So who built one of Formula 1’s greatest cars?

The MP4/4 is a legendary car in the world of Formula One. It is the car that the McLaren team owes its phenomenal success to in 1988. More than 30 years have passed since then, and no one in the F1 world has yet matched the record of leading McLaren drivers Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost, who won 15 of the 16 races. Became the absolute record they prevented bad luck on the track at Monza. Senna then crashed out of the race due to a problem with his car engine, while Prost was thrown out due to a collision.

MP4 / 4 many automotive experts, connoisseurs and fans believe the best car in the history of F-1, and many call it and the best racing car of all created in the twentieth century.

However, after already more than 30 years, developers and have not come to a consensus on who, after all, owns the main credit in the creation of the legendary car. Some experts are inclined to opinion, that the greatest merit is due to designer Gordon Murry. However, this interpretation strongly disagree Steve Nichols, former in the years of the greatest triumph of the “McLaren” leading engineer team. According to Nicholls, Gordon Murray, although he was technical director of “McLaren”, but in the creation of the MP4/4 is not playing a leading role. Nichols declares that Murray’s functions were mostly managerial, and the main engineering and design work was done by other people.

Of course, Gordon Murray strongly disagrees, calling it an attempt by individuals to “live off his reputation”. On the contrary, he strongly disputes Nichols’ claim that he directs all major works.

Murray claims that in the MP4/4 he incorporated the technical solutions he was preparing for the BT55, the car the designer was building during his time at Brabham. But this statement can be disputed. After all, it is generally accepted that the BT55 was not the most successful model, and therefore its technical solutions are unlikely to be used in the future.

The fact that Gordon Murray’s previous brainchild didn’t become a basis for MR4/4 is confirmed by words of Matthew Jefferies, who was a senior designer of McLaren at that time. According to Jeffries, the forerunner model of the MR4/4 was the MR4/3. According to the designer, the team headed by Stephen Nichols complemented and improved the most successful technical solutions of the previous model.

The automobile community did not come to a consensus about the creator of MR4/4. But the people involved in its creation have made a very successful career, and not only in Formula 1. Gordon Murray, for example, created the legendary McLaren F1 road sports car. After McLaren, Steve Nicholls had a very successful career at Ferrari, and in 2002, he became technical director of Jaguar. In 2020 Nichols N1A was created: Nichols Cars built this concept car using advanced engineering from the M1A, the first race car taken to the track by the McLaren team. At the launch of the concept car, its developers pointed out that it was named after Steve Nichols, whom they consider to be the creator of the best car in Formula 1 history.