McLaren MP4/12

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McLaren MP4/12

Mika Häkkinen's MP4/12 on display at the Technik Museum Sinsheim
Category	Formula One
Constructor	McLaren
Designer(s)	Neil Oatley (Executive Engineer) Steve Nichols (Engineering Director) Matthew Jeffreys (Head of Vehicle Design) David North (Chief Engineer-Transmission) David Neilson (Principal Engineer-Suspension) Paddy Lowe (Head of R&D) Henri Durand (Head of Aerodynamics) Mario Illien (Chief Engine Designer (Ilmor-Mercedes))
Predecessor	MP4/11B
Successor	MP4/13
Technical specifications
Chassis	carbon-fibre and honeycomb composite structure
Suspension (front)	double wishbones, pushrod-operated inboard coil spring/damper
Suspension (rear)	double wishbones, pushrod-operated inboard coil spring/damper
Engine	Ilmor-built Mercedes-Benz FO110E (75°) and FO110F (72°) V10s
Transmission	McLaren six-speed longitudinal semi-automatic sequential.
Power	740 hp (551.8 kW) @ 16,000 rpm[1]
Fuel	Mobil 1
Tyres	Goodyear
Competition history
Notable entrants	West McLaren Mercedes
Notable drivers	9. Mika Häkkinen 10. David Coulthard
Debut	1997 Australian Grand Prix
First win	1997 Australian Grand Prix
Last win	1997 European Grand Prix
Last event	1997 European Grand Prix
Races Wins Podiums Poles F/Laps 17 3 7 1 2
Constructors' Championships	0
Drivers' Championships	0

The McLaren MP4/12 was the Formula One car with which the McLaren team competed in the 1997 Formula One World Championship. The chassis was designed by Steve Nichols, Neil Oatley and Henri Durand with Mario Illien designing the bespoke Ilmor engine. It was driven by Mika Häkkinen and David Coulthard.

Externally, the car was a more streamlined and refined evolution of the previous year's MP4/11, with engines supplied by Mercedes-Benz for the third year of the Anglo-German alliance. Testing was carried out with the cars painted in the traditional McLaren orange, before a striking new black and light silver livery was launched to celebrate the team's new sponsorship deal with West, replacing the red and white of Marlboro that the team had used since 1974.

During the season, F1 Racing photographer Darren Heath noticed that the rear brakes of the McLarens were glowing red in an acceleration zone of the track. The magazine discovered through photos of the inside of the cockpit, that McLaren had installed a second brake pedal, selectable by the driver to act on one of the rear wheels. This allowed the driver to eliminate understeer and reduce wheelspin when exiting slow corners, dubbed "brake steer". Ferrari's protestations to the FIA led to the system being banned the following season at the 1998 Brazilian Grand Prix.^[2]

McLaren later designed a road car that shared a similar designation to the MP4/12: the McLaren MP4-12C, which also featured the "brake steer" system.

The car proved extremely promising and could have won at least seven races during the course of the season, but reliability proved troublesome, in particular that of the engine. The FO110E engine was replaced with the FO110F engine from the French Grand Prix, but the trouble happened frequently to either engine. This proved frustrating, especially after Coulthard won the first race of the season in Australia, McLaren's first win since losing Ayrton Senna and also Mercedes' first F1 win since the 1955 Italian Grand Prix. The situation was exacerbated by Häkkinen retiring from three further races whilst in the lead - all from engine failures - including at the Nürburgring, where the team lost a comfortable one-two finish when both cars retired with identical failures within a lap of each other. Coulthard also lost a certain victory – at Montreal, with a clutch problem after a precautionary pitstop just a few laps before the race prematurely ended. However, Coulthard did manage to win again at Monza.

The team finally claimed the reward of a one-two finish at the season finale after the collision between Michael Schumacher and Jacques Villeneuve, although it was a contentious finish with many nodding to the fact that Patrick Head of Williams and Ron Dennis of McLaren had negotiations where Villeneuve would give up the lead if the McLarens made sure to steer clear from the troubled Williams. Regardless, this was Häkkinen's first win in F1 and was much celebrated by the F1 world which had been tipping him to win since he first out-qualified Senna in Portugal 1993. The win set him up with a good base to start his 1998 campaign, which he was able to win after a season-long battle with Michael Schumacher.

The team eventually finished fourth in the Constructors' Championship, with 63 points.

McLaren used 'West' logos, except at the French, British and German Grands Prix.

(key) (results in bold indicate pole position)

• AUTOCOURSE 1997-98, Henry, Alan (ed.), Hazleton Publishing Ltd. (1997) ISBN 978-1-874557-47-0

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