McLaren celebrate F1 Constructors’ Championship with special Artura and 750S
On the eve of the 2025 Formula 1 World Championship season, McLaren announced they’d be celebrating their World Constructors’ Championship in the 2024 season with the release of limited-edition versions of their Artura and 750S supercars.
Recognising McLaren’s first F1 Constructors’ Championship in 26 years and the ninth in the storied team’s history, the special cars are dubbed the ‘MCL38 Celebration Edition’, in honour of the F1 chassis that achieved eight pole positions and six race wins last season in the hands of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri
From 1998 to 2024
Back in 1998, when McLaren won their last Formula 1 Constructors’ Championship, they also did the ‘double’, with Mika Hakkinen winning the Drivers’ Championship. Hakkinen was victorious in eight of sixteen races that season, which combined with a win from team mate David Coulthard, saw McLaren-Mercedes comfortably win the Constructors’ Championship ahead of Ferrari.
Hakkinen went back-to-back in 1999, but McLaren lost the Constructors’ Championship to Ferrari that year. In 2004, McLaren tumbled to fifth in the Constructors’ Championship, then was tainted by the ‘Spygate’ scandal that saw them excluded from the Constructors’ Championship points in 2007. A year later, Lewis Hamilton would win his first Drivers’ Championship - by one point – with McLaren and the team would finish runner-up in the Constructors’ Championship.
Between 2009 and 2012, McLaren would finish either second or third as Red Bull Racing Renault emerged as the dominant team. After that, an uncompetitive MP4-28 car saw the team finish the 2013 season without a single podium, with the following year’s MP4-29 not much better.
A switch from Mercedes to Honda engines in 2015 saw McLaren hit a new low, finishing second last (ninth) in the Constructors’ Championship. Renault engines would replace Honda’s troublesome RA units in 2018, but drivers Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne struggled to achieve good results.
In 2019, a new driver lineup of Carlos Sainz Jr. and Lando Norris (the latter making his F1 debut after serving as test/reserve driver) brought an improvement to fourth in the Constructors’ Championship - McLaren’s best result since 2012.
In 2021, McLaren switched back to Mercedes engines and Daniel Ricciardo joined the team from Renault. At that year’s Italian Grand Prix, Ricciardo famously won, ending a drought for McLaren that went back to 2012. To celebrate, a special ‘Daniel Ricciardo Edition’ of the 720S was released. Finished in a paint scheme inspired by Ricciardo’s MCL35M, the special 720S was exclusive to Australia and limited to just three units.
Fourth in the Constructors’ Championship in 2021, McLaren fell to fifth in 2022, after which the current driver lineup was established when Oscar Piastri replaced Ricciardo.
Given their fourth-place finish in the 2023 Constructor’s Championship, few would have predicted McLaren to go all the way in 2024, especially given the fact neither Norris nor rookie Piastri had won a race to that point. McLaren’s MCL38 was proving to be faster and more reliable than the MCL60, though, as evidenced by Norris’s breakthrough victory at the Miami Grand Prix. This triggered a shift in momentum against Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen, which grew when Piastri scored his first win at the Hungarian Grand Prix two months later.
While Verstappen would go on to win the 2024 Driver’s Championship comfortably, the battle for the Constructor’s Championship went down to the final round. McLaren had been leading the championship since September, but it was Norris’s win in the last race that secured the 2024 Constructor’s Championship for his team.
McLaren’s 26-year gap between championships is a record for any F1 constructor, evidenced by the fact neither Norris nor Piastri were born the last time McLaren were champions in 1998.
“The achievements of Zak Brown, Andrea Stella, Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri and the entire McLaren Racing team in winning the Formula 1 Constructors’ Championship are beyond inspirational – and what better way to mark this than with an ultra-exclusive Celebration Edition of our award-winning Artura and 750S,” said Michael Leiters, CEO, McLaren Automotive.
A special Finish for a Special Edition
Defining features on both MCL38 Celebration Editions include a unique Anthracite and Papaya Orange colour scheme curated by McLaren Special Operations. Orange brake calipers, an orange stripe on the nose with a laurel wreath and champions identification also feature, along with a ‘9’ aft of the front wheelarch that’s made up of nine stars to signify McLaren’s nine F1 Constructors’ Championships.
On the 750S MCL38 Celebration Edition, Papaya striping is added to the leading edge of the front splitter and the mirrors.
Inside, each MCL38 Celebration Edition includes laurel wreath embroidery on the seat headrests and a 12 o’clock marker on the steering wheel in Papaya. On the 750S MCL38 Celebration Edition, the carbon fibre steering wheel adds a Papaya accent to the clasp.
A dedication plaque in the cabin incorporates a genuine section of carbon fibre bodywork from an MCL38 F1 car, while an additional track record plaque, located in the underbonnet storage area, lists the pole positions, race wins and fastest laps recorded by the MCL38 during the 2024 season.
The finishing touch is Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri’s signatures on the driver’s side carbon fibre extended sill cover of each car.
Strictly Limited
“Just nine examples of the Artura and nine of the 750S MCL38 Celebration Edition will be produced,” Leiters added. “Each proudly commemorates McLaren’s most recent championship victory as well as delivering the exhilarating and unbeatable driving experience inherent in our world-class supercars.”
No pricing has been announced for the MCL38 Celebration Edition Artura and 750S, nor a release date, but if these special McLarens follow the trend of other low-volume supercars of late, all 18 will have had buyers before they were even announced.
In Australia, the Artura lists for $495,000 in coupe form, while the 750S coupe has a starting price of just over $580,000. Even if they were available locally, expect the MCL38 Celebration Editions to cost significantly more than that.
