The McLaren Driver Development Programme (formerly known as the McLaren Young Driver Programme, the McLaren-Honda Young Driver Programme, and the McLaren-Mercedes Young Driver Support Programme) is a
driver development program operated by
McLaren. It is intended to offer year-by-year guidance, assistance and endorsement to help promising young racers climb the motorsport ladder.
The most notable participant in the programme is
Lewis Hamilton, who joined the programme while karting and eventually graduated to the McLaren F1 Team. He has won the
Formula One Drivers' Championship seven times between 2008 and 2020, where the
2008 championship was won with McLaren. Hamilton is currently the only graduate from the programme who has won a
World Championship as a McLaren driver.
The programme was founded in 1998 by McLaren and Mercedes as the McLaren-Mercedes Young Driver Support Programme. The programme signed Wesley Graves and Lewis Hamilton as one of its first drivers.
From 2019 to 2021, no drivers were part of the program, which McLaren Racing CEO
Zak Brown said was due to the team's "very targeted" approach and already stable Formula One line-up, meaning it would be difficult for any young drivers to find a place in Formula One.[2][3] In March 2021, American karting driver Ugo Ugochukwu was recruited into the programme.[4]
In April 2023, the Young Driver Programme was replaced by the Driver Development Programme.[1] Later in October, the programme signed its first female driver in
Bianca Bustamante. Bustamante will represent McLaren in the
2024 F1 Academy season.[5][6]
Drivers
Current
Driver
Since
Current series
Titles achieved as McLaren Driver Development Programme member
^De Groote, Steven (6 August 2003).
"McLaren signs Cheng Congfu". F1 Technical.
Archived from the original on 23 October 2020. Retrieved 21 October 2020.