McLaren is a British automotive and motorsport icon headquartered in Woking, United Kingdom, with roots stretching back to 1963 when New Zealand racing driver Bruce McLaren founded Bruce McLaren Motor Racing. Bruce had begun racing as a teenager, driving an aging 1929 Austin Seven Ulster given to him by his father, and by age 22 became the youngest driver to ever win a Grand Prix — a milestone that set the tone for his entire career. The team quickly became a formidable force, dominating the Can-Am series with cars like the M1A and M6A before Bruce's tragic death in a testing accident in 1970 at just 32 years old.

The team lived on under Teddy Mayer, securing its first Formula 1 Constructors' Championship in 1974 and going on to become one of the most successful teams in Grand Prix history. The 1980s marked a golden era: the 1981 MP4/1 was the first F1 car to use a carbon-fiber monocoque chassis, revolutionizing race car safety and performance, while legendary drivers like Niki Lauda and Ayrton Senna delivered multiple World Championships.

McLaren's leap into road cars came in 1989, when McLaren Cars (later McLaren Automotive) was founded to build a street-legal supercar using Formula 1-derived technology. The result, the 1992 McLaren F1, became the fastest production car in the world with a top speed of 386.5 mph — only 106 were built, with one selling for $20.5 million at auction in 2021. A partnership with Mercedes-Benz followed, producing the SLR McLaren from 2003 to 2009, before McLaren Automotive fully relaunched as an independent manufacturer in 2010 with the MP4-12C, the first car built entirely with McLaren's own parts.