30 years of Mclaren Autosport

After helping to crown 30 Mclaren Autosport BRDC Award winners, the famous Formula 1 team will no longer be involved, but it has left a fine legacy

For 30 years, the Mclaren Autosport BRDC Award has searched for the next British Formula 1 star. Mclaren will no longer be part of the Award from 2019, so now is the right time to look back at the past three decades with the winners.

Autosport’s Peter Foubister and then-mclaren boss Ron Dennis introduced the Award in 1989. David Coulthard was the inaugural victor and since then winners have racked up more than 600 F1 starts, an F1 world title, a World Endurance crown, three DTM titles and three Indianapolis 500 wins, to name just some of the headline-grabbing successes.

From the start a key part of the prize was a test in a Mclaren F1 car, giving young talents their first taste of the pinnacle of the sport. Over the years Mclaren has also been involved in other parts of the process, from conducting fitness tests to providing data analysis.

The Award’s new partner will be announced very soon, but before then Autosport and the British Racing Drivers’ Club would like to thank Mclaren for its incredible commitment over such a long period.

Here is our celebration of the 30 winners.