It is a landmark that speaks to longevity, reinvention, and survival across six decades of relentless change.
But for all the modern success, glittering facilities, world champions and corporate evolution, the McLaren story does not begin in Monaco, Woking, or any of the circuits that now define its global footprint.
It begins on the other side of the world, in the land of the long white cloud — New Zealand — with a history that is often overlooked or forgotten by many modern fans of the sport.
And as the team prepares to celebrate its historic milestone, the daughter of its founder Bruce McLaren, Amanda, has been reflecting on the legacy of the team and its enduring New Zealand roots.
Speaking with Speedcafe from her home in New Zealand, she said she enjoys keeping her father’s story alive for new generations of fans.
“A lot of, especially the younger fans who sort of learned all about Formula 1 on Netflix, don’t know where the McLaren name comes from. Or didn’t know that Bruce was a New Zealander,” Amanda said.
It is that history and legacy that is pivotal to the story of the iconic brand.
Founded by Auckland-born Bruce McLaren in 1963, Bruce McLaren Motor Racing spent several years competing in lower categories before eventually making its Formula 1 debut at the 1966 Monaco Grand Prix, where Bruce and fellow Kiwi Chris Amon took the striking white M2B to the streets of Monte Carlo.
It was not an ideal debut for the team, with Bruce retiring after nine laps due to an oil leak and Amon withdrawing before the race even got underway.
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Despite the result, the spark for F1 history started then and there with the team becoming a staple of the F1 paddock ever since, going on to achieve 203 Grand Prix wins, 561 podium finishes, 177 pole positions, 13 drivers’ championships and 10 constructors’ titles.
Bruce continued to race for the team right through until his death in 1970, with his final race, ironically, also coming at the Monaco Grand Prix that same year.
It is a level of connection to the principality that Amanda says is particularly poignant, given the team’s 1000th Grand Prix milestone is being celebrated at a circuit so deeply tied to its origins, and the fact that the planned earlier celebration in Miami was reshuffled after the cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian rounds earlier in the season.
“It’s dreadful what’s happening in the Middle East for people there,” Amanda said.
“But the fact that what happened caused the race at Monaco to be the 1000th Grand Prix, which was actually the first grand prix that we ever raced, is kind of serendipity or something.
“It’s just lovely to see. It’s 60 years on. It’s incredible that it is the race it is.”
Amanda was four when her father passed away, but remained closely connected to the world of F1 thanks to her mother Patty’s involvement with the team, where she remained a director of the company until the late 1970s.
And while Amanda does not have direct memories of her father, she grew up close to several iconic names of the era, many of whom were considered family.
“Meeting people like James Hunt and Emerson Fittipaldi prior to that. I grew up with people like Graham Hill as ‘Uncle Graham’,” she explained.
“And really, actually for a long time, I didn’t think anything of it.
“Really until the James Hunt penny drop moment when all the girls at school started asking me questions. And it was really from sort of then onwards that I started reading the books Mum had.
“Asking questions of the people that, you know, I grew up in the age where you called anybody older than yourself uncle or aunt, so asking all these uncles questions about themselves and my dad.
“And then sort of realising what he’d achieved by the time he was killed.”
Amanda watched the team succeed from afar after her mother stepped away from close involvement, particularly during the Ron Dennis era at McLaren, when the man who transformed the team into one of F1’s dominant forces drifted away from its roots and focused more on building its future.
“Ron was a genius. What he created,” Amanda said.
“But he is on record as saying I don’t look back, I only look forward.
“And the history and the heritage to Ron wasn’t so important.”
That all changed in the late 2010s, however, when current CEO Zak Brown joined the team.
It was during this period that Amanda also became more involved with McLaren, having been asked to join the team as an ambassador for its automotive division in 2014 — a role she held alongside her husband Stephen until 2021.
After the pandemic scaled back her paid role, both she and Stephen stepped into honorary brand ambassador positions for McLaren Racing and Automotive.
She said it was in this period that the legacy and history her father created truly began to return to the team.
“Zak is well known for his love of history and heritage. You’ve just got to look at his car collection,” she said.
“And he has embraced Dad more and more.
“You walk into the technology centre (MTC) now, and the pits at the grand prix, and the Paddock Club, and there are pictures of Dad on the walls.
“And there are a lot of his quotes around, both at the races and the technology centre.
“And the Speedy Kiwi is on the race cars. That ‘Kiwiness’ is very evident.”
She added that connection to New Zealand also remains strong among McLaren staff.
“My husband and I were in the UK in March, and we were at the MTC, and we had a lunch with McLaren employees of both racing and automotive. There were over 30 people in the room,” she explained.
“That real sort of Kiwiness, New Zealand spirit was there. And they are proud of the fact that Bruce came from New Zealand.
“And the fact that it’s being recognised by both companies is very special to them, and to me, and to the wider family.”
The resurgence of that identity has also coincided with McLaren’s competitive revival and a growing global interest in both the team’s history and New Zealand itself, something Amanda believes are closely linked.
“It’s way easier for me now to sort of talk about racing when we’re at the front of the grid, not at the back, and current double world champions,” she explained.
“I think the younger fans want information and they get their information from social media. So there’s so much more ability to access the stories.
“I mean 10 years ago, I was working for automotive at that point, and yes I did interviews through that, but I am doing more now than ever because of what’s happening. Especially with racing.
“So all of a sudden it’s at the forefront of everyone’s attention and ‘Oh, let’s talk to Amanda’. And then there’s been a lot of interest in New Zealand.
“’Oh, it’s the birthplace of Bruce McLaren, the founder of McLaren. Oh, it’s a beautiful country. Let’s go visit’.
“So journalists are coming over. Media is coming over. And there’s also been quite a revival of the Bruce McLaren Trust over here because my husband and I and some others took over the trust and made a lot of changes.
“So it’s starting to get more attention in that sense. It is bringing New Zealand into the story more.”
Now, six decades on from the team’s debut, McLaren is preparing for its 1000th Grand Prix — a milestone that invites reflection not only on success, but on what might have been.
Amanda believes her father always had a vision that extended far beyond Formula 1 itself, and would be extremely proud of what the team has become since his passing.
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“Howden Ganley, one of his original mechanics, and later a very good family friend… he said Bruce was building a legacy,” she explained.
“Dad was, at the time he died, they were doing Formula 1, Formula 2, Formula 5000, hill climb cars, IndyCar, road cars. He was going to do Group 4 racing back at Le Mans — and he had big, big plans for Bruce McLaren Motor Racing.
“He probably wouldn’t still be alive today. But I am sure that had he not been killed, he would have carried on to grow that company.
“Maybe he wasn’t a Ron Dennis, maybe we wouldn’t have had the McLaren Technology Centre, but he had this vision for the company to be involved in all those different aspects of motor racing — and produce road cars.
“So I think we would have had something similar to what we’ve got today. And I’m sure he would have set it up to continue after he passed. But we’ll never know.
“I am sure he would be absolutely delighted that his name does carry on.”
And as that name continues to sit at the forefront of world motorsport, and on some of the most iconic road cars ever produced, it all traces back to its origins in New Zealand — something Amanda believes remains central to the team’s identity and to the pride it brings to Aotearoa.
“I think New Zealanders are very proud of the fact that McLaren was founded by a New Zealander,” she said.
“We’ve got so much support from New Zealand and from New Zealanders. And that’s wonderful to see.
“And long may that continue.”
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