McLaren MP4/6

Formula One racing car

The McLaren MP4/6 is a Formula One racing car designed by McLaren's Neil Oatley, Matthew Jeffreys, David North, David Neilson, Bob Bell and Mike Gascoyne; powered by the Honda RA121E V12 engine for use in the F1 season of 1991 Formula One season, with the engine's design and development led by Osamu Goto. It was driven by reigning World Champion, Brazilian Ayrton Senna, and Austria's Gerhard Berger. Ayrton Senna would win his third World Championship in the MP4/6. The MP4/6 was notable for being the last F1 car to win the championship with a manual gearbox and the only F1 car powered by a V12 engine to do so.

The MP4/6 was the first McLaren to be powered by a Honda V12 engine, which Honda quote at at 13,500rpm. By the latter half of the season, Honda (at Senna's urging) had managed to improve the engine to 780 hp (581.6 kW) @ 14,800 rpm. The MP4/6 raced throughout F1 season of 1991 with a manual "H" pattern gearbox. A semi automatic transmission was tested during the season (and shown at the Hungarian Grand Prix; the car equipped with it ran 4 laps on track in practice before Senna spun off; the car was then converted back to a manual) but was never regarded as good enough to be used in a race; Ferrari and Williams were the only teams to use semi automatic gearboxes during 1991. The MP4/6 would go down as the last Formula One car to win a World Championship using a manual transmission and the only F1 car to win the World Championship with a V12 engine.

Senna won the first four races of the season, in the United States, Brazil, San Marino and Monaco, before Williams and Nigel Mansell found their feet with the FW14, which dominated in mid season. Consistent podium finishes on Senna's part throughout the year helped McLaren, but Senna insisted that Honda step up their engine development programme and demanded further improvements to the car before it was too late. Honda responded with updated versions of the V12 engine, while Oatley redesigned various features of the car, particularly the sidepods and wings. Senna won in Hungary and Belgium before clinching his third and final Drivers' Championship in Japan with second place behind Berger; he then won the final race in Australia to secure the team's fourth consecutive Constructors' Championship. McLaren continued with the MP4/6, upgraded to 'B' specification, for the first two races of F1 season of 1992, Senna finishing third in South Africa. The MP4/6B was then replaced with the car designed for the 1992 season, the MP4/7A which had semi automatic transmission and traction control, though three MP4/6Bs were brought to the 1992 Brazilian Grand Prix as spares. The MP4/6 was considered by some to be the most competitive car in the Formula One field until Williams sorted the FW14, which was aerodynamically and technically more advanced. In all, the MP4/6 took eight Grand Prix wins and ten pole positions and scored 148 points. The car brought a close to McLaren's and Honda's domination of the sport, stretching back to the mid 1980s.

The McLaren MP4/6 is included as included as a classic car in Codemasters F1 2017, F1 2018, F1 2019 and F1 2020 video games.