Car · McLaren · 1981

McLaren MP4/1

Barnard got the idea from Rolls-Royce engineers using carbon fibre in turbofan blades, and had the tub built by Hercules Aerospace in Utah because nobody in motor racing could make one. The paddock thought it would shatter. Then John Watson crashed heavily at Monza in 1981, the car broke apart around a tub that stayed intact, and he walked away. Every car on the grid was carbon-fibre within a few years, and it is the single largest reason drivers stopped dying.

Seasons: 1981
Entries: 0
Wins: 0
Poles: 0
Fastest laps: 0

Why it mattered

The idea. Aluminium is not stiff enough to carry ground-effect loads; build the tub out of carbon fibre instead

New on this car. The first carbon-fibre composite monocoque to race in Formula One

What it did. 43 races, 6 wins. No championships - its importance is structural, not competitive.

Designers: John Barnard, Alan Jenkins, Steve Nichols
Supersedes: —
Design life: 1981–1983
Confidence: high

Specification

Chassis: Carbon fibre monocoque
Front suspension: —
Rear suspension: —
Brakes: disc
Gearbox: McLaren / Hewland FGA 400
Gears: 5-speed
Tyres: Michelin
Fuel: —

Engine: 1981-1983: mid-engine, longitudinally mounted, Ford-Cosworth DFV, 2993 cc, NA, 90° V8; 1983: mid-engine, longitudinally mounted, TAG-Porsche TTE PO1, 1499 cc, turbo, 90° V6
Configuration: 90-degree V8
Capacity: 2,993 cc
Aspiration: naturally aspirated
Power: 510 bhp
Power note: 510 hp @ 11,000 rpm (Cosworth DFY V8), 700 hp @ 11,500 rpm (TAG-Porsche V6 turbo)
Weight: —
Wheelbase: —
Track, front: —
Track, rear: —

A blank is a figure nobody published for this car. Where several teams quote the same number in a season it is usually the rule they were all built to rather than a measurement, so it is kept with the regulation limits instead of here.

0 wins can be traced to this chassis; its article publishes 6. Neither is wrong. A win counts here only where the entry list says which car the driver was in, and a team running two designs in a season does not always say. The unresolved seasons are listed below.

Every entry 0 entries

No race entry in this database resolves here. That is usually a constructor that ran several designs in a season and no source saying which raced when, not a car that never raced.

Where this comes from

Constructor: McLaren
Predecessor: M30
Successor: MP4/2
Races (published): 43
Wins (published): 6
Poles (published): 0
Confidence: reference
Specification source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McLaren_MP4/1
Register source: https://github.com/f1db/f1db