McLaren MP4/13: Hakkinen's lucky number

Since his appearance in the "big prizes", Finnish driver Mika Hakkinen has been considered one of the fastest drivers in Formula 1. And indeed, Mika was in perfect order with speed, only he couldn’t win, at least at a separate stage. Of course, no one doubted Hakkinen's talent, it was obvious that his victory was a matter of time, and that as soon as McLaren had a reliable and fast car, the Finn would fly! 


At the end of the 1997 season, Mika managed to solve one part of the equation: the MP4/12 was fast enough, and Hakkinen finally got his first victory. But the 1997 car was also extremely unreliable! Häkkinen's puzzle was formed after the arrival of a new technical director at Woking. 

Birth of the McLaren MP4/13

Under the terms of the contract with Williams, Adrian Newey did not have the right to enter the McLaren base until the end of 1997, which means he could not participate in the development of the car under the new regulations. But no one bothered him to create another masterpiece at home! Working in peace and quiet, with breaks for “tea and cookies”, Adrian came to the conclusion that with the new rules it is critical that the center of gravity of the car is as low as possible.



To achieve this goal, Newey had to "lower" the rider in the cockpit as far as possible, place the ballast under the fuel tank, and ask the minders to make lightweight cylinder heads, and place the crankshaft as low as possible. When it comes to chassis and aerodynamics, Newey didn't follow trends - he set them! So it was at that time: most designers believed that since the cars were narrower, the car should be made as short as possible. But Newey did the opposite, and built the first "aircraft carrier" of Formula 1. The following season, the concept of McLaren tried to copy everything ...



Since there was no question of productive work in isolation, Ron Dennis persuaded Frank Williams to let Newey go before the end of the contract. And on August 1, 1997, Adrian headed the technical headquarters of the McLaren team. Passed under his control:

✅ Henri Durand - chief aerodynamicist
✅ Peter Prodromou - aerodynamicist
✅ Neil Oatley - Chief Designer
✅ Steve Nichols - technical consultant

Newey lived non-stop in Woking, staying overnight at the team base for weeks on end and working without interruption: it took 12 man-hours to develop the aerodynamics of the new McLaren! But already at the first tests in Barcelona MP000/4 was faster than its rivals! Mika Hakkinen completed the lap in 13:1 - a second ahead of second-placed Ralf Schumacher of the Jordan team! As Neil Oatley, the project's chief designer, later recalled, the MP21,41/4's speed came as a surprise even to its creators:



But in Formula 1, it is not customary to pay attention to the test results, because it is not known who worked on what program, how much fuel was poured into the tanks, and so on. In addition, Ferrari was not tested in Barcelona, ​​​​preferring to work on their tracks. The McLaren MP4/13 had to be field tested to prove, or disprove, the advances given.

Technologies MP4/13

Mercedes-Benz Ilmor, in the person of Mario Illien, were not the pioneers of the use of beryllium alloys in Formula 1, this amazing material was used in braking systems. But Illien was the first to dare to use beryllium inside the engine! Made using beryllium alloy pistons and cylinder liners, Mercedes-Benz has taken the lead in Formula 1 in terms of both performance and reliability. 

✅ Dimensions: Length: 4547 mm; Width: 1800 mm; Height: 1016 mm
✅ Engine: Mercedes-Benz FO 110G
✅ Configuration: 72° V10 
✅ Displacement: 2998 cm³
✅ Power: from 760 to 800 hp s., at 16 rpm. 
✅ Gearbox : McLaren 6-speed semi-automatic

Of course, the “growth process” was accompanied by problems: in 1997, Mercedes-Benz engines flared like gunpowder, and the McLaren team lost at least two victories. But in 1998, Mario Illien's engines worked almost perfectly! In terms of speed on the straights, McLaren had no equal: on the old Hockenheimring, McLaren MP4-13 cars equipped with Mercedes-Benz FO110G V10 engines accelerated to 356 km / h!

Diagonal brakes

Another curious feature of McLaren was the braking system. Typically, cars separate the front and rear brake circuits, but on the MP4 / 13 it was possible to additionally slow down one of the rear wheels.



It turned out a kind of "handbrake effect", which allows you to "fill" the car into a long turn and overcome understeer. All this economy was controlled with the help of an additional brake pedal, and in the case of Mika Hakkinen's car, there were three pedals in the cockpit: 

✅ Additional brake 
✅ Main brake
✅ Accelerator

At the same time, Hakkinen controlled both brake pedals with his left foot, which gave undeniable advantages over David Coulthard. But on the car of the Scot there were already four pedals! To the above, a clutch pedal had to be added, since David did not want, or did not know how, to use the steering column lever. In the end, Coulthard had to abandon the idea of ​​using diagonal brakes, but he was hardly upset about this, because after the first race of the season, the FIA ​​declared such devices illegal. Curiously, the ban will not affect the speed of McLaren cars in any way! To the bewildered questions of journalists: why are you still driving so fast? Mika, with a trademark smirk, answered: but as you wanted, we don’t have brakes now!

Debut victory

The very first stage of the World Championship, held in Australia, put an end to the “and”: it was impossible to compete with the brainchild of Adrian Newey! It wasn't just the Williams champion team that was lagging behind the Silver Arrows: after all, the poor form of the Didcot cars could be attributed to the loss of Adrian Newey and Renault factory support.



But also Ferrari, which were considered the main contenders for the title! The most that the pilots of the Prancing Stallions could count on was the fight for third place, in the circle behind the McLaren! After the Australian Grand Prix, Damon Hill said: Adrian Newey has just proved that he is the best Formula 1 constructor ever born on planet Earth.

We are the champions!

The McLaren team's victory in the 1998 World Championship, among other things, was also facilitated by the transition from decades of proven Goodyear racing tires to an unknown Bridgestone. The American firm did not like the fact that the FIA ​​crossed out all their past achievements by introducing new tires "with grooves" - pseudo-slicks. Thus, Goodyear's many years of experience turned out to be useless, and at the end of the 1998 season, the Americans left Formula 1 forever. 



And yet Goodyear couldn't leave Bridgestone's challenge unanswered! Already at the third stage, the Americans provided Ferrari with wider front tires, and did not stop development until the end of the season, which allowed Schumacher to return to the fight and put pressure on the McLaren pilots. The combination of Michael Schumacher, Ferrari F300 and Goodyear tires proved to be serious contenders for the Silver Arrows and the Flying Finn: Schumacher won six Grands Prix, and his teammate Eddie Irvine won one more. 

As a result of the suddenly aggravated rivalry, it turned out that two races before the finish line, Hakkinen and Schumacher scored the same (80 each) points! In the further confrontation loomed the advantage of Ferrari. Firstly, the Italians managed the impossible - to reduce the seemingly hopeless gap in speed. Secondly, at that time, Michael had already participated in the battle for the highest title three times, and won two of them. While Häkkinen, less than a year has passed since his first victory in Formula 1, has never participated in the fight for the championship! 



But Mika won the Nurburgring in cold blood and secured the Constructors' Championship for the McLaren team, and then it was Suzuki's turn. Häkkinen started from pole, led from start to finish and won the race. Thus, he secured the highest title in the personal standings of the World Championship! The McLaren team took advantage of the change in the Technical Regulations to the maximum advantage, winning 12 pole positions, 9 wins and scoring 156 points in the Constructors' Championship.