Top 5 Worst Performing McLaren Drivers


Top 5 Worst Performing McLaren Drivers
By Brian Cotnoir

Another one of F1’s Most Successful Teams of All-Time, the McLaren team has given us some of the best drivers of All-Time including Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost, and Lewis Hamilton.  Really when you look at their history, they haven’t hired a lot of bad drivers—which is good for them—they’ve had a couple slumps in their history, but even at their worst they still had many reliable drivers, so this article was a lot more difficult to compile than my previous article on Williams Grand Prix, but I managed to find a few drivers.  Just keep in mind these aren’t necessarily bad drivers, they were just bad when they drove at McLaren

5.)  Kevin Magnussen, 1 Season, Best Finish of 2nd place, 55 Total Points.

Kevin Magnussen seemed destined for success with he finished in 2nd place in his first Grand Prix race ever with McLaren.  However after his first season with the team, he was eventually dropped in favor of 2-time World Champion Fernando Alonso. 

It just wasn't meant to be, Kevin

4.)  Sergio Perez, 1 Season,  Best Finish of 5th Place, 49 Total Points

Sergio Perez joined the McLaren team in 2013 after the departure of Lewis Hamilton and drove for the team for just one season.  He scored points in most of his races and had a season high 5th place finish at the Indian Grand Prix, but couldn’t fill those giant shoes left by Hamilton’s departure.

You had some big shoes to fill, Checo.  Don't worry you'll be fine

3.)  Stoffel Vandoorne, 2 Seasons, Average Points finish of 16th, 25 Total Points.

Poor Stoffel Vandoorne.  He had 2 seasons at McLaren that did not favor him in any way.  His first season at McLaren was plagued by a disastrous engine deal with Honda, and his second season he was put in the back seat so the team could favor driver Fernando Alonso who announced he was leaving Formula 1 at seasons end.  Here’s hoping he finds more success in Formula E in 2019.

It's not your fault, Stoffel!  You got cheated out of a solid F1 career

2.)  Patrick Tambay 2 Seasons, Average Points finish 14th, 8 Total Points

Tambay’s 2 Seasons at McLaren in the late 1970’s were plagued inconsistency and reliability issues.  He only scored points in his maiden season and he would eventually leave the team and go on to have more success at teams like Ligier, Ferrari, and Renault.



1.)  Andrea de Cesaris, 1 Season,  Best Finish of 6th Place, 1 Total Point

For just 1 Season in 1981 Andrea de Cesaris drove for the mighty McLaren team.   His best finish was 6th Place at the San Marino Grand Prix, where he scored his only point with the team.   Like much of de Cesaris’s career, his time at McLaren was plagued with multiple race retirements.

I can't believe they were desperate enough for de Cesaris either


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