F1 Questions

[James1985]

Dose any body no why Honda in 1988 decided to give the best turbo engine to maclaren even thought the williams car it was in in 1987 won both titles that season and had the best car.

 

[vat_man]

Suspect it was payback for '86, when Williams won the constructors title but managed to lose the driver title to Prost at McLaren. From memory, I think Honda were after Senna as well, and played a part in getting Senna to McLaren.

 

[GilesGuthrie]

I might have to look that one up, but I suspect that the swtich from Williams to McLaren had nothing at all to do with Williams - it was due to Ron Dennis being something of a (machiavellian) political master.

 

[Mike Rotch]

Originally posted by GilesGuthrie
it was due to Ron Dennis being something of a (machiavellian) political master.

some things never change....

 

[vat_man]

Originally posted by GilesGuthrie
I might have to look that one up, but I suspect that the swtich from Williams to McLaren had nothing at all to do with Williams - it was due to Ron Dennis being something of a (machiavellian) political master.

True - but Honda were pretty dark on Williams losing the '86 Driver title.

 

[GilesGuthrie]

Originally posted by vat_man
True - but Honda were pretty dark on Williams losing the '86 Driver title.

The deal was long-done by then. Dennis had done a deal to get Prost and Senna in a "dream team", and had used that to woo Honda. That was the year of the infamous $1m coin toss.

Honda were prepared to supply Williams also, if they would take a Honda-sponsored driver. This they were not, so Honda supplied McLaren exclusively.

And they say history doesn't repeat...

 

[Pupik]

Originally posted by GilesGuthrie
Honda were prepared to supply Williams also, if they would take a Honda-sponsored driver. This they were not, so Honda supplied McLaren exclusively.

And they say history doesn't repeat...

Honda liked Senna, the golden-boy; and Nakajima, the blue-eyed boy. Lotus stuck to Naka-san, and Williams wanted none of it.

During mid-year Hockenheim testing with his Lotus, Senna expereinced a bad crash at over 200mph. He was sure it was the "active suspension" used on the Lotus 99T of the time, so he announced he was leaving the team. They couldn't keep up with Williams anyhow, despite having the same engines.

Of course, the "dream team" made Honda only to happy to service McLaren. Piquet was never happy with Mansell, afterall, Piquet thought he'd be Number One, giving Mansell the team-orders. It didn't turn out that way. So having a Lotus with a Honda-only-too-happy-to-have-a-champion and a definite Number Two in Nakajima sealed the reason for Honda supplying just McLaren and Honda.

In the end, Lotus had 21 points on the year, Williams with Judd NA V8 engines scored 20. McLaren, of course, had 199!