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The 2006 season saw McLaren introduce a new, chrome livery for their MP4-21. The team was positive about it's chances in the upcoming championship after the performances in the latter half of 2005, and the news of reigning World Champion Fernando Alonso joining the team for 2007 would have done alot to lift spirits within the camp. However, in winter testing for the new car it became clear that the Mercedes engine was lacking in power, and questions began to raise over whether the McLaren would be able to challenge for honours in the upcoming season. Mercedes responded by introducing a new spec engine which offered far improved performance.
The first race weekend of the season at Bahrain began badly with Kimi Räikkönen suffering a suspension failure in qualifying, resulting in him crashing out and having to start from the back of the grid, due to being unable to set a time. However Räikkönen was able to make his way up to third and a podium, along with Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso. McLaren team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya finished fifth, complaining of car setup problems. Juan Pablo Montoya parted company acrimoniously with the team after the United States Grand Prix, in which he ended both his and team mate Räikkönen's hopes for the race by crashing into him at the start. He announced he was departing to race NASCAR for Chip Ganassi Racing, and was provisionaly replaced by Pedro de la Rosa, which in the end lasted for the remainder of the season.
Following the 2006 Italian Grand Prix, Ferrari confirmed that they had signed Räikkönen as a replacement for the retiring Schumacher.
The season continued with the McLarens being near the top of the field, but the superior reliability and speed of the Ferraris and Renaults prevented the team from gaining any race victories from 2006, something not seen for a decade at McLaren. Kimi Räikkönen finished his final race for the team at Interlagos, Brazil, in fifth place.
2007
The 2007 season sees Fernando Alonso replace Kimi Räikkönen, Lewis Hamilton replace Juan Pablo Montoya and Pedro de la Rosa and Vodafone join as title sponsor. As Vodafone McLaren Mercedes the team launched their new car, the MP4-22, and driver line up on 15 January 2007 in Valencia, Spain.
During the current winter testing period (which is always between the final race of one season and the first race of the next), the MP4-22 has remained consistently near the top of the timesheets for all circuits involved. All round reliability of the car also appears to have improved, with, according to the team, just one engine failure (which occurred after the end of its operational lifespan).
Sponsorship
The team has had title sponsorship from four brands in its history: Yardley (1971-1973), Marlboro (1974-1996), West (1997-2005) and Vodafone (2007-present).
It was originally called Bruce McLaren Motor Racing, although it had early title sponsorship from Yardley cosmetics. McLaren had one of the longest standing title sponsorship arrangements in sport with Philip Morris through their Marlboro brand. The relationship dated back to 1974 and was continuous from 1981 to 1996, after which, (from the 1997 season on), Marlboro chose to exclusively sponsor Ferrari.
Imperial Tobacco (through its West brand) was the title sponsor of McLaren from 1997 until 29 July 2005, after which McLaren were obliged to seek a new principal sponsor due to a European Union directive banning tobacco advertising. The team was therefore known as Team McLaren Mercedes until the end of 2006. The current title sponsor is Vodafone, with the official team name for the 2007 season being Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, as announced in December 2005, the team is presently known as Vodafone McLaren Mercedes for the 2007 season .
Aside from title sponsors, other current sponsors include Diageo plc. The Diageo deal was announced on 22 February 2005, and involves the promotion of its Johnnie Walker whisky brand. "Johnnie Walker" titles and "walking man" images were applied to the team's cars (either side of the air intake) for the Hungarian Grand Prix, however "Johnnie Walker" has at no stage been part of the team name. During October 2006 McLaren announced a new sponsor partnership with the Spanish insurance company Mutua Madrileña comencing in 2007 and on 1 November 2006 a partnership with the Banco Santander Central Hispano was confirmed, again for the 2007 Formula One season.
Emirates Airline was a major sponsor of the team for the 2006 season in a one-year deal (announced on 8 March 2006) reportedly worth between $20-$25 Million. |
