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The McLaren that improved on its revolutionary forebear

McLaren broke new ground with carbonfibre construction but its second iteration of fully composite chassis proved much more successful. STUART CODLING remembers the MP4/2

McLaren's 1981 MP4 - later renamed the MP4/1 - is one of a handful of cars which can legitimately be claimed to have changed the face of Formula 1. Its sequel was naturally less revolutionary - but ultimately proved to be far more successful as visionary designer John Barnard rigorously eliminated the shortcomings of the original.

With the MP4/1, Barnard not only made full carbonfibre construction de rigueur if you wanted to be competitive in F1, he also definitively swept aside a number of cherished garage traditions.

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