Lewis Hamilton had hoped to show off the stunning MP4/4 McLaren Honda, the car that dominated the championship just over two decades ago with 15 wins from 16 starts, at the Goodwood Festival of Speed today. However, mechanical issues have ended his scheduled run even before it began.
The #12 MP4/4 stormed to the championship in 1988 with Hamilton's hero Ayrton Senna behind the wheel in a frantic, closely fought battle with the sister #11 machine driven Alain Prost.
Hamilton was looking forward to getting behind the wheel of the Steve Nichols / Gordon Murray designed car for the first time, but on the fourth run yesterday, the gearbox failed with former GP2 racer turned sportscar driver Bruno Senna behind the wheel.
"I'm really disappointed not to be driving the McLaren MP4/4 up the Goodwood hill, not only for myself and for the guys at McLaren who worked so hard to prepare it but also, and most importantly, for the Goodwood spectators," Hamilton said.
"I'm really sorry I won't be able to show the Goodwood spectators just what I could have done in a McLaren MP4/4," he continued. "As I say, I was really looking forward to driving it. But it's an old car and, although Bruno managed three runs in it at Goodwood this year already, its gearbox failed on his fourth run."
Hamilton will however be in action today in his championship winning Mercedes-powered MP4-23 as well as the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Roadster.
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what enzo ferrari 9 wdc ....its not like either he or dennis the mennis were driving the cars u @#$% head. For your records and the rest of kunckleheads from the land of the Union Jack..... The Scuderia has 15 WDC and 16 Conctructors titles....with 2 cool bookends JM Fangio in the 50s as a World Champion and MSc (u know the demi god i am talking about) with 7 titles at the other end. I'll stick to these guys u can keep the rest chuckleheads...Oh and all England has 13 drivers titles...WOW!! It took 9 di%$heads from all England to get 13 drivers titles and one german got 7!!! u @#$%....its disgraceful!! oh sorry i missed out u also have 1 World Cup Football title and Andy Murray.....i take everything back....my bad!! u are indeed a nation of genii!! Now u can take those 23 "thumbs up" from your review, form a circle and....u know what u need to do!! Help each other out...now go on.....
repeatalarm50, you have no clue. F1 cars which are run as classics at events like this are never 100% the original spec - they would barely last one event otherwise. They are detuned and parts are commonly replaced as and when they break with more durable parts made of more up-to-date materials, thereby improving reliability for the future. What will happen in this case is the gearbox will be stripped down, and any broken elements will be replaced.
And before you try it Hakkinen was indeed using the same iteration of the mp4/4 mesh in his title winning 1999 mclaren MP4/14. A wonderful piece of kit, a wonderful design. Not that a ferrari fool would ever understand or appreciate true engineering. The mclaren mp4/4 the most dominant car in F1 history.
You don't 'fix' a ten year old mp4/4 gearbox you numpty, infact you don't 'fix' any F1 gearbox. You manufacture a new one. A bit difficult if the components are over ten years old?
Utter contemptable fool. Get an education.
This has to be the biggest excuse yet, gearbox trouble, L M A O. oh and they havn't any mechanics to fix it L M A O.
You have the best response to the Marnio cretin I have ever seen Woodrowtio. Facts always beat fiction! I may just copy yours!
Enzo Ferrari 9 WDC, 8 CC
Ron Dennis 10WDC, 7 CC
Lewis Hamilton, youngest ever world champion
McLaren only team to win Can-AM, Indy, LeMans and multiple F1 world championships. All in record time.
McLaren acknowledged manufacturers of 'the' greatest road car.
McLaren official rebels against the Ferrari fake royalty.
McLaren true enemy of the FIA, Max, Bernie and Ferrari.
Mclaren, the rebel team against the Ferrari fake royalty.
Remember all the corruption McLaren have had to suffer under Bernie and Max and Ferrari just because McLaren and Hamilton were a threat. Never forget. Bernie now admits his admiration for Hitler, imagine if we had known that a couple of years ago. Still Hamilton became the youngest ever world champion, despite everything they could throw at him and his team.
The beauty of the Mclarens. The Mclaren ruffians are pure and utter class. Ron Dennis has the same career record as Enzo Ferrari in terms of titles won when they were in charge and McLaren has done so much more than Ferrari in such a shorter space of time. The beauty of the MP4/4 maybe only matched by the beauty of the carbon Williams FW 14B.
Lewis Hamilton number of seasons in F1 before winning first WDC title. 2. Courtesy of McLaren.
Michael Schumacher number of seasons in F1 before winning first WDC title 4.
Fernando Alonso number of seasons in F1 before winning first WDC title. 5.
Kimi Raikkonen number of seasons in F1 before winning first WDC title. 7.
McLaren always have the coolest drivers, Hunt, Senna, Hakkinen, Hamilton and the best road cars, and the only team to have won Can Am, Indy, Lemans and F1 titles. McLaren are the true ultra's of world motorsport.
Enzo Ferrari 9 WDC, 8 CC
Ron Dennis 10WDC, 7 CC
Lewis Hamilton, youngest ever world champion
McLaren only team to win Can-AM, Indy, LeMans and multiple F1 world championships. All in record time.
McLaren acknowledged manufacturers of 'the' greatest road car.
McLaren official rebels against the Ferrari fake royalty.
McLaren true enemy of the FIA, Max, Bernie and Ferrari.
Mclaren, the rebel team against the Ferrari fake royalty.
Remember all the corruption McLaren have had to suffer under Bernie and Max and Ferrari just because McLaren and Hamilton were a threat. Never forget.
Bernie now admits his admiration for Hitler, imagine if we had known that a couple of years ago. Still Hamilton became the youngest ever world champion, despite everything they could throw at him and his team.
The beauty of the Mclarens. The Mclaren ruffians are pure and utter class. Ron Dennis has the same career record as Enzo Ferrari in terms of titles won when they were in charge and McLaren has done so much more than Ferrari in such a shorter space of time. The beauty of the MP4/4 maybe only matched by the beauty of the carbon Williams FW 14B.
McLaren always have the coolest drivers, Hunt, Senna, Hakkinen, Hamilton and the best road cars, and the only team to have won Can Am, Indy, Lemans and F1 titles. McLaren are the true ultra's of world motorsport.
They wrecked the gearbox to stop Hamilton moaning about the car
he cant be trusted, he might crash it, he crashes everything else
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