Though there might be some who believe that the history of McLaren dates back only to the 1993 debut of the F1, Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Limited was in fact founded 50 years ago, on September 2, 1963. It would take until 1974 for the team to win its first world championship, but McLaren has been a top team in Formula 1 ever since. With a total of 12 world championships going to McLaren drivers over the years, it is the second winningest team in the history of F1, beaten only by Ferrari.

Such drivers as Emerson Fittipaldi, James Hunt, Niki Lauda, Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna, Mika Hakkinen and Lewis Hamilton have all won the championship at the wheel of a McLaren car. McLaren threw themselves a party this week at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surry, with some big names in attendance, such as 2009 World Champion Jensen Button.The company also took the opportunity to point out that this is the twentieth anniversary of the F1 road car, that the P1 is now here and finally that the 3,000thMP4-12C has just rolled off the assembly line.