McLaren Driver Development Programme

McLaren Driver Development Programme

Founded	1998;27 years ago (1998)
Base	McLaren Technology Centre Woking, Surrey, England
Team principal(s)	Stephanie Carlin
Current drivers	IndyCar Pato O'Ward Formula 2 Alex Dunne Formula 3 Brando Badoer Martinius Stenshorne Ugo Ugochukwu F1 Academy Ella Lloyd Karting Dries Van Langendonck

The McLaren Driver Development Programme, formerly known as the McLaren Young Driver Programme, is a driver development programme operated by McLaren. It is intended to offer year-by-year guidance, assistance and endorsement to help promising young racers climb the motorsport ladder. The programme was also formerly known as the McLaren-Honda Young Driver Programme and the McLaren-Mercedes Young Driver Support Programme, reflecting engine deals with Honda and Mercedes, respectively.

The most notable participant in the programme is Lewis Hamilton, who joined the programme while karting and eventually graduated to the McLaren F1 Team. He has won the Formula One Drivers' Championship seven times between 2008 and 2020, where the 2008 championship was won with McLaren. Hamilton is currently the only graduate from the programme who has won a World Drivers' Championship.

As of 2025, nine programme drivers have graduated to Formula One, with four of those debuting directly with the McLaren F1 Team: Lewis Hamilton in 2007, Kevin Magnussen in 2014, Stoffel Vandoorne in 2016, and Lando Norris in 2019. Hamilton and Norris have won a Grand Prix with the team.

History

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. McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown said this was due to the team's "very targeted" approach and already stable Formula One line-up, meaning it would be difficult for any young drivers to find a place in Formula One. ^{[1] [2]}

In April 2023, the Young Driver Programme was replaced by the Driver Development Programme. ^[3] Later in October, the programme signed its first female driver in Bianca Bustamante, who represented McLaren in the 2024 season of F1 Academy. ^{[4] [5]} In October 2024, the programme signed its second female driver in Ella Lloyd, who will represent McLaren in the 2025 F1 Academy season ^[6] in place of Bustamante, who will leave the series after completing her second season at the end of 2024. ^[7]

Current drivers

Driver	Since	Current series	Titles as McLaren Driver Development Programme member
Ugo Ugochukwu [8]	2021–	Formula Regional Middle East Championship FIA Formula 3 Championship	Euro 4 Championship ( 2023 ) FIA FR World Cup ( 2024 )
Pato O'Ward [3]	2023–	IndyCar Series IMSA SportsCar Championship	None
Brando Badoer [note 1] [9]	2024–	Formula Regional Middle East Championship FIA Formula 3 Championship	None
Alex Dunne [10]	2024–	FIA Formula 2 Championship	None
Dries van Langendonck [11]	2024–	Karting (OK)	None
Martinius Stenshorne [10]	2024–	FIA Formula 3 Championship	None
Ella Lloyd [6]	2025–	F1 Academy F4 British Championship	None

Graduates to Formula 1

This list contains the drivers that have graduated to Formula 1 with McLaren support. Therefore, drivers who have had support in the past and entered Formula 1 through other means, such as Nick Heidfeld and Gabriel Bortoleto, are not included. ^[12]

Driver	Academy experience		F1 experience with McLaren	F1 experience with other teams
	Years	Former series
Lewis Hamilton	1998–2006	Karting (1998–2001) British Formula Renault Championship (2002– 2003 ) Formula 3 Euro Series (2004– 2005 ) GP2 Series ( 2006 )	2007–2012	Mercedes (2013–2024) Ferrari (2025–)
Kevin Magnussen	2010–2013	German Formula Three Championship (2010) British Formula 3 International Series (2011) Formula Renault 3.5 Series (2012– 2013 )	2014–2015	Renault (2016) Haas (2017–2020; 2022–2024)
Stoffel Vandoorne	2013–2016	Formula Renault 3.5 Series (2013) GP2 Series (2014– 2015 ) Super Formula (2016)	2016–2018	—
Lando Norris	2017–2018	FIA Formula 3 European Championship ( 2017 ) FIA Formula 2 Championship (2018)	2019–	—

Former drivers

Driver	Years	Series competed	F1 team(s)
Wesley Graves [13] [14]	1998	Karting (1998)	None
Nicolas Minassian [13]	1998	International Formula 3000 Championship (1998)	None
Norman Simon [13]	1998	German Formula Three Championship (1998)	None
Ricardo Zonta [13]	1998	FIA GT Championship ( 1998 )	BAR (1999–2000) Jordan (2001) Toyota (2004–2005)
Nick Heidfeld [13]	1998–1999	International Formula 3000 Championship (1998– 1999 )	Prost (2000) Sauber (2001–2003; 2010) Jordan (2004) Williams (2005) BMW Sauber (2006–2009) Renault (2011)
Mário Haberfeld [15]	1999	International Formula 3000 Championship (1999)	None
Cheng Congfu [16]	2003–2006	British Formula Renault Championship (2003–2006)	None
Giedo van der Garde	2006	Formula 3 Euro Series (2006)	Caterham (2013)
Oliver Rowland	2007–2010	Karting (2007–2010)	None
Alexander Albon	2010	Karting (2010)	Toro Rosso (2019) Red Bull Racing (2019–2020) Williams (2022–)
Jack Harvey	2010	Formula BMW Europe (2010)	None
Petri Suvanto [17]	2010	Formula BMW Europe (2010)	None
Oliver Turvey	2010–2011	GP2 Series (2010–2011)	None
Ben Barnicoat	2010–2015	Karting (2010–2013) Formula Renault 2.0 NEC (2014) Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 (2014–2015)	None
Nyck de Vries [18]	2010–2018	Karting (2010–2011) Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 (2012– 2014 ) Formula Renault 2.0 Alps (2013– 2014 ) Formula Renault 3.5 Series (2015) GP3 Series (2016) FIA Formula 2 Championship (2017–2018)	Williams (2022) AlphaTauri (2023)
Tom Blomqvist [19]	2012	FIA Formula 3 European Championship (2012)	None
Andrew Tang [20]	2012	Karting (2012)	None
Nobuharu Matsushita [21] [note 2]	2015–2017	GP2 Series (2015–2016) FIA Formula 2 Championship (2017)	None
Nirei Fukuzumi [note 2]	2016–2017	GP3 Series (2016–2017)	None
Sérgio Sette Câmara [22]	2019	FIA Formula 2 Championship (2019)	None
Álex Palou [23] [24]	2023	IndyCar Series ( 2023 )	None
Ryō Hirakawa [25] [note 3]	2023–2024	Super Formula (2023) FIA World Endurance Championship ( 2023 –2024)	None
Gabriel Bortoleto [26]	2024	FIA Formula 2 Championship ( 2024 )	Sauber (2025)
Bianca Bustamante [4]	2024	F1 Academy (2024) Formula Winter Series (2024) F4 British Championship (2024) Italian F4 Championship (2024) Euro 4 Championship (2024)	None

• Championship titles highlighted in bold.

See also

• McLaren Autosport BRDC Award
• McLaren GT Driver Academy

Notes

1. Badoer was signed to the programme as "optioned driver" in 2023 before earning full junior status in 2024. ^[9]
2. Driver was simultaneously a member of the Honda Formula Dream Project.
3. Hirakawa was simultaneously a member of the TGR Driver Challenge Program.

References

1. van Osten, Phillip (24 December 2020). "Brown: Lack of McLaren young drivers due to 'different philosophy'". F1i.com. Archived from the original on 24 December 2020. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
2. Smith, Luke (23 December 2020). "McLaren sticking to "targeted" approach for F1 young driver programme". Autosport.com. Archived from the original on 26 December 2020. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
3. "McLAREN ANNOUNCES NEW DRIVER DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME". McLaren.com. McLaren.
4. "McLaren sign F1 Academy's Bianca Bustamante as first female member of Driver Development Programme". Formula 1®. 18 October 2023. Archived from the original on 24 October 2023. Retrieved 23 October 2023.
5. "All 10 Formula 1 teams will have F1 Academy drivers and liveries for the 2024 season". F1® Academy. 26 July 2023. Archived from the original on 29 October 2023. Retrieved 21 October 2023.
6. "Ella Lloyd to represent McLaren for the 2025 F1 Academy season". McLaren . 8 October 2024. Retrieved 8 October 2024.
7. "Rules and Regulations". F1 Academy . Retrieved 15 October 2024. Additionally, all drivers may only compete in two seasons of the series.
8. "McLaren sign long-term deal with 13-year-old American karting ace Ugo Ugochukwu". www.formula1.com. 22 March 2021. Archived from the original on 24 October 2023. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
9. Wood, Ida (7 October 2024). "Badoer earns full McLaren junior status and Prema seat in F3". Formula Scout. Retrieved 2 January 2025.
10. "FIA FORMULA 3 DRIVERS ALEX DUNNE AND MARTINIUS STENSHORNE JOIN McLAREN DRIVER DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME". McLaren. 16 May 2024. Retrieved 16 May 2024.
11. "2023 World Junior Karting Champion Dries Van Langendonck joins the McLaren Driver Development programme". www.mclaren.com. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
12. "Kick Sauber confirm rookie Bortoleto as second driver for 2025". 6 November 2024.
13. Noble, Jonathan. "Futures on Fast Forward". Atlas F1. Archived from the original on 26 October 2020. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
14. "Mclaren Sign Kart Drivers". Crash. 9 April 1998. Archived from the original on 27 October 2020. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
15. Bradley, Charles (25 December 2018). "The F1 test driver who now saves wild jaguars". Motorsport.com . Motorsport Network . Retrieved 26 June 2024.
16. De Groote, Steven (6 August 2003). "McLaren signs Cheng Congfu". F1 Technical. Archived from the original on 23 October 2020. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
17. "McLaren tukee suomalaislupausta". sportti.com. 19 March 2010. Archived from the original on 16 March 2017. Retrieved 15 March 2017.
18. Wood, Elliot (6 May 2019). "Nyck de Vries' split with McLaren confirmed". Formula Scout. Archived from the original on 29 November 2020. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
19. "Stig's son joins McLaren". The Telegraph. 26 February 2012. Archived from the original on 6 February 2018. Retrieved 5 April 2018.
20. de Cotta, Ian (10 February 2014). "Tang wins big in New Zealand". Today Online.
21. "2017 McLaren-Honda Young Driver Programme members revealed". McLaren Racing. 22 February 2017. Archived from the original on 12 November 2020. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
22. Wood, Elliot (9 March 2020). "Sergio Sette Camara leaves McLaren for return to Red Bull". Formula Scout. Archived from the original on 23 October 2020. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
23. Fryer, Jenna (28 July 2022). "IndyCar champ Palou declares he will be at McLaren in 2023". AP News . Archived from the original on 24 October 2023. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
24. Martin, Bruce (18 August 2023). "McLaren And Arrow McLaren File Lawsuit Against Alex Palou". Forbes . Retrieved 24 October 2023.
25. Jogia, Saajan (22 September 2023). "F1 News: McLaren Takes on New Reserve Driver". Sports Illustrated . Archived from the original on 24 October 2023. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
26. Wood, Ida (5 October 2023). "McLaren signs Bortoleto as junior, makes Badoer an 'optioned driver'". Formula Scout. Archived from the original on 24 October 2023. Retrieved 5 October 2023.