McLaren MP4/1

McLaren MP4
McLaren MP4B
McLaren MP4/1C
McLaren MP4/1E

McLaren MP4 (MP4/1), competed in the 1981 Formula One season
Category	Formula One
Constructor	McLaren
Designer(s)	John Barnard
Predecessor	M30
Successor	MP4/2
Technical specifications
Chassis	Carbon fibre monocoque
Engine	1981-1983: mid-engine, longitudinally mounted, Cosworth DFY, 2,993 cc (182.6 cu in), NA, 90° V8 1983: mid-engine, longitudinally mounted, TAG-Porsche PO1, 1,499 cc (91.5 cu in), turbo, 90° V6,
Transmission	McLaren / Hewland FGA 400 5-speed manual
Competition history
Notable entrants	Marlboro McLaren International
Notable drivers	7. John Watson 8. Andrea de Cesaris 8. Niki Lauda
Debut	1981 Monaco Grand Prix
Races Wins Poles F.Laps 43 6 0 5
n.b. Unless otherwise stated, all data refer to Formula One World Championship Grands Prix only.

The McLaren MP4/1 (initially known as the MP4) was a Formula One racing car produced by the McLaren team. It was used during the 1981, 1982 and 1983 seasons. It was the first Formula One car to use a carbon fibre composite monocoque, a concept which is now ubiquitous.

The MP4 was the first car to be built following the merger of the McLaren team and Ron Dennis' Project 4 team, as the car's name (short for "Marlboro Project 4")^[1] indicates.

Design and construction

The main engineer for the MP4 was John Barnard. The chassis itself was built by McLaren using carbon supplied by Hercules Aerospace (U.S.A.) and quickly revolutionised car design in Formula One with new levels of rigidity and driver protection and its Carbon-Fibre-Composite (CFC) construction, a first in Formula One. Within months the design had been copied by many of McLaren's rivals.^[2]

The car was originally powered by a 3.0 litre Ford-Cosworth V8 engine, but later switched to a 1.5 litre turbocharged TAG-Porsche V6 engine.

Hercules Aerospace keeps the car of Watson which was destroyed in the 1981 Italian Grand Prix and shows it off to visitors after allowing them to view footage of the accident, highlighting how it was possible for him to survive in a carbon fibre car.^[3]

Racing

John Watson and Andrea de Cesaris drove the MP4/1 for most of the 1981 season with Niki Lauda replacing de Cesaris for the 1982 and 1983 seasons.

In 1982, the updated MP4B nearly brought Watson to the World Championship, but he finished third behind Keke Rosberg and Didier Pironi, with 39 points. In that same year however, it did take second in the Constructors' Championship, collecting 69 points.

For the 1983 season, the car was then updated into the MP4/1C, and the season started well with a 1–2 finish for the MP4/1C at Round 2 in Long Beach, in which Watson won from 22nd on the grid – the farthest back on the grid a driver has won from in Formula One – and Lauda finished second from 23rd despite suffering from a worsening leg cramp. This car was used throughout most of the season.

During the 1983 season, McLaren worked with Techniques d'Avant Garde and Porsche to develop a turbocharged V6 engine and the MP4/1D was the test mule.

Later in the season at the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort the Cosworth-powered MP4/1C was replaced by the TAG-powered MP4/1E, which was essentially also a test mule that competed in only 4 races; according to Watson in an interview given in 2009 this was a car that was forced into appearing at the Dutch Grand Prix by some very risky political maneuvering by Lauda. He went to the Marlboro executive Aleardo Buzzi (the man responsible for giving McLaren their primary sponsorship money), behind the back of the entire McLaren team and complained extensively to Buzzi about the uncompetitiveness of the team without a turbo engine, and then Buzzi took back the money that was initially given to McLaren to develop the TAG/Porsche turbo engine, which Lauda wanted to do himself with race testing. This infuriated Dennis and designer John Barnard- who had designed the MP4/2 just for the new turbo-charged engine, now had to re-design his MP4/1 to "E" spec just for the TAG engine. The MP4/1E was first driven by Watson, not Lauda- at the Porsche proving ground was competitive, but the new engine was, thanks to Lauda's political maneuvering, underdeveloped and had teething troubles, which expectedly made it very unreliable, and did not win any races. But this car was not really expected to win or even finish races.^[4]

In total, the MP4/1 brought McLaren 6 wins, 11 other podium finishes and a total of 131 points.

BBC commentator Murray Walker drove the MP4/1C at Silverstone in 1983.^[5]

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key) (results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)

References

McLaren Honda
Founder Bruce McLaren McLaren Technology Group Ron Dennis (25%) TAG Group (25%) Mumtalakat (50%) Head management Jost Capito (CEO) Éric Boullier (Racing Director) Current personnel Tim Goss Neil Oatley Peter Prodromou Andrea Stella Former personnel John Barnard Alastair Caldwell Gordon Coppuck Mike Coughlan Pat Fry Steve Hallam Norbert Haug Robin Herd Paddy Lowe Neil Martin Teddy Mayer Sam Michael Gordon Murray Jonathan Neale Adrian Newey Steve Nichols Jo Ramírez Nicholas Tombazis Martin Whitmarsh 2016 race drivers 14. Fernando Alonso 22. Jenson Button 2016 test and reserve drivers Stoffel Vandoorne Nobuharu Matsushita (Development) McLaren young driver programme Stoffel Vandoorne Nyck de Vries Ben Barnicoat World Champions Emerson Fittipaldi Lewis Hamilton James Hunt Mika Häkkinen Niki Lauda Alain Prost Ayrton Senna Former drivers See category Drivers' titles 1974 1976 1984 1985 1986 1988 1989 1990 1991 1998 1999 2008 Constructors' titles 1974 1984 1985 1988 1989 1990 1991 1998
Cars: Formula One M2B M4B M5A M7A M7B M7C M7D M9A M14A M14D M19A M19C M23 M26 M28 M29 M29F M30 MP4 (MP4/1) MP4B (MP4/1B) MP4/1C MP4/1E MP4/2 MP4/2B MP4/2C MP4/3 MP4/4 MP4/5 MP4/5B MP4/6 MP4/6B MP4/7A MP4/8 MP4/9 MP4/10 MP4/10B MP4/10C MP4/11 MP4/11B MP4/12 MP4/13 MP4/14 MP4/15 MP4-16 MP4-17 MP4-17D MP4-18 MP4-19 MP4-19B MP4-20 MP4-21 MP4-22 MP4-23 MP4-24 MP4-25 MP4-26 MP4-27 MP4-28 MP4-29 MP4-30 MP4-31 Formula Two M4A M21 Sports cars Zerex Special M1A M1B M1C M6A M6B M6GT M8A M8B M8C M8D M8E M8F M8FP M12 M20 F1 GTR 12C GT3 650S GT3 P1 GTR USAC/IndyCar M15 M16A M16B M16C M16C/D M16E M24 F5000/Libre M3 M10A M10B M18 M22 M25 Development cars M2A MP4-29H/1X1 Road cars F1 F1 LM SLR (for Mercedes-Benz) MP4-12C P1 X-1 650S 675LT Engines M838T Merged team Project Four Racing Related West Competition