MP4/4

Lore & Background

Honda had provided the Constructors' Championship-winning engines of 1986 and 1987, and for 1988 they switched partners from Williams to McLaren, who had struggled with their dated TAG-Porsche engines. The engine's design and development was led by Osamu Goto. The MP4/4 was a distinctly lower design than the previous year's MP4/3, forcing the drivers into a more reclined, almost lying down driving position. In the 1988 season the MP4/4 won all but one race and claimed all but one pole position. The team won the year's constructors' title with about three times as many points as runners-up Ferrari. It holds the record for highest percentage of laps led in a season with 97.3% (1,003 out of 1,031). The car held the record for the highest win rate in a season until 2023, when the record was broken by the Red Bull Racing RB19, which was also powered by a Honda V6 turbocharged engine (95.45% win rate). The McLaren MP4/4 was the first turbo-powered McLaren to win the World Constructors' Championship in the modern turbo era, but it was not the last; the subsequent MP4/5 (1989) and MP4/5B (1990) also won the Constructors' Championship with turbocharged engines.

In Their Own Story

The air at Monaco was thick with humidity and anticipation as the grid formed under a grey sky. Senna sat in his MP4/4, the carbon-fiber cockpit feeling like an extension of his own body. As the lights went out, the Honda V6 roared to life, a sound that echoed off the harbor walls. He didn't just drive; he carved through the traffic with surgical precision, the car's aerodynamics hugging the track so tightly it felt glued to the asphalt. In those moments, the MP4/4 wasn't just a machine; it was an unstoppable force of nature.

Reader's Guide

The MP4/4 was produced and first appeared early in 1988. It was one of the few competing cars that year that was an all-new car. Due to the car's low-slung aerodynamics and FIA safety rules, the drivers were required to be in a reclining position. The car appeared 'as-is' through the season, save for a few aerodynamic revisions. The dominant run was only interrupted once, at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza for Round 12, when Senna crashed out of the lead with only two laps remaining while lapping Jean-Louis Schlesser. With Prost already out after a rare engine failure, Gerhard Berger claimed an emotional victory for Ferrari. The car retired only four times in the season: Prost retired at Silverstone (handling) and at Monza (engine), along with Senna's accidents at Monaco and elsewhere.

Did You Know?

• The MP4/4 won 15 of the 16 races in the 1988 season, with Senna winning 8 and Prost winning 7.
• The car set a record for highest percentage of laps led in a season at 97.3%.
• The MP4/4 was not the last turbo-powered McLaren to win the Constructors' Championship; the MP4/5 (1989) and MP4/5B (1990) also achieved this feat.
• The car's design was led by American engineer Steve Nichols, not Gordon Murray.