Racing Engineers Behind Championship-Winning Cars

Look up McLaren’s MP4/2 from 1984. Barnard carried lessons from the interim MP4/1E into a more integrated design around the TAG-Porsche turbo engine. Its carbon-fiber monocoque carried forward a chassis construction Barnard had introduced on the original MP4/1. Niki Lauda won the drivers’ championship by half a point over teammate Alain Prost, and McLaren took the constructors’ title.

Team Lotus’s 1978 Lotus 79 is the car to look up. Chapman led the team that developed it, working with engineers including Peter Wright and Tony Rudd on the ground-effect program that began with the 78. The 79 made better use of the airflow underneath, and Mario Andretti took the drivers’ title while Lotus won the constructors’ championship.

Start with the Porsche 956 and its first season in 1982. Singer helped develop a car for the new Group C fuel rules and worked on getting downforce from the shape underneath it. Porsche filled the podium at Le Mans and took the manufacturers’ title that year. Compare the underside with the earlier 917 to see why the 956 was a different proposition for the team’s engineers.

Look up the Lancia Rally 037 that helped win the 1983 manufacturers’ title. Limone led the project, and the car drew on work across Abarth, Lancia, and Dallara. Its rear-wheel-drive layout makes it an interesting comparison with the four-wheel-drive Audi. The championship result belonged to Lancia, while Audi’s Hannu Mikkola took the drivers’ title.

Start with the 1983 Brabham BT52. Murray made its BMW-powered layout modular so the crew could work on it and rebuild it more easily. The car’s narrow front and compact rear are easy to pick out in a side view. Nelson Piquet won the drivers’ title, with Brabham’s crew and BMW’s engine program both part of the result.

The 1992 Williams FW14B shows Head’s work as technical director alongside designer Adrian Newey. It adapted the previous FW14 around an active suspension system that controlled how the car rode. Nigel Mansell won the drivers’ title and Williams won the constructors’ championship. Look at the car in motion to see what the team was trying to control.

The Matra MS80 carried Jackie Stewart to his first Formula 1 drivers’ championship in 1969. Ducarouge worked on the chassis with Bernard Boyer, while the team used the Ford-Cosworth DFV engine. Follow the car through that season if you want an example where chassis, engine, and the team running the car came from distinct parts of the program.

Porsche’s 917 gives you a way into Mezger’s engineering work through its flat-12 engine. The 917K took Porsche’s first overall win at Le Mans in 1970, part of the season in which Porsche won the International Championship for Makes. Look at the engine alongside the changes the racing teams made to the bodywork as they developed the car.

Start with Red Bull’s 2010 RB6, which brought the team its first constructors’ title and Sebastian Vettel his first drivers’ championship. Newey led the technical team. Look at the exhaust outlet and diffuser together to see one of the ways the engineers used airflow at the back of the car.

Try Ferrari’s F2002 for Byrne’s contribution as chief designer. The car was a team effort under technical director Ross Brawn, with Paolo Martinelli leading the engine work. Look at the compact rear of the car for an example of how the chassis and engine groups’ decisions met in one place. Ferrari won both 2002 titles.

Brawn GP’s BGP 001 makes more sense when you trace it back to Honda’s design program. Brawn led the team that brought the car to the 2009 grid with Mercedes power. The engineers’ double diffuser drew attention, and Jenson Button and Brawn GP won the drivers’ and constructors’ titles. The car is a useful reminder of how much work can carry over when a team changes hands.

Ferrari’s 312 T won the 1975 constructors’ championship, and Niki Lauda won his first drivers’ title. Forghieri’s team mounted the gearbox transversely, which gives the model its T. Look at the powertrain layout if you want to see how a decision about where to put the gearbox influenced the way the rest of the car was arranged.

McLaren’s 1988 MP4/4 won 15 of 16 races. Nichols and Gordon Murray worked on the car, and Honda supplied the turbo engine. Its low profile is easy to spot in a photograph, while the results show what Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost could do with it. Senna took the drivers’ title and McLaren won the constructors’ championship.

The 2016 Mercedes W07 Hybrid is a good place to start with Cowell’s work. He headed the Brixworth powertrain group, which developed the engine and energy-recovery systems that went into the team’s chassis. The car won 19 of 21 races and took both titles, with Nico Rosberg winning the drivers’ championship.

Start with Audi’s No. 1 R18 e-tron quattro in 2012. Gade was its race engineer, working with the crew and drivers on how to run the car over a full race. André Lotterer, Benoît Tréluyer, and Marcel Fässler won Le Mans and the World Endurance Championship drivers’ title that year. Her role shows how setup and race decisions can shape what a championship car achieves.

Look up the Peugeot 905 as it developed from its first appearances into the 1992 world champion. De Cortanze was Peugeot Talbot Sport’s technical director. The car won Le Mans that year, and Peugeot took the World Sportscar Championship. Comparing an early 905 with the Evo 1 bis is a way to see how much the project evolved.

Look at the Mercedes W11 from 2020, when Allison was technical director. Its dual-axis steering system let the driver change the angle of the front wheels relative to one another by moving the steering wheel in and out. Mercedes won both championships. The system is a useful starting point for seeing how the car’s controls and its tire management were linked.

Look up the Mercedes W05 Hybrid from 2014. Costa was part of the engineering leadership that developed the car when Formula 1 switched to V6 turbo hybrids. Paddy Lowe credited him alongside Bob Bell, Geoff Willis, Rob Thomas, and the wider team. Lewis Hamilton won the drivers’ title and Mercedes took its first Formula 1 constructors’ championship.

Follow the wind-tunnel work behind the Lotus 78 and 79 for Wright’s contribution. His earlier experiments with Tony Rudd at BRM helped lay the groundwork, and the Lotus team developed ways to make the effect work on track. The 79 won the 1978 titles. Wright’s part of the story starts with what the engineers could see and measure in a model.

Look up Prodrive’s Subaru Impreza 555 from 1995. Lapworth worked on the car, while David Richards ran the program and the rally crews kept it running through each event. Subaru won the manufacturers’ championship and Colin McRae took the drivers’ title. The car gives you a way to connect the engineering back at Prodrive with what the crews needed between stages.