McLaren's 40 years in 40 facts

On May 22nd 1966 Manfred Mann was top of the UK charts with "Pretty Flamingo", the Rolling Stones had the top album "Aftermath" and the Beach Boys had just released the legendary "Pet Sounds". On that same day Bruce McLaren debuted his M2B at the Monaco Grand Prix marking the beginning of one of the most successful teams in Formula 1 history.

In the 40 years since that day McLaren has:

1. Competed in 602 Formula 1 Grands Prix.

2. Won a total of 148 of the races they have competed in.

3. Won 11 Formula 1 Drivers' World Championships and been crowned Formula 1 Constructors' World Champions a total of eight times.

4. Won the Indianapolis 500 three times, the Can Am Championship on five occasions as well the 24 Heures du Mans.

5. Finished one-two on the podium on 40 occasions.

6. Started 122 races from pole position.

7. On 70 of these occasions gone on to win the race from pole position.

8. Started 255 Grand Prix from the front row.

9. On 51 occasions occupied both spots on the front row of the grid.

10. Set the fastest lap of the race 126 times.

11. Been on the podium a total of 387 times, this would be the equivalent of 1161 litres of champagne that could have been sprayed by the drivers.

12. Raced on six continents and in 28 countries, of which the team has won races in 25.

13. Been the only team to date to have won all but one race in a whole season when they finished 15 out of a possible 16 races on the top step of the podium in 1988 with Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost.

14. Had 42 different drivers race for the team with 16 different nationalities.

15. Employed 10 World Champions over the 40 years. Of these six have won a total of 11 Drivers' World Championship between them whilst driving for McLaren.

16. Maintained the longest partnership in the sport, with HUGO BOSS supplying the team uniforms for the past 25 years.

17. Only had a total of three Title Partners throughout its 40 year history.

18. Built and moved into the award winning McLaren Technology Centre which was officially opened by Her Majesty The Queen in May 2004.

In 1995 Mercedes-Benz joined McLaren and since then:

19. The McLaren Mercedes Partnership has claimed 44 victories, 43 pole positions, 58 fastest laps, 134 podiums, 224 point finishes, 14 one-two finishes, in a total of 192 starts.

Since McLaren's Formula 1 debut in Monaco, the team has been dominant on the streets of Monte Carlo.

20. In 1966 the Monaco Grand Prix consisted of 100 laps at 3.130km each, the qualifying lap was 1m29.9 seconds with the top speed reaching 126.080km/h. In 2005 there were 78 laps of 3.340km in length. The pole position set by Kimi Raikkonen was 1m13.644 and the top average speed 158.540km/h.

21. The livery of the original car was white with a green stripe. The reason for this was due to the film Grand Prix. The car featured heavily in the John Frankenheimer movie as McLaren had offered to assist the filmmakers in order to fund their first season in Formula 1. The three hour long film won three Academy Awards.

22. There were a total of four employees that assisted Bruce at the Monaco Grand Prix in 1966. In contrast Team McLaren Mercedes will be sending 137 people to Monte Carlo this year; this figure includes drivers, engineers, mechanics, support crew, marketing personnel and hospitality.

23. Of the original workforce in 1966, two are still currently working within McLaren Racing. Tyler Alexander travels with the team as a systems engineer and Ray Rowe works as a gearbox mechanic.

24. Following their debut it only took 24 races before McLaren won their first ever Grand Prix at the 1968 Belgium Grand Prix with Bruce at the wheel.

25. McLaren first won on the streets of the principality with Alain Prost securing the first victory in Monaco in 1984.

26. Since this win, McLaren have gone on to win the Monaco Grand Prix a total of 13 times. This is more than any other team in the history of the sport. In addition since the 1998 Monaco Grand Prix, McLaren Mercedes has taken victory in the Principality on four occasions.

27. Two years later in 1986 McLaren scored the first of 40 one-two finishes for the team in Monaco with Alain Prost crossing the line in front of team-mate Keke Rosberg.

28. Past McLaren World Champion Ayrton Senna also holds the record for most wins at this track with a total of six, five of which he scored whilst driving a McLaren.

29. McLaren have started the Monaco Grand Prix from pole position on 10 occasions.

30. Last year Team McLaren Mercedes drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Juan Pablo Montoya raced at Monaco with the most precious helmets ever worn by a Formula 1 driver. Both helmets were adorned with a total of 600 Steinmetz diamonds.

31. With Kimi Raikkonen winning the Monaco Grand Prix in 2005 and Juan Pablo Montoya winning in 2003 for Williams, Team McLaren Mercedes will be the only team on the grid competing with two past winners this year.

As we are celebrating our first race 40 years ago, it is a good time to look back on some of the firsts McLaren have introduced to Formula 1 in the last 40 years:

32. In 1981 McLaren raced the first carbon fibre composite chassis, the MP4/1.

33. The 1993 challenger, MP4/8, was the first car to feature bargeboards.

34. Another feature of today's cars, the mid-wing, was originally seen on the MP4/10 in 1995.

35. An important cooling feature on the car, the chimney, was first introduced on the MP4-15 in 2000.

36. McLaren were the first constructor to win in Formula 1, Can Am, Indy 500 and Le Mans.

37. In 1998 Team McLaren Mercedes introduced the first two-seater Formula 1 car the MP4-98T, which has taken 151 passengers for the ride of their life, including His Majesty King Juan Carlos, Jim Corr, Murray Walker, Vanessa Mae and the Russian cosmonaut Vasili Tsieliyev.

38. Over the years McLaren has pioneered in the arena of trackside hospitality, being the first team to introduce double-decker motorhomes and more recently the innovative Team Communications Centre in 2002.

39. McLaren, in conjunction with Corporate Partner HUGO BOSS, were the first to introduce bespoke clothing for the team to wear whilst travelling to and from Formula 1 grand prix and tests.

40. McLaren were the first team to produce their own in-house monthly magazine. Racing Line will publish its 100th edition this June.