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The programme was founded in 1998 by McLaren and Mercedes as the McLaren-Mercedes Young Driver Support Programme. The programme notably signed Lewis Hamilton, Nick Heidfeld and Nicolas Minassian as some of its first drivers. From 2019 to 2021, no drivers were part of the program.
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.
McLaren; McLaren Applied; Autosport BRDC Award; McLaren Driver Development Programme; McLaren GT Driver Academy; McLaren M630 engine; McLaren M838T engine; McLaren M840T engine; McLaren Technology Centre; Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains
In February 2017, McLaren signed Lando Norris to their Young Driver Programme. [132] 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. [133] McLaren finished 2017 9th with 30 points in total.
In February 2013, Vandoorne joined McLaren's Young Driver Programme, [13] under the tutelage of his then manager Richard Goddard, in collaboration with the team's sporting director Sam Michael and its head of communications Matt Bishop, to whom Vandoorne had been introduced in 2011 by Alex Wurz.
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 .