By Jonathan Noble Sunday, December 2nd 2007, 22:33 GMT
McLaren's MP4-22 has been voted the Racing Car of the Year at the Autosport Awards.
Although the Woking-based team's season was marred by Formula One's spying scandal, and they suffered the disappointment of seeing Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso just miss out on the drivers' crown to Kimi Raikkonen in Brazil, the award was well received by engineering director Paddy Lowe.
After being presented with the trophy by Martin Brundle, Lowe said: "We are so proud to take this prize. Clearly we came away without any official silverware but this is fantastic and we really appreciate it back in the office."
Speaking about McLaren's season, Lowe made reference to the recent sacking of England boss Steve McLaren: "It is an absolute nightmare. We could not even manage the England football team properly!
"It was a very, very fantastic year, one despite the politics I really enjoyed, and the team did a fantastic job."
Lowe said that the team spirit that saw them through the late season politics had been there from the beginning of the campaign.
"It was there from the start. It seemed to be one of the dream years. There was a new title sponsor in Vodafone and arguably the best driver line-up.
"We had a fantastic rival in Ferrari and, from a technical point of view and drivers, they were worthy champions in the end. It was a fight tooth and nail all year."
