1986 Dallas Grand Prix

Lore & Background

The MP4/2 was one of the few F1 cars to use carbon brakes at the time, giving it another major advantage over most of its rivals on all bar the street circuits or when conditions were hot and dry; notably, the carbon brakes were not as good as the steel brakes at tracks like the Detroit and Dallas street circuits due to the steel brakes lasting longer in the heat. That, combined to superior fuel consumption of the allowed 220 litres and the driving skill of Lauda and Prost saw the MP4/2 score 12 wins in 1984, at the time the highest number of wins in a season by a single team. Lauda beat Prost to the championship by just half a point in the final race, even though Prost had 7 wins to Lauda's 5 (at the final round in Portugal, Prost needed to win and have Lauda finish 3rd or worse to take the title. Lauda finished second). This remains the closest finish to a championship in Formula One history.

In Their Own Story

The Texas sun beat down on the asphalt of the Dallas circuit, baking the tires before the first lap even began. Prost, ever the master of calculation, sat in his McLaren MP4/2, eyes fixed on the chaotic grid ahead. Senna, hungry for glory, revved his engine with a ferocity that echoed off the grandstands. As the lights went out, the race erupted into a blur of rubber and rain-slicked chaos.

Reader's Guide

The MP4/2 and both its updated successors were very aerodynamically efficient cars and had excellent rear-end traction, and as a result they clearly handled the best in long, high speed corners- their superiority was more obvious on high-speed circuits made up of these long, fast corners, such as Jacarepagua, Dijon, Silverstone, Zandvoort, Spa and Kyalami, and particularly the Österreichring, where all 3 variations of the MP4/2 won in successive years (1984, 1985 and 1986), beginning with Lauda's only ever win in his home Grand Prix in 1984 cheered on by thousands of his countrymen and women. McLaren comfortably won the constructors' championship from Ferrari with a score of 143.5 to just 57.5 from the Prancing Horse.

Did You Know?

• The MP4/2 was powered by a 1.5 Litre, 90° V6 TAG-Porsche turbo engine that produced 650 bhp in race set-up and up to 800 bhp in qualifying set-up.
• The car was first used in the 1983 Dutch Grand Prix, at the insistence of veteran Niki Lauda.
• In 1984, both McLarens failed to finish a race only on two occasions in Belgium and Dallas, while recording four 1-2 finishes in South Africa, Germany, Holland and Portugal.
• The 1984 Dallas Grand Prix was won by Keke Rosberg (Williams-Honda), not by a McLaren driver.