Page 1 of 1 Despite scoring seven wins, the McLaren MP4/15 had to settle for second in the 2000 Formula 1 World Championship behind Ferrari and Michael Schumacher. Looking to get back to the championship winning ways of 1998 and 1999, the Adrian Newey led engineering team developed the new MP4-16 for 2001.
The MP4-16 was built around a carbon-fibre monocoque chassis and featured push-rod actuated torsion-bar springs on all four corners. Ilmor once again supplied the Mercedes-Benz badged engines. Dubbed the FO110K, the latest iteration of the three-litre V10s were good for around 830 bhp. This power was transferred to the rear wheels through a McLaren seven-speed gearbox.
Going into their record breaking sixth season as team-mates, the McLaren driver line-up once again consisted of David Coulthard and Mika Häkkinen. The Finnish driver was the team leader as he had won the World Championship in 1998 and 1999 and finished runner-up in 2000. It was however, Coulthard, who drew first blood after finishing second at the season-opener in Australia and then winning the third round in Brazil.
During the remainder of the year, the McLaren team struggled to keep tabs on Ferrari and Williams. There were niggling issues with the aerodynamics and the Mercedes-Benz engine was not quite as powerful or reliable as the BMW and Ferrari V10s respectively. Coulthard scored one more win, in Austria, and late in the year Häkkinen scored victories in the British and American Grands Prix.
McLaren once again ended the year second in the standings but by a much larger margin. Coulthard placed second in the Drivers' Championship, well behind Schumacher. Häkkinen announced his retirement and was replaced by Kimi Räikkönen for the 2002 season.
With four wins, the McLaren MP4-16 was a successful Formula 1 car by most standards but it was overshadowed by the dominance of Ferrari and Schumacher. Page 1 of 1