The McLaren Driver Development Programme, formerly known as the McLaren Young Driver Programme, is a driver development programme operated by

McLaren McLaren Racing Limited ( ) is a British auto racing, motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. The team is a subsidiary of the McLaren Group, which owns a majority of the team. McLaren is best known a ...

. 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 commonly known as just Honda, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate automotive manufacturer headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in October 1946 by Soichiro Honda, Honda has bee ...

and Mercedes, respectively. The most notable participant in the programme is

Lewis Hamilton Sir Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton (born 7 January 1985) is a British racing driver who competes in Formula One for Scuderia Ferrari, Ferrari. Hamilton has won a joint-record seven Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles—tied with M ...

, 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 championship was won with McLaren. Hamilton is currently the only graduate from the programme who has won a

World Drivers' Championship Formula One, abbreviated to F1, is the highest class of open-wheeled auto racing defined by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), motorsport's world governing body. The "formula" in the name refers to a set of rules to which a ...

. As of 2025, nine programme drivers have graduated to

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

, with four of those debuting directly with the McLaren F1 Team: Lewis Hamilton in ,

Kevin Magnussen Kevin Jan Magnussen (; born 5 October 1992) is a Danish racing driver, who competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for W Racing Team, WRT and the IMSA SportsCar Championship for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, RLL as a factory driver f ...

in , Stoffel Vandoorne in , and Lando Norris in . 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 Nicolas Minassian (Armenian language, Armenian: ; born 28 February 1973) is a French people, French professional racing driver of Armenians, Armenian descent. After finishing 2nd place in the 1993 Formula Renault Eurocup, Marseille-born Minassia ...

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. In April 2023, the Young Driver Programme was replaced by the Driver Development Programme. Later in October, the programme signed its first female driver in Bianca Bustamante, who represented McLaren in the 2024 season of

F1 Academy F1 Academy is a female-only, Formula 4-level Formula racing, single-seater racing championship founded by the Formula One Group. The championship is a One-design racing, spec series, meaning that all teams compete with an identical Tatuus F4-T4 ...

. In October 2024, the programme signed its second female driver in

Ella Lloyd Ella Mai Lloyd (born 20 July 2005) is a United Kingdom, British racing driver from Wales who currently competes for Rodin Motorsport in 2025 F1 Academy season, F1 Academy and the 2025 F4 British Championship, F4 British Championship. She is a me ...

, who will represent McLaren in the 2025 F1 Academy season in place of Bustamante, who left the series after completing her second season.

Current drivers

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.

History

Current drivers

Graduates to Formula 1

Former drivers

See also

Notes

References