McLaren MP4/6

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The McLaren MP4/6 was designed by Neil Oatley for the 1991 F1 season. It was the first McLaren to be powered by a Honda V12 engine. The car was tested by Gerhard Berger in the off season, but he was unimpressed with the new engine, feeling it was underpowered for what it was, especially compared to Honda's V10 engine in the previous year's car. When Ayrton Senna returned for pre season testing, he knuckled down to try and solve the engine's problems, which he did to an impressive degree, given McLaren's domination in the early part of the year.

The MP4/6 was fitted with a rudimentary traction control and active suspension, which was used on and off throughout the season. Initially the car had a manual sequential gearbox, but a semi automatic was tried late in the season.^{[citation needed]}

Senna won the first four races of the season, in the USA, an emotional victory in Brazil, San Marino and Monaco before Williams and Nigel Mansell found their feet with their remarkable FW14 car, which dominated in the mid season. Consistent podium finishes throughout the year helped McLaren, but Senna insisted that Honda step up their engine development programme and demanded further improvements to the car before it was too late. Honda responded with an updated version of the V12 engine, while Oatley redesigned various features of the car, especially the sidepods and wings. This allowed Senna to make a late season push, winning a further 3 races, and Berger one more, allowing McLaren to take their fourth straight constructors' championship and Senna his third and last drivers' championship.

The MP4/6 was the best car in the field until Williams sorted the FW14, which was aerodynamically and technically more advanced. The Honda V12 engine was however not up to par with the Renault V10 but Senna's skills had won the day for the team.

For the early races of 1992, McLaren used the MP4/6 (upgraded to MP4/6B spec) and Senna was able to take it to two third places before it was replaced by the MP4/7.

The MP4/6 took 8 Grand Prix wins, 10 pole positions and scored 148 points in its career. The car brought a close to McLaren's domination of the sport, leaving the door open for Williams.

McLaren

Founder: Bruce McLaren

Personnel: Ron Dennis | Martin Whitmarsh | Norbert Haug | Mike Coughlan

Current drivers: Fernando Alonso | Lewis Hamilton | Pedro de la Rosa | Gary Paffett

Formula One cars:

1960s: M2B (1966) | M4B (1967) | M5A (1967–1968) | M7A (1967–1969) | M7C (1969–1971) | M9A (1969) 1970s: M14A (1970–1971) | M7D (1970) | M14D (1970) | M19A (1971–1973) | M19C (1972–1973) | M23 (1974–1978) | M26 (1977–1979) | M28 (1979) | M29 (1979–1981) 1980s: M30 (1980) | M29F (1981) | MP4 (MP4/1) (1981) | MP4/1B (1982) | MP4/1C (E, 1983) | MP4/2 (1984) | MP4/2B (1985) | MP4/2C (1986) | MP4/3 (1987) | MP4/4 (1988) | MP4/5 (1989) 1990s: MP4/5B (1990) | MP4/6 (1991) | MP4/6B (1992) | MP4/7A (1992) | MP4/8 (1993) | MP4/9 (1994) | MP4/10 (B, C, 1995) | MP4/11 (B, 1996) | MP4-12 (1997) | MP4-13 (1998) | MP4-14 (1999) 2000s: MP4-15 (2000) | MP4-16 (2001) | MP4-17 (2002) | MP4-17D (2003) | MP4-18 (test car) | MP4-19 (B, 2004) | MP4-20 (2005) | MP4-21 (2006) | MP4-22 (2007)