McLaren Young Driver Programme

The McLaren Young Driver Programme (formerly known as the McLaren Driver Development Programme, the McLaren-Mercedes Young Driver Support Programme, and the McLaren-Honda Young Driver Programme) is a driver development program operated by McLaren. It is intended to offer year-by-year guidance, assistance and endorsement to help promising young racers climb the motorsport ladder.

Logo of the programme

The most notable participant in the programme is Lewis Hamilton, who joined the programme while karting and eventually graduated to the McLaren F1 team. He has subsequently won the Formula One Drivers' Championship 7 times between 2008 and 2020.

As of the 2021 season, 4 drivers have graduated from the programme to the McLaren F1 team; Hamilton in 2007, Kevin Magnussen in 2014, Stoffel Vandoorne in 2016, and Lando Norris in 2019.

Currently, no drivers are part of the program, which McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown said is due to the team's "very targeted" approach and already stable F1 line-up, meaning it would be difficult for any young drivers to find a place in Formula One.[1][2]

Drivers

Current

None as of February 2021.

Former
Driver Years Series competed F1 team(s)
Wesley Graves[3][4] 1998 Karting (1998) None
Lewis Hamilton[5] 1998–2006 Karting (1998–2001)
British Formula Renault Championship (2002–2003)
Formula 3 Euro Series (2004–2005)
GP2 Series (2006)		 McLaren (2007–2012)
Mercedes (2013–)
Cheng Congfu[6] 2003–2006 British Formula Renault Championship (2003–2006) None
Giedo van der Garde 2006–2010 Formula 3 Euro Series (2006)
Formula Renault 3.5 Series (2007–2008)
GP2 Series (2009–2010)		 Caterham (2013)
Oliver Rowland 2007–2010 Karting (2007–2010) None
Alexander Albon 2010 Karting (2010) Toro Rosso (2019)
Red Bull Racing (2019–2020)
Jack Harvey 2010 Formula BMW Europe (2010) None
Petri Suvanto[7] 2010 Formula BMW Europe (2010) None
Oliver Turvey 2010–2011 GP2 Series (2010–2011) None
Kevin Magnussen[5] 2010–2013 German Formula Three Championship (2010)
British Formula 3 International Series (2011)
Formula Renault 3.5 Series (2012–2013)		 McLaren (2014–2015)
Renault (2016)
Haas (2017–2020)
Ben Barnicoat 2010–2015 Karting (2010–2013)
Formula Renault 2.0 NEC (2014)
Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 (2014–2015)		 None
Nyck de Vries[8] 2010–2018 Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 (2012–2014)
Formula Renault 2.0 Alps (2013–2014)
Formula Renault 3.5 Series (2015)
GP3 Series (2016)
Formula 2 (2017–2018)		 None
Tom Blomqvist[9] 2012 FIA Formula 3 European Championship (2012) None
Stoffel Vandoorne[5] 2013–2016 Formula Renault 3.5 Series (2013)
GP2 Series (2014–2015)		 McLaren (2016–2018)
Nobuharu Matsushita[10] 2015–2017 GP2 Series (2015–2016)
FIA Formula 2 Championship (2017)		 None
Lando Norris[11] 2017–2018 FIA Formula 3 European Championship (2017)
FIA Formula 2 Championship (2018)		 McLaren (2019–)
Sérgio Sette Câmara[12] 2019 FIA Formula 2 Championship (2019) None
  • Championship titles highlighted in bold.

See also

References
  1. van Osten, Phillip (2020-12-24). "Brown: Lack of McLaren young drivers due to 'different philosophy'". F1i.com. Archived from the original on 2020-12-24. Retrieved 2021-01-14.
  2. Smith, Luke (2020-12-23). "McLaren sticking to "targeted" approach for F1 young driver programme". Autosport.com. Archived from the original on 2020-12-26. Retrieved 2021-01-14.
  3. Noble, Jonathan. "Futures on Fast Forward". Atlas F1. Archived from the original on 2020-10-26. Retrieved 2020-10-21.
  4. "Mclaren Sign Kart Drivers". Crash. 1998-04-09. Archived from the original on 2020-10-27. Retrieved 2020-10-21.
  5. "FAITH IN YOUTH: McLaren's young driver track record". Formula1.com. 2018-09-05. Archived from the original on 2020-10-26. Retrieved 2020-10-21.
  6. De Groote, Steven (2003-08-06). "McLaren signs Cheng Congfu". F1 Technical. Archived from the original on 2020-10-23. Retrieved 2020-10-21.
  7. "McLaren tukee suomalaislupausta". sportti.com. 19 March 2010. Archived from the original on 16 March 2017. Retrieved 15 March 2017.
  8. Wood, Elliot (2019-05-06). "Nyck de Vries' split with McLaren confirmed". Formula Scout. Archived from the original on 2020-11-29. Retrieved 2021-01-14.
  9. "Stig's son joins McLaren". The Telegraph. 26 Feb 2012. Archived from the original on 6 February 2018. Retrieved 5 April 2018.
  10. "2017 McLaren-Honda Young Driver Programme members revealed". McLaren Racing. 2017-02-22. Archived from the original on 2020-11-12. Retrieved 2021-01-14.
  11. "Lando Norris joins McLaren F1 young driver programme". GP Today. 2017. Archived from the original on 2020-10-27. Retrieved 2020-10-21.
  12. Wood, Elliot (2020-03-09). "Sergio Sette Camara leaves McLaren for return to Red Bull". Formula Scout. Archived from the original on 2020-10-23. Retrieved 2020-10-21.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.