McLaren MP4/8
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| Category | Formula One |
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| Constructor | McLaren |
| Team/s | McLaren |
| Designer | Neil Oatley |
| Drivers | 7. Michael Andretti, Mika Häkkinen 8. Ayrton Senna |
| Chassis | carbon-fibre and honeycomb composite structure |
| Suspension (front) | double wishbones, pushrod, inboard spring/damper/actuator |
| Suspension (rear) | double wishbones, pushrod, inboard spring/damper/actuator |
| Engine | rear-mounted Ford HB Normally Aspirated 75-degree V8 |
| Gearbox | McLaren six-speed transverse semi-automatic |
| Fuel | Shell |
| Tyres | Goodyear |
| Debut | 1993 South African Grand Prix |
| Races competed | 16 (32 starts) |
| Constructors' Championships | 0 |
| Drivers' Championships | 0 |
| Race victories | 5 |
| Pole positions | 1 |
| Fastest laps | 1 |
| Points | 84 |
The McLaren MP4/8 was a Formula One racing car which competed in the 1993 season. It raced 32 Grand Prixs with five wins. The engine was a Ford HB 3.5 V8. The car was designed by Neil Oatley around advanced racecar technology.
The MP4/8 was fitted with a semi automatic gearbox, active suspension and traction control systems. The car was neat and very competitive during the season, despite the engine's inferior power compared to the Renault engine in the Williams, and even the higher spec Ford engine fitted in the Benetton that season. Because Benetton had a pre-existing contract as the Ford factory team, McLaren had to settle for a customer engine which lacked some of the technological advancements of Benetton's factory engine. During the season, McLaren improved their car with technology from TAG Electronics.[1]
Initially, Ayrton Senna was so unconvinced by the car and the engine that he demanded a race-by-race contract at $1 million per Grand Prix. His fears were not entirely justified as the MP4/8 was an excellent car. He took it to five memorable wins including perhaps his greatest drive in the 1993 European Grand Prix, and finished second in the drivers' championship to Alain Prost, whilst McLaren finished runners up to Williams in the manufacturers' championship. In fact, Senna led the championship during the first weeks of the season, and didn't fall off the pace until the second half of the schedule.
The MP4/8 was used as a testbed for a potential Lamborghini F1 engine towards the end of 1993, before McLaren signed a deal to use Peugeot engines for 1994. The MP4/9 which followed was closely based on its predecessor but was not as successful.
The car scored 84 points during the season, 73 of which came from Senna, for an average of 2.63 per start. Other drivers of the MP4/8 were Michael Andretti and Mika Häkkinen. While Senna took the championship battle to the last few rounds, Andretti scored only one podium finish after a switch from the CART series in America. This was not entirely his fault, as he was forced out by many other drivers and had not tested a Formula 1 car in the wet - the first four Grands Prix featured rain. To add insult to injury, after Andretti and McLaren decided to split, he scored his only podium for the team. The next round, the experienced test driver Mika Hakkinen went on to outqualify his triple world champion team-mate and was in a competitive position until he ran wide and lost control on a chicane mid-way through the race. He went on to score one podium, and another retirement from a competitive position.
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1960s: M2B (1966) | M4B (1967) | M5A (1967–1968) | M7A (1967–1969) | M7C (1969–1971) | M9A (1969) 1970s: M14A (1970–1971) | M7D (1970) | M14D (1970) | M19A (1971–1973) | M19C (1972–1973) | M23 (1974–1978) | M26 (1977–1979) | M28 (1979) | M29 (1979–1981) 1980s: M30 (1980) | M29F (1981) | MP4 (MP4/1) (1981) | MP4/1B (1982) | MP4/1C (E, 1983) | MP4/2 (1984) | MP4/2B (1985) | MP4/2C (1986) | MP4/3 (1987) | MP4/4 (1988) | MP4/5 (1989) 1990s: MP4/5B (1990) | MP4/6 (1991) | MP4/6B (1992) | MP4/7A (1992) | MP4/8 (1993) | MP4/9 (1994) | MP4/10 (B, C, 1995) | MP4/11 (B, 1996) | MP4-12 (1997) | MP4-13 (1998) | MP4-14 (1999) 2000s: MP4-15 (2000) | MP4-16 (2001) | MP4-17 (2002) | MP4-17D (2003) | MP4-18 (test car) | MP4-19 (B, 2004) | MP4-20 (2005) | MP4-21 (2006) | MP4-22 (2007) |
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Williams FW15C • Tyrrell 020C • Tyrrell 021 • Benetton B193B • McLaren MP4/8 • Footwork FA13B • Footwork FA14 • Lotus 107B • Jordan 193 • Larrousse LH93 • Lola T93/30 • Minardi M193 • Ligier JS39 • Ferrari F39A • Sauber C12
