McLaren MP4/6

The McLaren MP4/6 is a Formula One racecar that 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 to solve the engine's problems. McLaren's domination in the early part of the year was mainly due to the lack of reliability of the Williams FW14.

The MP4/6 raced throughout 1991 with a manual "H" pattern gearbox. A semi-automatic transmission was tested during the season, but was never regarded as good enough to be used in a race. Ferrari and Williams were the only teams using semi-automatic gearboxes during 1991. This makes the MP4/6 the last Formula One car to win a World Championship, either drivers or constructors, using a manual transmission or a V12 engine.

Honda RA121E V12 engine

Senna won the first four races of the season, in the United States, 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. Failed electronics and a botched pitstop scuppered Williams's chances in Belgium and Portugal when in the lead allowing McLaren to take their fourth straight Constructors' Championship and Senna his third and last Drivers' Championship.

The MP4/6 was considered by some to be the most competitive car in the field until Williams sorted the FW14, which was aerodynamically and technically more advanced.

For the early races of 1992, McLaren used the MP4/6 (upgraded to MP4/6B spec) and Senna was able to take it to 3rd place in the South African Grand Prix before it was replaced by the MP4/7A for the Brazilian Grand Prix.

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.

Complete Formula One results

(key) (results in bold indicate pole position, results in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	Tyres	Drivers	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Pts.	WCC
1991	Marlboro McLaren Honda	MP4/6	Honda RA121-E V12	G		USA	BRA	SMR	MON	CAN	MEX	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	ESP	JPN	AUS	139	1st
					Ayrton Senna	1	1	1	1	Ret	3	3	4	7	1	1	2	2	5	2	1
					Gerhard Berger	Ret	3	2	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	2	4	4	2	4	Ret	Ret	1	3
1992	Marlboro McLaren Honda	MP4/6B	Honda RA121-E V12	G		RSA	MEX	BRA	ESP	SMR	MON	CAN	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	JPN	AUS	99*	2nd
					Ayrton Senna	3	Ret
					Gerhard Berger	5	4

* Only 9 points scored with the MP4/6B. Remaining points scored with MP4/7A.

References

↑ "STATS F1 • McLaren MP4/6". Statsf1.com. Retrieved 2010-08-23.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to McLaren MP4/6.

McLaren Honda

Founder: Bruce McLaren

McLaren Technology Group: Ron Dennis (25%); TAG Group (25%); Mumtalakat (50%)

Head management: Jost Capito (CEO); Éric Boullier (Racing Director)

Current personnel: Tim Goss; Neil Oatley; Peter Prodromou; Andrea Stella

Former personnel: John Barnard; Alastair Caldwell; Gordon Coppuck; Mike Coughlan; Pat Fry; Steve Hallam; Norbert Haug; Robin Herd; Paddy Lowe; Neil Martin; Teddy Mayer; Sam Michael; Gordon Murray; Jonathan Neale; Adrian Newey; Steve Nichols; Jo Ramírez; Nicholas Tombazis; Martin Whitmarsh

2016 race drivers: 14. Fernando Alonso; 22. Jenson Button

2016 test and reserve drivers: Stoffel Vandoorne; Nobuharu Matsushita (Development)

McLaren young driver programme: Stoffel Vandoorne; Nyck de Vries; Ben Barnicoat

World Champions: Emerson Fittipaldi; Lewis Hamilton; James Hunt; Mika Häkkinen; Niki Lauda; Alain Prost; Ayrton Senna

Former drivers: See category

Drivers' titles: 1974; 1976; 1984; 1985; 1986; 1988; 1989; 1990; 1991; 1998; 1999; 2008

Constructors' titles: 1974; 1984; 1985; 1988; 1989; 1990; 1991; 1998

Cars:

Formula One M2B M4B M5A M7A M7B M7C M7D M9A M14A M14D M19A M19C M23 M26 M28 M29 M29F M30 MP4 (MP4/1) MP4B (MP4/1B) MP4/1C MP4/1E MP4/2 MP4/2B MP4/2C MP4/3 MP4/4 MP4/5 MP4/5B MP4/6 MP4/6B MP4/7A MP4/8 MP4/9 MP4/10 MP4/10B MP4/10C MP4/11 MP4/11B MP4/12 MP4/13 MP4/14 MP4/15 MP4-16 MP4-17 MP4-17D MP4-18 MP4-19 MP4-19B MP4-20 MP4-21 MP4-22 MP4-23 MP4-24 MP4-25 MP4-26 MP4-27 MP4-28 MP4-29 MP4-30 MP4-31 Formula Two M4A M21 Sports cars Zerex Special M1A M1B M1C M6A M6B M6GT M8A M8B M8C M8D M8E M8F M8FP M12 M20 F1 GTR 12C GT3 650S GT3 P1 GTR USAC/IndyCar M15 M16A M16B M16C M16C/D M16E M24 F5000/Libre M3 M10A M10B M18 M22 M25 Development cars M2A MP4-29H/1X1 Road cars F1 F1 LM SLR (for Mercedes-Benz) MP4-12C P1 X-1 650S 675LT Engines M838T Merged team Project Four Racing Related West Competition

Cars that competed in the 1991 Formula One season

McLaren MP4/6 Tyrrell 020 Williams FW14 Brabham BT59Y Brabham BT60Y Footwork A11C Footwork FA12 Lotus 102B Fondmetal FA1ME Fondmetal Fomet-1 Leyton House CG911 AGS JH25/JH25B AGS JH27 Benetton B190B Benetton B191 Dallara 191 Minardi M191 Ligier JS35/JS35B Ferrari 642 Ferrari 643 Lola LC91 Coloni C4 Jordan 191 Lambo 291

Cars that competed in the 1992 Formula One season

McLaren MP4/6B McLaren MP4/7A Tyrrell 020B Williams FW14B Brabham BT60B Footwork FA13 Lotus 102D Lotus 107 Fondmetal GR01 Fondmetal GR02 March CG911B Benetton B191B Benetton B192 Dallara F192 Minardi M191B Minardi M192 Ligier JS37 Ferrari F92A Ferrari F92AT Venturi Larrousse LC92 Jordan 192 Andrea Moda C4B Andrea Moda S921

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