No Liberty, No Toto Wolff and more: 5 things that have changed since McLaren last won a drivers' championship

The 2025 F1 season is, in all likelihood, going to see a McLaren driver win the championship. The team clinched the constructors' championship last season, beating the barren run that went back to 1998. The last time the team won the driver's championship was not that long ago, though.

In 2008, Lewis Hamilton clinched the title on the last lap of the last race of the season to help McLaren win its first drivers' championship since Mika Hakkinen in 1998. Since then, the team came close a couple of times but couldn't.

In 2024, Lando Norris was in with a shot to break McLaren's barren run of driver championships, but he was up against the brilliance of Max Verstappen. In the end, it was the Dutch driver who prevailed, and the team had to wait another season.

In 2025, unless something miraculous happens, the title battle is going to feature the McLaren duo of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, with Max Verstappen's challenge slowly fading away. It would be almost two decades.

So, since McLaren last won a drivers' championship, how have things changed? Let's take a look.

What has changed since McLaren last won a drivers' title?

#1 Liberty was nowhere in the picture

In 2008, the situation was quite different, as at that point, F1 was not owned by Liberty. It was owned by CVC Global, with Bernie Ecclestone being the CEO of FOM and the only man who was handling everything from top to bottom.

There was no DTS at the time, and there was no focus on building the sport through social media, as, according to Bernie, social media was for children, and they were not the ones who were going to buy tickets.

In 2025, Liberty owns the sport and is looking to break further barriers with it as it tries to explore new markets.

#2 We didn't have a Mercedes team on the grid

This might come as a surprise to a lot of the new fans, but 2008 was the year when there was no Mercedes team on the grid. It was a time when the German brand had a share in McLaren and was one of the key partners, but the "Silver Arrows" that we see now did not exist at the time.

Mercedes came into existence in 2010 when the German brand bought Brawn GP, a team that was essentially an offshoot of Honda in 2008.

Interestingly, in 2008, one of the more prominent team bosses in the sport right now, Toto Wolff, was not even in the paddock at the time.

#3 We had Toyota and BMW on the grid

In 2026, the grid would have giants like Mercedes, Ferrari, Audi, Aston Martin, Honda, Ford, and Cadillac. For new fans, it might seem like a novelty to have these many automotive giants on the grid, but there was a time before the 2008 economic downturn that such a thing was the norm in F1.

We had some of the more prestigious names in the automotive industry, like Toyota, BMW, and Honda, having their teams on the grid. The economic downturn packed up a lot of these teams and also led to an eventual split between McLaren and Mercedes as well (as the German brand wanted to be an independent entity).

#4 No DRS or V6 Turbos at the time

The landscape in 2008 was quite different. The cars looked quite different from what they are now, and the first thing that would stand out is how much smaller they were. The V8 engines were much louder than what we have right now, and to top it all off, we had refueling as well.

At the time, there was no DRS in terms of driver aid to help pull off overtakes either, and ironically, that was the time when Lewis Hamilton made his name with McLaren as one of the late breakers in the sport.

#5 We had grooved Bridgestone tires compared to slick Pirellis

One of the more striking differences, if we look at the cars from 2008 to right now, is the tires, because how would we explain to the current generation that F1 used to have grooved tires? Well, the reasoning behind introducing grooved tires at that time was to reduce the overall grip of tires, as the cars had become too fast.

A reduced area of contact of a grooved tire compared to a slick tire would mean a reduced overall grip. By 2009, however, with a change in regulations limiting the aerodynamic development scope on the car, we had a return of slick tires as well.

To add to this, in 2008, we had Bridgestone as the sole tire supplier, and it would not be until 2011 that Pirelli would take over.