Formula 1 is home to some of the most famous automakers and racing teams in the world. Mercedes, McLaren, Ferrari, and so on and so forth. And, as a result of that, there have been some amazing cars in F1 over the years.
F2004, Mercedes W12, FW14B, and many other cars have made history in Formula 1 because of their dominance. The thing that separates these cars from other F1 cars is technical innovation.
The cars that have dominated Formula 1 over the years have had a lot of innovations to their name. The engineers and designers behind these cars work tirelessly to create perfection in terms of aerodynamics, power, chassis design, and durability.
Adrian Newey, Rory Byrne, Steve Nichole, and Gordon Murray are some of the most legendary designers in Formula 1 history, and they have created a lot of race cars that have dominated Formula 1 in different eras.
And, although some of the cars are amazing, there’s one car that stands out the most.
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McLaren MP4/4
The McLaren MP4/4 is the most dominant car in Formula 1 history. It won 15 out of 16 races it took part in, and not only did it win 15 races, but it also led 93 percent of the racing laps of the whole year.
Now, of course, you’ll see on the side of the back end of the car that McLaren had signed in 1988, the late great, Ayrton Senna. And, with Senna, came Honda, that made an incredible powerplant, a 1.5l twin turbo engine.
Inside the cockpit on the steering wheel, there are 2 buttons, boost and radio. Inside the car, there’s a shielded, regular h-pattern gearbox. It wasn’t until 1989 that Ferrari created the first bespoke semi automatic paddle shift gearbox.
Now, Senna was the master of Monaco. He won Monaco six times during his 11 year F1 career. In 1988, with this car, he out qualified his teammate in the same car by over 1.5 seconds in Monaco qualifying, and he was utterly dominant around the principality.
The car was designed by McLaren’s chief designer Steve Nichols. He perfected the aerodynamics of the car to make sure that the airflow around the car was as smooth as possible.
He designed the chassis the lower the centre of gravity to build stability, and was also aided by Honda’s reliable and extremely powerful engine.
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Senna’s Special Technique
Senna had a special technique of driving a race car, and it was noticed for the first time by people when he drove the MP4/4. What he used to do was that, he used to come into a corner normally, and he didn’t use to break for a long period.
Instead, he used to break heavily on the entry of a corner, and then used to stab on the throttle violently several number of times. He used to do this to keep the turbo spooling and to keep the momentum of the car regular.
Although this method would damage the stability of the car, Senna’s technique was such that when he used to do this, he didn’t use to damage the stability. Rather, he used to create a stable augmentation for his car. He also had a unique technique to go around the Monaco hairpin.
Monaco’s hairpin is a full lock, and what Senna used to do here is that, he used to fully lock the steering wheel and he used to dip the clutch and change the gear with his left hand.
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The Drivers
What happens when you put two of the greatest racing drivers of all time in a perfect car? Utter domination. The MP4/4 was driver by Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost in 1988, two of the most dominant racers in history.
Sharing seven championships between them, it was clear to them the first time theg drove this car in testing. From the first race of the season, the two drivers were battling for supremacy by winning as many races as they could.
Although Alain had a very successful 1988 season, the championship was ultimately won by his younger teammate, Ayrton Senna. 1988 was the season when the rivalry between these 2 drivers started, and in future, would become the greatest rivalry in Formula 1 history.
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All in all, the MP4/4 was a near-perfect car and a beautiful one as well.
