The rushed McLaren F1 car that elevated a reluctant Senna's legacy

Williams had the best Formula 1 car of 1993, but its dominance was repeatedly challenged by a great campaign from McLaren's Ayrton Senna, who recorded five thrilling wins in the Ford-powered MP4/8. As part of a series of features looking back on that season 30 years on, key players involved in the car's gestation explain how it was hurriedly conceived and Senna belatedly agreed to race it...

McLaren had lost its supply of Honda V12 engines in the summer. A replacement wasn’t found until November, and then only a deal for customer-spec Ford Cosworth V8s. It didn’t start on the development of the active-ride system essential to keep pace with Williams until the autumn.

And to cap it all, the team’s talisman driver, Ayrton Senna, was telling the world that it was far from certain that he would return the following year. The odds looked stacked against McLaren at the end of 1992.

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Author Gary Watkins

Gary Watkins has, for reasons best known to himself, devoted all his working life to covering sportscar racing. This season is his 32nd as a motorsport journalist, during which time he has reported on major long-distance events on four continents and approaching 75 24-hour races. He reckons a degree in political philosophy makes him well qualified for covering the sometimes Machiavellian world of international sportscars.

Gary, who also writes for Autoweek, Motor Sport, Autocourse, RACER and others, lives in Surbiton but spends more time on the road than at home for most of the year.