Editing McLaren (section)

===Ford-Cosworth DFV engines (1968–1982)===
For {{F1|1968}}, after driving McLaren's sole entry for the previous two years, Bruce was joined by 1967 champion and fellow New Zealander [[Denny Hulme]], who was already racing for McLaren in [[Can-Am]].<ref>{{harvnb|Henry|1999|page=22}}</ref><ref name="clockworkorange"/> That year's new [[McLaren M7A|M7A]] car, Herd's final design for the team, was powered by [[Cosworth]]'s new and soon to be ubiquitous [[Cosworth DFV|DFV]] engine<ref>{{harvnb|Nye|1988|page=54}}</ref><ref name="tremaynehughes223-228"/> (the DFV would go on to be used by McLaren until 1983) and with it a major upturn in form proceeded. Bruce won the [[Race of Champions (Brands Hatch)|Race of Champions]] at the [[Brands Hatch]] circuit and Hulme won the [[1968 BRDC International Trophy|International Trophy]] at [[Silverstone Circuit|Silverstone]], both non-championship races,<ref>{{cite journal |title=M7A: McLaren's lucky number |journal=[[Motor Sport (magazine)|Motor Sport]] |date=August 2008|volume=84 |issue=8 |publisher=Stratfield}}</ref> before Bruce took the team's first championship win at the [[1968 Belgian Grand Prix|Belgian Grand Prix]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.formula1.com/content/fom-website/en/championship/teams/McLaren.html |title=McLaren Team Profile |work=Formula1.com |publisher=[[Formula One]] |access-date=24 March 2010 |archive-date=15 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150315091232/http://www.formula1.com/content/fom-website/en/championship/teams/McLaren.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Hulme also won the [[1968 Italian Grand Prix|Italian]] and [[1968 Canadian Grand Prix|Canadian]] Grands Prix later in the year, helping the team to second in the Constructors' Championship. Using an updated 'C' version on the M7,<ref name="henry24"/> a further three podium finishes followed for Bruce in {{F1|1969}}, but the team's fifth win had to wait until the last race of the 1969 championship when Hulme won the [[1969 Mexican Grand Prix|Mexican Grand Prix]]. That year, McLaren experimented with [[four-wheel drive]] in the [[McLaren M9A|M9A]], but the car had only a single outing driven by [[Derek Bell (auto racer)|Derek Bell]] at the [[1969 British Grand Prix|British Grand Prix]]; Bruce described driving it as like "trying to write your signature with somebody jogging your elbow".<ref>{{harvnb|Henry|1999|page=23–24}}</ref>

The year {{F1|1970}} started with a second-place each for Hulme and Bruce in the first two Grands Prix, but in June, Bruce was killed in a crash at [[Goodwood Circuit|Goodwood]] while testing the new M8D Can-Am car.<ref name="henry24">{{harvnb|Henry|1999|page=24}}</ref> After his death, [[Teddy Mayer]] took over effective control of the team;<ref name="mayerobituary"/> Hulme continued with [[Dan Gurney]] and [[Peter Gethin]] partnering him. Gurney won the first two Can-Am events at Mosport and St. Jovite and placed ninth in the third, but left the team mid-season, and Gethin took over from there. While {{F1|1971}} began promisingly when Hulme led the opening round in [[1970 South African Grand Prix|South Africa]] before retiring with broken suspension,<ref>{{harvnb|Henry|1999|page=25}}</ref> ultimately Hulme, Gethin (who left for BRM mid-season,<ref name="henry26">{{harvnb|Henry|1999|page=26}}</ref>) and [[Jackie Oliver]] again failed to score a win. The 1972 season saw improvements though: Hulme won the team's first Grand Prix for {{frac|2|1|2}} years in [[1972 South African Grand Prix|South Africa]] and he and [[Peter Revson]] scored ten other podiums, the team finishing third in the Constructors' Championship. McLaren gave [[Jody Scheckter]] his Formula One debut at the [[1972 United States Grand Prix|final race]] at [[Watkins Glen International|Watkins Glen]].<ref name="henry26"/> All McLaren drivers used the Ford-Cosworth engines, except for [[Andrea de Adamich]] and [[Nanni Galli]] who used engines from [[Alfa Romeo in Formula One|Alfa Romeo]] in 1970.

[[File:Emerson Fittipaldi McLaren M23 1974 Britain.jpg|thumb|right|[[Emerson Fittipaldi]] won the 1974 Drivers' Championship with McLaren.]]

The [[McLaren M23]], designed by Gordon Coppuck, was the team's new car for the {{F1|1973}} season.<ref name="henry26"/> Sharing parts of the design of both McLaren's Formula One [[McLaren M19A|M19]] and Indianapolis M16 cars (itself inspired by [[Team Lotus|Lotus]]'s [[Lotus 72|72]]),<ref>{{harvnb|Nye|1988|page=174}}</ref> it was a mainstay for four years.<ref>{{harvnb|Henry|1999|loc=Appendix 1}}</ref> Hulme won with it in [[1973 Swedish Grand Prix|Sweden]] and Revson took the only Grand Prix wins of his career in [[1973 British Grand Prix|Britain]] and [[1973 Canadian Grand Prix|Canada]]. In {{F1|1974}}, [[Emerson Fittipaldi]], world champion with Lotus two years earlier, joined McLaren.<ref name="fittipaldi">{{cite web|url=http://www.formula1.com/content/fom-website/en/championship/drivers/hall-of-fame/Emerson_Fittipaldi.html|first=Gerald|last=Donaldson|title=Emerson Fittipaldi |work=Formula1.com|publisher=[[Formula One]]|access-date=1 April 2010}}</ref> Hulme, in his final Formula One campaign,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.formula1.com/content/fom-website/en/championship/drivers/hall-of-fame/Denny_Hulme.html |first=Gerald |last=Donaldson |title=Denny Hulme |work=Formula1.com |publisher=[[Formula One]] |access-date=1 April 2010}}</ref> won the [[1974 Argentine Grand Prix|Argentinian]] season-opener; Fittipaldi, with wins in [[1974 Brazilian Grand Prix|Brazil]], [[1974 Belgian Grand Prix|Belgium]] and [[1974 Canadian Grand Prix|Canada]], took the Drivers' Championship. It was a close fight for Fittipaldi, who secured the title with a fourth at the season-ending [[1974 United States Grand Prix|United States Grand Prix]], putting him three points ahead of Ferrari's [[Clay Regazzoni]]. With Hulme and multiple motorcycle world champion [[Mike Hailwood]], he also sealed McLaren's first Constructors' Championship. The year {{F1|1975}} was less successful for the team: Fittipaldi was second in the championship behind [[Niki Lauda]]. Hulme's replacement [[Jochen Mass]] took his sole GP win in [[1974 Spanish Grand Prix|Spain]].

At the end of 1975, Fittipaldi left to join his brother's [[Fittipaldi Automotive|Fittipaldi/Copersucar]] team.<ref name="fittipaldi"/> With the top drivers already signed to other teams, Mayer turned to [[James Hunt]], a driver on whom biographer Gerald Donaldson reflected as having "a dubious reputation".<ref>{{cite book|title=James Hunt: The Biography|first=Gerald|last=Donaldson|year=1995|publisher=CollinsWillow|page=158 |isbn=0-00-218493-1}}</ref> In {{F1|1976}}, Lauda was again strong in his Ferrari; at midseason, he led the championship with 56 points while Hunt had only 26 despite wins in [[1976 Spanish Grand Prix|Spain]] (a race from which he was initially disqualified<ref name="henry32">{{harvnb|Henry|1999|page=32}}</ref>) and [[1976 French Grand Prix|France]]. At the [[1976 German Grand Prix|German Grand Prix]], though, Lauda crashed heavily, was nearly killed, and missed the next two races.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.formula1.com/content/fom-website/en/championship/drivers/hall-of-fame/Niki_Lauda.html|first=Gerald |last=Donaldson|title=Niki Lauda|work=Formula1.com|publisher=[[Formula One]]|access-date=1 April 2010}}</ref> Hunt capitalised by winning four more Grands Prix giving him a three-point deficit going into the finale in [[1976 Japanese Grand Prix|Japan]]. Here it rained torrentially, Lauda retired because of safety concerns, and Hunt sealed the Drivers' Championship by finishing third.<ref name="henry32"/> McLaren, though, lost the Constructors' Championship to Ferrari.

In {{F1|1977}}, the M23 was gradually replaced with the [[McLaren M26|M26]], the M23's final works outing being [[Gilles Villeneuve]]'s Formula One debut with the team in a one-off appearance at the [[1977 British Grand Prix|British Grand Prix]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Villeneuve: The Life of the Legendary Racing Driver|first=Gerald|last=Donaldson|page=80|edition=1st paperback|year=2003|publisher=[[Virgin Books]]|isbn=0-7535-0747-1}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Henry|1999|page=34}}</ref> Hunt won on three occasions that year, but the Lauda and Ferrari combination proved too strong, Hunt and McLaren managing just fifth and third in the respective championships. From there, results continued to worsen. Lotus and [[Mario Andretti]] took the {{F1|1978}} titles with their [[Lotus 78|78]] and [[Lotus 79|79]] [[ground effect in cars|ground-effect]] cars<ref>{{cite book|title=The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Formula One|editor-first=Bruce|editor-last=Jones|year=1997|publisher=[[Hodder & Stoughton]]|page=43|isbn=0-340-70783-6}}</ref> and neither Hunt nor Mass's replacement [[Patrick Tambay]] were able to seriously challenge with the nonground-effect M26.<ref>{{harvnb|Nye|1988|pages=211–213}}</ref> Hunt was dropped at the end of 1978 in favour of Lotus's [[Ronnie Peterson]], but when Peterson was killed by a crash at the [[1978 Italian Grand Prix|Italian Grand Prix]], [[John Watson (racing driver)|John Watson]] was signed, instead.<ref name="henry33">{{harvnb|Henry|1999|page=33}}</ref> No improvement occurred in {{F1|1979}}; Coppuck's [[McLaren M28|M28]] design was described by Mayer as "ghastly, a disaster" and "quite diabolical" and the [[McLaren M29|M29]] did little to change the situation.<ref name="henry33"/> Tambay scored no points and Watson only 15 to place the team eighth at the end of the year.

[[File:Lauda McLaren MP4-2 1984 Dallas F1.jpg|thumb|Five years after his first retirement, Lauda won his third title driving a [[McLaren MP4/2]].|left]]
[[File:ProstAlain McLarenMP4-2B 1985.jpg|thumb|right|[[Alain Prost]], pictured here at the [[1985 German Grand Prix]], won three Drivers' Championships with McLaren.]]
[[File:Ayrton Senna 1988 Canada.jpg|thumb|right|Equipped with [[Honda in Formula One|Honda]] engines and the driving strength of Prost and [[Ayrton Senna]] for {{F1|1988}}, McLaren dominated the season, winning all but one race. Senna won his first world championship after a season-long battle with Prost.]]

The 1980s started much as the 1970s had ended: [[Alain Prost]] took over from Tambay<ref name="prost">{{cite web |url=http://www.formula1.com/content/fom-website/en/championship/drivers/hall-of-fame/Alain_Prost.html |first=Gerald |last=Donaldson |title=Alain Prost |work=Formula1.com |publisher=[[Formula One]] |access-date=1 April 2010}}</ref> but Watson and he rarely scored points. Under increasing pressure since the previous year from principal sponsor [[Altria Group|Philip Morris]] and their executive [[John Hogan (motorsport executive)|John Hogan]], Mayer was coerced into merging McLaren with [[Ron Dennis]]'s Project Four Formula Two team, also sponsored by Philip Morris.<ref>{{cite news|first=Alan|last=Henry |author-link=Alan Henry | title = Motor Racing: Jaguar land Crocodile's brother|work=The Guardian|location=UK|url=https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2003/feb/25/motorracing.formulaone2003|page = 31| date=  25 February 2003| access-date =9 April 2007}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Henry|1999|page=37}}</ref> Dennis had designer [[John Barnard]] who, inspired by the [[carbon-fibre]] rear wings of the [[BMW M1]] race cars that Project Four was preparing, had ideas for an innovative Formula One chassis constructed from carbon-fibre instead of conventional [[aluminium alloy]].<ref>{{harvnb|Henry|1999|pages=37–40}}</ref> On their own, they lacked the money to build it, but with investment that came with the merger it became the [[McLaren MP4/1|McLaren MP4]] (later called MP4/1) of {{F1|1981}}, driven by Watson and [[Andrea de Cesaris]].<ref name="motorsportdennis">{{cite journal|journal=[[Motor Sport (magazine)|Motor Sport]] |first=Rob|last=Widdows|title=Carbon natural|date=May 2007|volume=83|issue=5|publisher=Stratfield}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Henry|1999|page=41}}</ref> In the MP4, Watson won the [[1981 British Grand Prix|British Grand Prix]] and had three other podium finishes. Soon after the merger, McLaren moved from Colnbrook to a new base in Woking and Dennis and Mayer initially shared the managing directorship of the company; by 1982, Mayer had departed and Tyler Alexander's and his shareholdings had been bought by the new owners.<ref>{{harvnb|Nye|1988|pages=42–43}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Nye|1988|pages=48–49}}</ref>