[6] The chassis was designed by Tim Goss, Neil Oatley, Matt Morris, Mark Ingham and Marcin Budkowski and was powered by a customer Mercedes-Benz powertrain.

The car was unveiled on 24 January 2014,[6] and was driven by 2009 World Drivers' Champion Jenson Button and debutant Kevin Magnussen, who replaced Sergio Pérez, after he won the 2013 Formula Renault 3.5 Series title.

[2] The MP4-29 was McLaren's first turbo-powered Formula One car since the Honda engined MP4/4 which powered Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost to 15 wins and 15 pole positions from 16 races in 1988.

This was the last McLaren model that was powered by a Mercedes-Benz engine until the 2021 season, due to the team switching to Honda in 2015.

[8] At the Australian Grand Prix, Kevin Magnussen and Jenson Button finished third and fourth on the road, respectively, but were elevated to second and third after Daniel Ricciardo's disqualification.