[19] During this period, Bruce drove for his team in sports car races in the United Kingdom and North America and also entered the 1965 Tasman Series with Phil Hill, but did not win it.

Using an updated 'C' version on the M7,[33] a further three podium finishes followed for Bruce in 1969, but the team's fifth win had to wait until the last race of the 1969 championship when Hulme won the Mexican Grand Prix.

It was a close fight for Fittipaldi, who secured the title with a fourth at the season-ending United States Grand Prix, putting him three points ahead of Ferrari's Clay Regazzoni.

In 1986, the Williams team were resurgent with their Honda engine and drivers Nigel Mansell and Nelson Piquet, while at McLaren, Lauda's replacement, 1982 champion Keke Rosberg could not gel with the car.

McLaren, in turn, brought in Ferrari's Gerhard Berger, but like the two seasons before, the Drivers' Championship was led by Prost and Senna and settled at the penultimate race in Japan.

[80] Senna—who initially agreed only to a race-by-race contract before later signing for the whole year[81][82]—won five races, including a record-breaking sixth victory at Monaco and a win at the European Grand Prix, where he went from fifth to first on the opening lap.

[83] His teammate, 1991 CART champion Michael Andretti, fared much worse; he scored only seven points, and was replaced by test driver Mika Häkkinen for the final three rounds of the season.

[92] Despite the car's improved pace, unreliability proved costly throughout the season, with retirements at the British and Luxembourg Grands Prix occurring whilst Häkkinen was in the lead.

However, they were hampered when the MP4-18 car designed for that year suffered crash test and reliability problems, forcing them to continue using a 'D' development of the year-old MP4-17 for longer than they had initially planned.

Montoya parted company acrimoniously with the team to race in NASCAR after the United States Grand Prix, where he crashed into Räikkönen at the start; test driver Pedro de la Rosa deputised for the remainder of the season.

[102][103] The pair scored four wins each and led the Drivers' Championship for much of the year, but tensions arose within the team, BBC Sport claimed that Alonso was unable to cope with Hamilton's competitiveness.

[105] An internal agreement within the McLaren team stated that drivers would alternatively have an extra lap for qualifying, however, Lewis Hamilton refused to accept for the Hungarian Grand Prix.

[113] Button won twice (in Australia and China) and Hamilton three times (in Turkey, Canada, and Belgium), but they and McLaren failed to win their respective championships, that year's MP4-25 largely outpaced by Red Bull's RB6.

[120] Kevin Magnussen replaced Pérez for 2014, and Ron Dennis, who had remained at arm's length since stepping down from the team principal role, returned as CEO of the operation.

During pre-season testing at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in February, Alonso suffered a concussion and, as a result, Kevin Magnussen replaced him for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in March.

[122] Following considerable unreliability and initial suggestions that the Honda engine was underpowered relative to its competitors, steady performance gains eventually resulted in Button managing to score the team's first (four) points of the season at the sixth round in Monaco.

Alonso, as a result of his injuries, was forced to miss the second round of the Championship, the Bahrain Grand Prix, and was replaced by reserve driver Stoffel Vandoorne.

At the United States Grand Prix, McLaren matched their Monaco result with 12 points after an attacking race from Alonso saw him claim fifth position while Button once again finished ninth.

[187] McLaren introduced further upgrades to the MCL60 at the Singapore Grand Prix, where Piastri, having been impeded by Lance Stroll's heavy crash, started seventeenth with Norris in fourth.

The team decided against running a fresh power unit and incurring penalties despite the low grid position and losing some engine components at the first race in Bahrain[192] and Norris recovered to a brilliant fifth-place finish, ahead of Piastri in eighth.

The Las Vegas Grand Prix saw a double Q1 elimination for the first time since Miami earlier in the year, this being down to the team electing against using a second set of softs for their final runs.

[198] Team principal Andrea Stella set three goals for development of the MCL38, including improving aerodynamic efficiency, mechanical grip, tyre performance,[199] and overall driveability, which had been a long-standing problem of McLaren cars;[200][201] the latter issue was excaberated with the mid-season upgrades introduced to the MCL60.

The following year, Robin Herd purpose-designed the Chevrolet V8-powered M6A, delays with the Formula One programme allowing the team to spend extra resources on developing the Can-Am car which was the first to be painted in McLaren orange.

[218] McLaren first contested the United States Auto Club's (USAC) Indianapolis 500 race in 1970, encouraged by their tyre supplier Goodyear, which wanted to break competitor Firestone's stranglehold on the event.

[223] On 12 April 2017, McLaren revealed they would participate in the 2017 Indianapolis 500 with their current Formula 1 driver Fernando Alonso at the wheel of a Honda-powered McLaren-branded Andretti Autosport IndyCar.

[252] In Round 7 at the Island X-Prix II, Gilmour suffered a fractured rib and a concussion following a crash during the first free practice session and was ruled out for the rest of the weekend.

[308] In October 2023, McLaren Automotive announced its intent to participate in the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans under the new LMGT3 category through CEO Zak Brown's United Autosports as its customer team.

McLaren was involved, along with the other teams of the Formula One Constructors Association (FOCA), in a dispute with FISA and Alfa Romeo, Renault, and Ferrari over control of the sport in the early 1980s.

[349] This changed in 1974, when Philip Morris joined as title sponsor through their Marlboro cigarette brand, whilst one car continued to run—ostensibly by a separate team—with Yardley livery for the year.

[380][381] McLaren and OKX collaborated again for the 2023 Singapore and Japanese Grands Prix to race a predominantly black car with streaks of the standard papaya orange called "Stealth Mode".