Bruce McLaren Motor Racing was founded in 1963 by New Zealander Bruce McLaren. Bruce was a works driver for the British Formula One team Cooper with whom he had won three Grands Prix and come second in the 1960 world championship. A deal to secure Renault engines fell through, which saw McLaren switching to customer Ford engines for the 1993 season. McLaren has had an uneasy relationship with the Formula One's governing body, the FIA, and its predecessor FISA, as well as with the commercial rights holder of the sport. In the early 1980s McLaren were involved, along with the other teams of the Formula One Constructors Association, in a dispute over control of the sport with FISA and the teams of car manufacturers Alfa Romeo, Renault and Ferrari. Since the 1981 merger with Project Four, the cars have been called "MP4/x", or since 2001 "MP4-x", where x is the generation of the chassis (e.g. MP4/1, MP4-22). "MP4" stood initially for "Marlboro Project 4", so that the full title of the cars (McLaren MP4/x) reflected not only the historical name of the team, but also the names of the team's major sponsor and its new component part.
