McLaren 1993

[indy]

I forget how.... but the other day I got into a few Michael Andretti McLaren videos on YouTube. After attending the '92 Indy 500 and becoming racing crazy. Michael in F1 was the spark I needed to start watching F1 as much as possible. Of course, Calvin, sponsorship on the sidepods by my beloved Shell (who was clothing, feeding, sheltering my family) along with the US connection made it easy to root for him plus McLarens and Penskes looked so much alike back then - bonus! Anyway, in one video I was watching Michael had just signed with Ganassi after splitting with McLaren. The interview with Derek Daly kind of talked about the challenges for the '93 F1 season (which I saw and read much about over the years) and Michael mentioned that Ron had tried to get Renault power for 1993. I had not recalled this tidbit and in the last few days I have found it very interesting to speculate how 1993 could have gone for both Senna and Andretti if the MP4/8 had the top power plant on the grid.

In researching more about the McLaren and Renault negotiations, I came across McLaren's page on the MP4/8 and the 1993 season in their Heritage section. To me, the car/season synopsis was one of the most fair assessments of Michael's lackluster tenure in F1 that I have seen.

www.mclaren.com/formula1/heritage/cars/1993-formula-1-mclaren-mp4-8/

...various rule changes meant that when Michael Andretti joined the team from the US he was effectively denied adequate time to familiarise himself with the circuits.

As a consequence, having shown good speed when previously testing in the MP4/7 he failed to make his mark with the MP4/8 because of the lack of 'seat time' and was eventually replaced by one of the sport's coming-men, fresh from Lotus, Mika Hakkinen.

Thought I'd share it with the group. I'm sure I'm not the only one who was rooting on Mario's kid in 1993.

Jordan

[indycals]

It would have helped if McLaren gave him a car that could get off the grid in the first race. From what I recall Senna was complimentary of Andretti.

That said, my friend Steve Mohlenkamp did this diorama that pretty much sums up Michael's season:

[Calvin]

Apr 3, 2014 23:16:18 GMT -5 indy said:

Of course, Calvin, sponsorship on the sidepods by my beloved Shell (who was clothing, feeding, sheltering my family)

Can you elaborate on this more Jordan? Yes we know I like Shell logos and Michael P too! But it sounds like you have some sort of work connection to Shell?

[Calvin]

Apr 4, 2014 2:22:46 GMT -5 indycals said:

That said, my friend Steve Mohlenkamp did this diorama that pretty much sums up Michael's season:

Not only is he a professional photographer, but when looking at his dioramas he seems to have a great imagination or if thats not the right word, creative eye.

[mjjracer]

Apr 4, 2014 2:22:46 GMT -5 indycals said:

It would have helped if McLaren gave him a car that could get off the grid in the first race. From what I recall Senna was complimentary of Andretti.

I recall Michael saying that Senna was one of the first to call to congratulate him after winning his first race back in Indycar. That helped to soften my opinion of Senna somewhat.

MJ

[Art Laski]

I got to see some of Steve's work at the GSL last year. It was first rate, for sure. Great subject matter too.

Art

[Deleted]

Apr 4, 2014 10:30:29 GMT -5 Calvin said:

Apr 4, 2014 2:22:46 GMT -5 indycals said:

That said, my friend Steve Mohlenkamp did this diorama that pretty much sums up Michael's season:

Not only is he a professional photographer, but when looking at his dioramas he seems to have a great imagination or if thats not the right word, creative eye.

here's my first attempt at using the quote button, the diorama is wonderful, creative and the model and figure are outstanding-very cool!

[indycals]

I love how he has the dirt stuck to the tires.

[clm1545]

A sad chapter in a great career. Michael was "set up" to fail, and he managed to make a bad situation even worse. To a degree we are still feeling the after effects of that fiasco.

[sam198]

Cool diorama, all you need is a Karl Wendlinger model with front wing damage. Such a sad season for Michael, for salt in the wound, he got to watch Mansell steamroll the competition in a car he developed, the only exception being Michael would not have botched the penultimate restart at Indy.

Scott