It was recently announced McLaren would be dropping the MP4 prefix on its future Formula 1 cars with its 2017 car being called the MCL32.
When Ron Dennis came on board with the McLaren team he merged his ‘project 4’ company with the team, hence the MP4 prefix was born, short for (Marlboro Project 4).
The first of these cars came in 1981 with the MP4-1, the first F1 car to be made with a carbon fibre composite monocoque, raced by John Watson and Andrea De Cesaris with a Ford Cosworth 3.0 litre V8 engine which would be replaced by the V6 TAG-Porsche in for 1982.
Watson proved the strength of the new carbon fibre monocoque after a hefty crash in the 1982 Italian Grand Prix, completely writing off his MP4-1B, yet walked away unscathed.
With further development through the years, McLaren’s strength grew in the mid to late 1980s into a true resonant force in F1, building such incredible cars with engine partnerships from Cosworth to Honda and eventually Mercedes-Benz which lasted 20 years until 2014.
The MP4 era of McLaren was one that did everything with such a calculated and precise approach from Ron Dennis and it led to numerous race and championship victories.
As McLaren start a new chapter in their history, we ought to look back on some of its greatest cars in the MP4 era.
In no particular order, I’ve picked five of the fastest MP4 McLarens that have graced the pinnacle of motorsport:
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