Milestone makers reflect on McLaren's decades of success

LONDON, June 1 : Formula One champions McLaren celebrate their 1,000th race on Sunday in Monaco, the Mediterranean principality where they made their debut in 1966.

The following looks at the milestone through the eyes of some of those involved over the years:

THE FIRST CHAMPION

Brazilian Emerson Fittipaldi will never forget the stress he felt before becoming McLaren's first world champion at Watkins Glen, New York state, in 1974.

Fittipaldi, who already had one title with Lotus, lined up on the grid for the last race of the season alongside Ferrari's Clay Regazzoni with both level on points and the title at stake. 

"He was next to me and I was thinking: who's going to be champion? Me or Clay?," he told Reuters. "I only slept three hours before the grand prix... that was the maximum pressure a driver can get. Equal points to the last race."

Now 79, Fittipaldi never met team founder Bruce McLaren, who died in 1970, but was proud to have played a significant part in what is now a huge history.

"At that time, only 38 people on the team and most of them New Zealanders," he recalled.

"Teddy Mayer was the American owner of the team, he was a very good friend of Bruce... it was a very small team but full of enthusiasm and starving to win the world championship. And I was lucky to be there at that time."

THE LATEST CHAMPION

Lando Norris won McLaren's 13th drivers' title last year, ending Max Verstappen's four-year reign with Red Bull.

"My love has always been with McLaren," he told Reuters. "It's always been the team that I've supported since I was a kid and it's a cool story of how it all started.

"It's what's more close to my heart.

"Different teams are special for different reasons and McLaren is special for the amount of champions that