McLaren marks 1,000th F1 start at Monaco

McLaren used the Monaco Grand Prix weekend to celebrate what it counts as its 1,000th Formula 1 start, returning the team to the circuit where Bruce McLaren first entered the world championship in 1966 and staging a tribute that brought its original M2B together with the current MCL40.

The anniversary also marked 60 years since that first Monaco appearance, making the setting central to the story McLaren wanted to tell. The MCL40 carried a special 1,000th-race livery, while double world champion Mika Hakkinen drove the M2B for a demonstration lap that echoed the team’s beginnings on the same streets.

McLaren framed the moment as one reached by only one other team before it. Across six decades in Formula 1, the team has amassed 203 wins, 13 drivers’ championships and 10 constructors’ championships, leaving Ferrari as the only constructor previously to reach the 1,000-grand-prix mark.

The celebration in Monaco gathered 11 of the 15 living drivers to have won a Formula 1 race for McLaren. Current drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were joined by Emerson Fittipaldi, Hakkinen, Gerhard Berger, David Coulthard, Heikki Kovalainen, Juan Pablo Montoya, John Watson, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso. Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali also took part alongside McLaren chief executive Zak Brown and team principal Andrea Stella.

Hamilton and Alonso were the standout additions to the group, given both now race for rival teams and were McLaren team-mates during the turbulent 2007 season. Brown told reporters in Monaco it was "awesome" to see them there, adding that "to see Lewis and Fernando show up to show their support of McLaren is awesome." He said their presence reflected the kind of attitude Formula 1 should show more often: "I think that's what we need to do more of in the sport, is be at times maybe a little bit more sporting, and recognise the history."

The milestone was not accepted universally. Some statisticians list Monaco as McLaren’s 999th start rather than its 1,000th, because they do not count the 2005 United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis as a race start for the team. McLaren does count that event, when Kimi Raikkonen and Juan Pablo Montoya completed the formation lap before returning to the pits with the other Michelin runners.

In comments reported by Express Sport, a McLaren spokesperson said there is "a discrepancy between the way many statistics websites have counted the number of races McLaren have started, and the team's own internal records." The team’s position is that Indianapolis should be included because its cars completed the formation lap and then retired by choice, which is why McLaren tied its 1,000th start to Monaco, the same venue where its Formula 1 story began.