Track testing McLaren’s latest F1 title winners

By:

Kevin Turner

Aug 19, 2023, 10:54 AM

As McLaren celebrates its 60th anniversary, Autosport joined its Heritage arm at Pembrey as the team gathered two Formula 1 title-winning machines and a third that won five grands prix. Tester Rob Garofall has driven more McLaren racing cars than anyone else, and was entrusted with pressing the loud pedal in the three Mercedes-powered beasts

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Seeing Formula 1 cars on track, particularly in an unusual environment, is always special. And the chance to join McLaren Heritage while it runs three of its grand prix winners at remote Welsh track Pembrey was too good an opportunity to miss as Autosport geared up to celebrate 60 years of the famous British squad.

The day brought together Mika Hakkinen’s 1999 title-winning MP4-14, one of the MP4-23s used by Lewis Hamilton on his way to the 2008 crown, and a victorious MP4-25 driven by Hamilton and Jenson Button in 2010. That means we have McLaren’s two most-recent championship winners, as well as a runner-up.

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Kevin Turner

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Kevin Turner is Autosport’s Chief Editor. While studying History at the University of York, Kevin began covering UK club events as a freelance reporter for Autosport and Motorsport News. He joined the Autosport staff as Editorial Assistant on the magazine in 2006, winning what is now known as the Motorsport UK Young Journalist of the Year Award. He became National Editor in 2008 and over the next few seasons covered a range of international events, including the Le Mans 24 Hours, as well as the British Touring Car Championship and British GT. Kevin became Features Editor before switching to edit Motorsport News in 2014.

He returned to Autosport in 2016 to become editor of the magazine, a dream job that is still part of his role.

He became Chief Editor in 2020, helping to plan content for autosport.com and Autosport’s podcast as well as seeing the magazine through the coronavirus pandemic. Kevin also led work on the special publication celebrating 70 years of Autosport and has been a judge on the Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Young Driver Award, formerly known as the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award, since 2008. He lives in Warboys with his wife and two children.