TIME LINE - THE 1980s

But by this stage, there were developments on two fronts. A new, M30 was on the stocks, designed by Gordon Coppuck and 50 per cent stiffer. Prost took his model to sixth on its debut in Holland.

But more importantly, there were changes afoot for the team as a whole. Formula 2 team owner Ron Dennis and sponsor representatives had already approached Mayer a year before, suggesting a merger.

Part of the deal was that Dennis would bring his own designer, John Barnard, with Gordon Coppuck leaving the team. The merger, announced in September of 1980, saw Dennis and Mayer as joint Managing Directors of McLaren International, now known as McLaren Racing. Mayer was also Chairman while Tyler Alexander, one of the McLaren's early members, and Barnard would both be Directors.

By this stage, Watson had rediscovered his old fire, and with Barnard's input, his M29 and the M30 were to score points. Watson was a competitive fourth in Canada but Prost suffered another breakage at Watkins Glen and was once again injured, unable to start the race. It had been a poor season, but the dawn of a new era.

Drivers' Championship: 10th=, Watson, 6 pts; 15th=, Prost, 5 pts
Constructors' Championship: 7th=, 11pts

1981

Model: M29 and MP4
Engine: Ford DFV
Drivers: John Watson, Andrea de Cesaris

In spite of the promise of the new team, and John Barnard's forthcoming carbon fibre monocoque for the first MP4, Alain Prost found a way out of his contract to leave the team to drive for Renault, his national team. Watson remained in his seat , and was partnered by the team's Italian hope, Andrea de Cesaris.

The team started the year with old M29s, now in F configuration and it wasn't until the third race in Argentina that Watson got his MP4. Two races later, he qualified fifth and two races after that, finished third behind Gilles Villeneuve in Spain. At Dijon, he was on the front row of the grid and finished second, and at Silverstone, he won taking the debut Grand Prix victory of the new era for the team. All this was against a background of technical chicanery to get around new rules to combat ground effect, and Formula 1 politics pitching governing body FISA against the teams.

There was another point for Watson in Hockenheim and Austria, while he was second in Canada. But the MP4 was prone to porpoising, and it didn't make a driver's task easy. De Cesaris's season was remembered as being a succession of accidents, earning him the nickname de Crasheris, while Watson had a big accident at Monza from which he was lucky to walk away uninjured.

De Cesaris was sure not to keep his seat, but Watson's win and subsequent form ensured that he kept his. Before the end of the year, it was announced that he would be partnered the following season by his old Brabham teammate, Niki Lauda, who was emerging from retirement.

Drivers' Championship: 6th, Watson, 27pts; 18th=, de Cesaris, 1 pt
Constructors' Championship: 6th, 28pts

1982

Model: MP4 and MP4B
Engine: Ford DFV
Drivers: John Watson, Niki Lauda

Barnard only slightly modified his MP4 for its transformation to B specification. The chassis had lasted well, so Barnard tried to slim down the monocoques, modify the suspension and increase stiffness throughout. Set up on Michelin's tyre proved crucial and the team worked hard in both their own local wind tunnel in Feltham and that of Michelin. Carbon fibre brake discs were also tried during the year.

The season started remarkably well, with Lauda fourth and Watson sixth, both in the points. Watson picked up second in Brazil after the disqualifications of Piquet and Rosberg. Proving that he'd lost none of his magic, Lauda won at Long Beach while it was Watson's turn at the Belgian Grand Prix, with Lauda third. However, the Austrian was disqualified for being underweight. Watson was a point behind leader Prost in the Drivers' championship, and McLaren led the Constructors'.

After a disappointing Monaco, Watson sensationally won the inaugural Detroit Grand Prix from 17th on the grid, partially helped by a stoppage which allowed him to fit harder Michelins to iron out understeer. He scythed through the field, past his teammate who then spun, but Watson and McLaren now led their championships.

Watson was third in Canada a week later, while Lauda was then fourth in Holland, then won at Brands Hatch. McLaren still led the Constructors' but Watson was now second in the Drivers' series to Pironi. After the turbo Renaults and Ferraris dominated at Ricard, Pironi was badly injured in Germany and Lauda also suffered wrist injury when he spun off, and would miss the race. Watson's suspension broke and he spun out of third. Lauda scored an unexciting fifth in Austria, but Rosberg's close second elevated him to championship leader, a position reinforced by victory at Dijon where Watson damaged a skirt and dropped to 13th.

Lauda scored points at Dijon, and Watson scored in Monza, his first points in three months which just kept his hopes alive but even a fine second in Las Vegas wasn't enough, and Rosberg won the title by five points and Ferrari had a similar margin in the Constructors'.

Drivers' Championship: 2nd=, Watson, 39 pts; 5th, Lauda, 30pts
Constructors' Championship: 2nd, 69pts

1983

Model: MP4/1C and MP4/1E
Engine: Ford DFV, DFY and TAG
Drivers: John Watson, Niki Lauda

Late in 1982, two things happened which were crucial to McLaren. The first was that Teddy Mayer and fellow director Tyler Alexander left the team leaving Dennis and Barnard to run the show. In addition, the second phase of an agreement with Porsche to build turbocharged V6 engines financed by Akram Ojjeh's Techniques d'Avant Garde or TAG was signed. Ojjeh's son Mansour formed a company jointly with Ron Dennis and McLaren for the purpose.

The emphasis of the season was weighted towards running this engine, particularly when new regulations came into effect banning ground effect and calling for cars to run flat bottoms. This effectively robbed cars of their downforce, and larger front and rear wings would be needed to compensate for this loss. However, they would be used at the expense of drag, which would handicap the less powerful Cosworth runners in comparison to the turbo powered entrants. Another handicap was that tyres developed for turbo runners weren't necessarily suitable for those running normally aspirated engines...

So McLaren were looking at several disadvantages during the year. The cars were modified for the new aerodynamic regulations but they had to bear in mind the forthcoming engine. Often they won the Cosworth battle during the year, and sensationally, won the second race of the season at Long Beach, with Watson and Lauda completing a McLaren one two from 22nd and 23rd on the grid! Equally poor qualifying at Monaco, however, resulted in neither of them starting the race at all.

Lauda ran the TAG engine in Holland for the first time and both drivers had them for the final three races of the year. Qualifying positions improved, but neither driver finished, as the team began the steep turbo learning curve already experienced by other teams and drivers.

Drivers' Championship: 6th=, Watson, 22pts; 10th, Lauda, 12pts
Constructors' Championship: 5th, 34pts

1984

Model: MP4/2
Engine: TAG turbo V6
Drivers: Niki Lauda, Alain Prost

After several seasons of preparation, McLaren now had all the weapons that they needed. Barnard changed his chassis little, but it did feature new rear suspension. The engine development continued during the winter and Alain Prost returned to McLaren after being sent on his way by Renault, with whom he had gained valuable turbo experience. McLaren may have been among the last to join the turbo brigade, but they had prepared the ground well.

They hit the ground running. Alain Prost won the first race of the year in Brazil, Niki Lauda led his teammate home in the second and while they may not have featured in the third, they won the next three between them. At season's end, they had won 12 races between them, clinching the Constructors' championship by a massive 86 points. Their matched pair of drivers were separated by just half a point, Lauda pipping Prost.

It was a phenomenal demonstration and a warning to all. If this was the way McLaren were heading, then rivals would have to match this effort. Having said that, Porsche certainly had their problems with the engine, although rarely in races. And McLaren worked carefully on fine tuning brake cooling throughout the year, and had just one problem with Prost's front wheel working loose at Dijon. Otherwise, it was a pretty remarkable year.

Drivers' Championship: 1st, Lauda, 72pts; 2nd, Prost, 71.5 pts
Constructors' Championship: 1st, 143.5pts

1985

Model: MP4/2B
Engine: TAG turbo V6
Drivers: Alain Prost, Niki Lauda, John Watson

After the victorious and dominant 1984 season, McLaren were quite rightly the team in everyone's sights in 1985. Most elements in the team were largely unchanged, apart from the departure of Michelin. To keep abreast of the competition, John Barnard introduced new bodywork, new rear suspension, new front uprights and new wings.

On the engine side, there weren't huge changes, although Barnard was highly complimentary about Bosch's Motronic electronic management system, while mirror image KKK turbochargers were custom made for TAG's V6 instead of the previous identical models.

Three wins by Alain Prost in the first four races - if one includes the chaotic San Marino Grand Prix from which he was subsequently disqualified - suggested that McLaren hadn't lost their touch although Lauda could only claim a single fourth place, two mechanical retirements and a spin on oil. A further string of retirements followed, while Prost won at Silverstone, was second in Germany, won again in Austria, and then harried his teammate all the way to the line in Zandvoort as Lauda regained form. However, a wrist injury suffered two races later in Belgium merely served to confirm his decision to retire from the sport. Replaced by John Watson for the next race, he retired after a year that reaped only 14 points and which Ron Dennis described as "unlucky".

Prost had clinched the title by round 14 of the sixteen races and McLaren were Constructors' champions again.

Drivers' Championship: 1st, Prost, 73pts; 10th, Lauda, 14pts
Constructors' Championship: 1st, 90 pts

1986

Model: MP4/2C
Engine: TAG turbo V6
Drivers: Alain Prost, Keke Rosberg

It is often said that this was a season that Williams Honda lost rather than McLaren won. Piquet and Mansell both had a chance, yet Prost pinched the title in the last round at Adelaide, when Mansell suffered a tyre delamination, and when Prost himself thought he was going to run out of fuel. Praise was fullsome for the Frenchman who won his second world title back to back, and McLaren won their third consecutive Drivers' title.

John Barnard, who was to leave McLaren for Ferrari during the summer, made detailed modifications to the MP4/2Bs that were to become 2Cs, particularly given the new 195 litre fuel tank restrictions. There was a six-speed gearbox but apart from the latest version of Bosch's Motronic engine management system, the engines were little changed.

One small headache was new recruit Rosberg's press on style of driving, so different to Prost's and previous teammate Lauda's. It was only after Monaco that the Finn's set up was changed.

After both engines failed in Brazil, Prost was third in Spain, then won at Imola and at Monaco. A point in Belgium (in spite of a remarkably bent engine mounting), then second in Canada kept their hopes alive, but then Williams seemed to gain the upper hand with better fuel consumption. Only late in the season did Prost reassert the team's position with a win in Austria, second in Portugal and Mexico and the crucial win in Australia. But once again he had lost his teammate and now the technical director had gone too. McLaren were going to have to regroup.

Drivers' Championship: 1st, Alain Prost, 72pts; 6th, Rosberg, 22 pts.
Constructors' Championship: 2nd, 96pts

1987

Model: MP4/3
Engine: TAG turbo V6
Drivers: Alain Prost, Stefan Johansson

Something old, something new: TAG's legendary engine was getting long in the tooth; Stefan Johansson arrived to partner Alain Prost, and Steve Nichols became Formula 1 project leader following John Barnard's departure the previous year. He had worked on the car with Barnard, and estimated what needed to be left and what changed. The suspension was left, as was the gearbox, but a new monocoque was designed, with new aerodynamics and a small housing for the smaller fuel tank.

Meanwhile Porsche raised the compression ratio of the TAG engine three times in order to improve fuel efficiency but then engine development failed to reap rewards and a misfire set in. Alain Prost won in Brazil, Johansson was third there and fourth at Imola. The pair were first and second at Spa but a couple of thirds were the only reward from the next four races. The increase in power had in turn resulted in an increase in weight, upsetting the engine's balance, causing vibration. In Germany, Prost was heading for victory until an alternator belt broke five laps from home. It was a curious failure as the belt hadn't broken in 100,000 miles of racing, and had then broken several times.

Another lean spell ensued as Honda dominated and active suspension became the fashion, but Prost was back on top in Portugal and second in Jerez, before sinking into oblivion again with only Johansson's third in Suzuka as reward.

Sadly, Johansson was to be elbowed by a dream team in 1988; Ron Dennis has succeeded not only in attracting Ayrton Senna, but also Honda...

Drivers' Championship: 4th, Prost, 46 pts; 6th, Johansson, 30pts
Constructors' Championship: 2nd, 76 pts

1988

Model: MP4/4
Engine: Honda turbo V6
Drivers: Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna

In theory, this was a transitional year for Formula 1, as the turbo boost was lowered from four bar to 2.8 to give the advantage to normally aspirated engines in preparation for a turbo ban and fuel capacity lowered from 195 to 150 litres. In practice, it allowed McLaren, Honda, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna to rewrite the record books as they totally dominated the year.

The statistics are simple: McLaren won 15 out of 16 races, Senna winning eight (he was disqualified from the first race in Brazil), Prost seven. Senna therefore won the championship by three points; both drivers had double the points of third placed Gerhard Berger. Similarly, McLaren scored three times as many points as the second team in the Constructors' championship, winning with 199 points to Ferrari's 65. Senna started the first six races from pole position, and added another seven before the end of the year. It was a magnificent, mind numbing performance by team and drivers; scarcely exciting, but mightily impressive in its perfection.

The drivers did occasionally clash, particularly when Senna chopped Prost at Jerez. Senna's retirement when lapping Jean-Louis Schlesser's Williams at Monza was the only race the team did not win. He also lost concentration at Monaco and ended up in the barrier. Prost, once again, revealed his dislike of wet conditions.

Steve Nichols once again led the design team which had to cope with new cockpit regulations as well as the smaller fuel tank, so much of the car was new, which made it even more deserving. Honda reliability was exceptional and overall reliability was phenomenal, all contributing to a record breaking season. They deserved everything they got.

Drivers' Championship: 1st, Senna, 90pts; 2nd, Prost, 87 pts.
Constructors' Championship: 1st, 199 pts

1989

Model: MP4/5
Engine: 3.5 Honda V10
Drivers: Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna

While Steve Nichols's MP4/4 design had been winning the final championship of the turbo era, Neil Oatley had been hard at work on McLaren's first chassis for the return to normally aspirated, but now 3.5 litre engines. Although the end result was the same - McLaren winning both Constructors' and Drivers' Championships - there was no surprise that they didn't quite enjoy the same domination as 1988.

However, a McLaren led every race but Portugal (where Senna started from pole), and he and Prost won ten of the 16 races, Prost with four to Senna's six, although it was the Frenchman who claimed the Drivers' title with just three retirements to the Brazilian's nine non-scores.

But that just tells half the story. It was a year in which Prost became increasingly paranoid about his teammate. They fell out at Imola, when Prost felt that Senna had breached a no passing agreement. Prost went further at Monaco where Senna scored a superb victory, apparently without second gear. At Monza Prost accused Honda of favouring Senna and would then reveal that he was leaving the team. Earlier in the year, he had written off a monocoque at Phoenix, the first such accident he'd had in five and a half years with the team. Three races later, he and Senna collided at the Suzuka chicane, and even though neither of them scored points in the last two races, the championships still went to McLaren.

Against this intensely political background, McLaren and Honda provided the best combination for the best two, if different, drivers in the field. Oatley's design still followed similar lines to those before, but weight shaving continued throughout the year, although it also suffered a handling imbalance. The team also introduced a complete new rear end, based around a transverse gearbox, midway through the season.

Honda, meanwhile, made a phenomenal effort, with five different specifications of engine for various conditions, circuits and situations.

Drivers' Championship: 1st, Prost, 76 pts; 2nd, Senna, 65 pts
Constructors' Championship: 1st, 141 pts

<< Less