the title contenders then clashed and strayed from the picture, Ricciardo was already on the road and on his way to victory at the time of this collision.

Ricciardo and Norris ticked off the remaining laps to give McLaren not only their first win since 2012, but a shocking 1-2 result, the first since 2010, with Ricciardo again ending his personal three-year victory drought. It was a popular result when Ricciardo brought back his “Shoey” celebration where he sipped champagne from his racing boot. Norris and CEO Zak Brown also took a sip of champagne from the trunk.

For Ricciardo it was sort of a redeeming victory after a lackluster first half of the season with McLaren in which he struggled to understand the nuances of the MCL35M and Norris lagged behind. Add to this the ongoing travel problems related to the pandemic, which has denied Ricciardo the opportunity to return to his native Australia to visit friends and family since the 2020 season.

“For everyone who thought I left, I never left,” said a defiant and elated Ricciardo on the cool-down lap as he soaked up the win.

“I obviously believe in myself,” said Ricciardo after his eighth career win. “I think everyone is doing it to get to this point, but I’ve certainly been challenged this year. The sport is tricky, it’s not that black and white, I think, and sometimes you struggle to find answers, but I think you have to stay on track and stay on track.

“It’s easy to get lost too, but I think deep down I would have moments of frustration or moments when I would bow my head, but I’ve made it my business to never let that happen for that long. There were days this year that I definitely didn’t love it, but I’ve had those days pretty much every year you know how they happen. In those moments when you fall in love with the sport, actually the clarity you get afterwards, makes you realize how much you love him and how much you want him. “

It was also an outstanding result for Norris, the best of his career, having climbed the junior ranks under McLaren’s guidance. McLaren had its first Formula 1 test in mid-2017, when the team was in the middle of the rock bottom.

“I think it’s amazing,” said Norris. “To be honest, I don’t know what it means to me. For me, that means, above all, our determination as a team. Whether second, third or first, I think the best thing is to have a one-two for the team and get the maximum number of points. It’s just a cool feeling to be there. “

For the past 12 months, McLaren has watched AlphaTauri, Racing Point (now Aston Martin) and Alpine rack up unexpected wins from midfield. This time it was McLaren’s turn and it was accomplished out of sheer merit.

“In the end it is a sensational result for us,” said team boss Seidl. “Seven days ago we were completely destroyed in terms of performance. That is the gap we still have with the top teams and with our car. So we have to keep working hard to close this gap on all types of tracks. But a day like today is the best motivation to keep going. We are very pleased with what both drivers have shown this weekend and that Daniel has now been taking the steps to get back to where he wants to be since the summer break and we want him. And that’s on top of Lando, who is in incredible shape this year. The way we did it this weekend is very special. “

McLaren waited almost nine years for his 183rd Formula 1 victory. With Ricciardo, Norris and an increasingly believing team, the wait for the number 184 certainly won’t be that long.

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