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.
Share Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.