It was 30 years ago today that the technology and face of Formula One changed forever. The season-opening Brazilian Grand Prix at Rio’s Autodromo Nelson Piquet (the defending champion was now ironically with Team Lotus, taking the coveted number one with him) marked the debut of McLaren’s mighty Honda-powered MP4/4. That legendary car was the successor to the sport’s first carbon fiber monocoque — coupled with one of the most impressive turbo engines ever assembled — and went on the dominate the entire F1 series like never before.
Ferrari had shined in pre-season tests, but it was Nigel Mansell who proved the only serious competition to the McLarens, qualify his naturally aspirated Williams second, 1.5 seconds faster than the next “atmo” entry. Alain Prost brought the MP4/4 home for the checkered flag. It wasn’t all plain sailing, though, as Ayrton Senna, newly promoted to pair with Prost, stalled on the grid with a gear-linkage problem and was forced to start from pit lane in his spare car instead of from the pole.
Ron Dennis’ uncompromising commitment to the pursuit of success might rub some people up the wrong way, but even his critics came away from the Autodromo Nelson Piquet after the Brazilian Grand Prix with grudging admiration for the manner in which, yet again, his team had won first time out with a brand new car.
Before the weekend, neither Alain Prost’s nor Ayrton Senna’s race cars had so much as turned a wheel, while the spare had only 300 miles on it from its maiden test outing at Imola two weeks earlier. Yet after the first untimed session on the Friday they headed the timesheets, the advantage with Prost, and thereafter no other manufacturer got even a sniff of victory.
Victory Interface | MotorSport.com
After storming through the field from 21st to 2nd, some 20s behind Prost, Senna was shown the black flag and disqualified on lap 31 for swapping to the backup chassis after taking to the grid. What made Senna’s performance that Sunday afternoon even more remarkable is the fact that the spare car was set up for Prost.
The 1988 season would prove to be a record-setting one for McLaren, with Senna and Prost finishing 1-2, claiming all but one pole position and winning 15 of the 16 GPs, while combining for 167 points, as McLaren cruised to the constructors’ title.Yet it was also the swan song for both the turbo era, as normally aspirated engines were mandated for 1989, and for cooperation between Prost and Senna, as their rivalry would boil over into thinly disguised disdain and dramatic on-track clashes in the coming seasons.
Thirty years ago this week something very special rolled off a McLaren transporter in Brazil… #F1 https://t.co/KG8ZchoPi2
— ESPN F1 (@ESPNF1) April 2, 2018