McLaren is one of the most successful teams in Formula One, having won over 160 races, 12 Drivers' Championships and 8 Constructors' Championships. Autosport judges McLaren to have "bigger, more sophisticated" technical resources than any other team and a resultant higher development rate throughout a season.
In 1998 the McLaren was able to regularly challenge for Grand Prix victories, winning nine grands prix that year. Häkkinen won the Drivers' Championship in 1998, scoring 100 points, and McLaren took the Constructors' Championship in 1998. Häkkinen took the title again in 1999, but the season was more difficult for the team who lost the Constructors' Championship to Ferrari despite an injured Schumacher.
Since 2000, McLaren has struggled somewhat to regain its place at the top of Formula One , partly due to a perceived lack of pace and reliability from the Mercedes-Benz engine and McLaren did not win the driver and constructor's Championship until 2008. In year 2008, Going into the final round of the season in Brazil , Hamilton had a seven point lead over Massa. As long as he finished in the top five, he would win the championship regardless of where Massa finished. With Massa taking pole, Hamilton could only qualify 4th and Kovalainen 5th. By the final lap of the race, Hamilton had been overtaken by Sebastian Vettel and with Massa having already won the race, his sixth position would mean that Hamilton would finish runner-up. However Toyota's Timo Glock , who had stayed out on dry tyres despite the falling rain, was driving slowly enough for Hamilton to overtake him at the final few corners. Crossing the line in the required fifth, Hamilton became the youngest ever, first black man and first McLaren driver in 9 years to win the Formula One Driver's Championship.
No comments:
Post a Comment