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McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown said this was due to the team's "very targeted" approach and already stable Formula One line-up, meaning it would be difficult for any young drivers to find a place in Formula One. [2] [3] In April 2023, the Young Driver Programme was replaced by the Driver Development Programme. [4]
In 1998, McLaren became the first Formula One team to establish a driver development program, founding the McLaren-Mercedes Young Driver Support Programme; [1] its initial cohort famously included 13-year-old kart racer Lewis Hamilton, [2] who became the first driver development program alumnus in Formula One to win the World Drivers' Championship in 2008. [3]
The McLaren GT Driver Academy, formerly known as McLaren GT Young Driver Programme is the programme launched by McLaren GT in 2015 to offer greater benefits to a larger pool of drivers who hold a range of different on-track experience.
Bustamante is the first female driver signed to the McLaren Driver Development Programme and the second full-time female driver signed by McLaren after Emma Gilmour for McLaren XE. [14] [15] In Round 1 at Jeddah, Bustamante finished fifth in Race 1 and was promoted to sixth (from eighth) in Race 2 due to penalties for other competitors.
Signed to the McLaren Young Driver Programme from 2010 to 2019, De Vries won his first championship at the Formula Renault Eurocup in 2014 with Koiranen. He finished third in the 2015 Formula Renault 3.5 Series before winning multiple races in the 2016 GP3 Series .
In 2015, Watson made a switch to the British GT Championship driving a McLaren 650S GT3 for Von Ryan Racing as part of the McLaren Young Driver Programme. [3] He is competing in the GT3 class, a step-up from the GT4 class he previously drove in the 2014 Ginetta GT4 Supercup .
In February 2017, McLaren signed Lando Norris to their Young Driver Programme. [127] Alonso did not take part in the 2017 Monaco Grand Prix as he was participating in the Indianapolis 500. Instead Jenson Button returned for the one race as his replacement. [128] McLaren finished 2017 9th with 30 points in total.
In September 2023, McLaren announced that Hirakawa has joined the McLaren Driver Development Programme and will be the team's reserve driver for the 2024 season. [ 36 ] [ 37 ] On 12 October 2023, Hirakawa tested Formula One machinery for the first time, driving the team's 2021 -spec MCL35M at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya alongside Pato O ...