McLaren, a British constructor, competed in the 1978 Formula 1 season with James Hunt and Patrick Tambay. Brett Lunger, Bruno Giacomelli and Nelson Piquet also raced for the team.
McLaren finished 8th in the 1978 constructors' championship with 15 points, 1 podium but no wins – 71 points behind champions Team Lotus. McLaren's best result was 3rd, by James Hunt at the French Grand Prix.
Final 1978 results after 16 rounds. Data: Jolpica F1 API.
Share of the team's points (race and sprint).
Race and sprint points per round, stacked by driver (Hunt, Tambay, Lunger, Giacomelli, Piquet: darker to lighter).
Shared Grand Prix only. Qualifying uses the qualifying classification.
15 shared GPs
Both cars, every round. S = sprint result.
Short answers about McLaren in 1978.
James Hunt and Patrick Tambay drove for McLaren in the 1978 Formula 1 season. Brett Lunger, Bruno Giacomelli and Nelson Piquet also raced for the team.
McLaren scored 15 points in 1978 and finished 8th in the constructors' championship, 71 points behind champions Team Lotus.
McLaren did not win a Grand Prix in 1978; its best result was 3rd.
McLaren was founded by New Zealander Bruce McLaren and first raced in Formula 1 in 1966. It has won ten constructors’ championships and produced drivers’ champions from Emerson Fittipaldi and James Hunt through Niki Lauda, Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna and Mika Häkkinen to Lewis Hamilton in 2008. After a lean decade, the team won back-to-back constructors’ titles in 2024 and 2025, and Lando Norris took the 2025 drivers’ crown.
McLaren is based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking and uses Mercedes power units. Andrea Stella has been team principal since 2023. The 2026 drivers are reigning world champion Lando Norris, who carries the number 1, and Oscar Piastri.
9 shared GPs
8 shared GPs
5 shared GPs
5 shared GPs
4 shared GPs
3 shared GPs
3 shared GPs
3 shared GPs
2 shared GPs
| Giacomelli |
|---|
| Piquet |
|---|
| Pts |
|---|
| 1 | P4 | P6 | P13 | – | – | 4 | |
| 2 | DNF | DNF | DNF | ||||
| 3 | DNF | DNF | P11 | ||||
| 4 | DNF | P12 | – | ||||
| 5 | DNF | P7 | – | ||||
| 6 | DNF | – | P7 | ||||
| 7 | P6 | DNF | – | ||||
| 8 | P8 | P4 | – | ||||
| 9 | P3 | P9 | DNF | ||||
| 10 | DNF | P6 | P8 | ||||
| 11 | DSQ | DNF | – | ||||
| 12 | DNF | DNF | P8 | ||||
| 13 | P10 | P9 | DNF | ||||
| 14 | DNF | P5 | DNF | ||||
| 15 | P7 | P6 | – | ||||
| 16 | DNF | P8 | – |
| – |
0 |
| – |
0 |
| – |
0 |
| – |
0 |
| – |
0 |
| – |
1 |
| – |
3 |
| – |
4 |
| – |
1 |
| – |
0 |
| DNF |
0 |
| DNF |
0 |
| P9 |
2 |
| – |
1 |
| – |
0 |