Since their F1 debut at the 1966 Monaco race, the team has won 10 constructors’ titles and 13 drivers’ championships. And they mark this milestone having added to both those totals last season, with Lando Norris becoming the eighth racer to be crowned world champion while racing in McLaren colours.
Button joined McLaren in 2010 as the defending champion, having won the title while driving for Brawn GP the previous season. He never managed to summit the F1 world again, but he did complete seven full seasons with the team and finished second in the championship in his second campaign as a McLaren driver in 2011, as team-mate to Lewis Hamilton.
He reflected on that period as he spoke about his time driving for the team live on air in his role as an analyst for Sky Sports F1. “My best drives were with McLaren,” Button declared. “It was such an emotional time with the team because the first three years with Lewis Hamilton was a massive challenge for me to go up against Lewis.
“And to win, how many races did I win? Eight races with McLaren over the time that I had with the team was really special. I’m getting quite emotional thinking about it, actually. It was a big part of my career. I won my second race with McLaren. So I came from Brawn, second race in, won in a McLaren. So immediately I had that emotion of celebrating with the team and that sort of put us in good stead for the rest of my career with the team.”
Button was speaking on Friday, the day after McLaren celebrated their milestone by inviting every living driver who has won a World Championship race while representing the team to join them on the grid on media day. Many of them turned up, including double world champion Mika Hakkinen who was given the honour of driving the M2B, the first car Bruce McLaren’s team ever entered into an F1 race, around the streets of Monte Carlo once again.
The future looks bright for McLaren, not just in Formula 1 but also in other racing series. Under chief executive Zak Brown, they are scaling their efforts in the American IndyCar open-wheel racing series and, in 2027, will join the World Endurance Championship with an entry in the hypercar class, with an eye on winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans again.
Button said: “When I was here, it was under Ron Dennis. New leadership is obviously very different and that’s when we’ve seen them branching out to other formulae. Zak is a massive fan of motorsport, so to see them racing at IndyCar and racing at Le Mans is, I’m sure, his dream. But also the whole team, it’s lovely to see that opportunity for more drivers to race for such an iconic team.”