MCLAREN'S FRAGILE ROCKETSHIP! The Story of the McLaren MP4-20 (2005)
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- čas přidán 3. 09. 2023
- McLaren built what is probably the 1967 Lotus 49 of the modern era. When it worked, it was rapid. But it broke down too often to win the championship, and other drivers mopped up where they floundered.
So what made this car so fast and what at the same time made it so bad? Let's have a look.
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I'm sure Kimi finished 3rd at Silverstone, having had the engine failure during practice and taking another 10 place grid penalty. He didn't DNF in the race.
He did. Wires must have got crossed.
"Fragile rocketship" is a perfect description. Kimi would have won the title easily without all these failures
Hence why I have love/hate relationship with that car. Fast af, but also more fragile, than Hamilton's ego (because, you know, Hamilton does have quite massive ego).
@@1989SupraGuyFINWhy bring him up?
@@1989SupraGuyFINand yet living rent free in your head. This is a place for civil discussion not agenda pushing...
@@apexinstinct not even close. You see, you don't win 7 world championships by being nice guy. And all that whining he does only show how big of an ego he has. Max is another good example of guy with big ego.
No doubt in my mind. Plus Kimi's teammate Montoya had a habit of imploding from nowhere. That didn't help Kimi nor McLaren neither.
The Renault was by no means slow but that McLaren was on another level in Kimi's hands. Quite often it would be on pole carrying more fuel, be faster during the race and have less tyre wear. That is pure domination on a scale that you rarely see.
Just on the Montoya shoulder injury, he revealed in a Beyond the Grid podcast that it was a Motocross accident rather than a tennis accident. Best guess is Montoya reckoned McLaren/Ron would've been particularly angry if they found out he was doing something as dangerous as Motocrossing, so he made the tennis story up.
I read it was his ankle.
I think Montoya was unreliable.
@@kevinprior3549 nah, it was the car. You should've seen Montoya at places like Germany 2001, Monza 2001, Monaco 2003, Interlagos 2004 etc. Guy was a god damn rocket on a good day carwise.
He could set those BMW Williams cars up like an old CART Car. Couldn’t do that at McLaren.
ayyy based @@AidanMillward at it again.
"Not an engine but a wifi password" .....brilliant!!!😂😂😂
One of the best cars never to win either title . McLaren gave Kimi more help to win a title in 2007( in a Ferrari.) than they ever did when he was there when they let Hamilton and Alonso fall out with each other. McLaren haven't won a constructors title in so long that neither of their current drivers Norris and Piastri were born when in last happened in 1998.
For me the McLaren mp4/20 has to be one of the greatest non championship winning car ever as well as one of Newey’s finest race cars. The speed in there is insanely impressive but also the aesthetics do really make it look quite intimidating. With its Viking horns,the huge lowered flat nose cone,the aero appendages,the front and rear wings. To top it off,Kimi’s blue and white helmets especially with that silver visor and how incredibly aggressive the exhaust notes were just adds That fast and intimidating factor.
Still trying to work out this whole new studio and lighting stuff but it’s already a hundred times better than the old place.
That car was also so drop dead gorgeous
I remember Newey talking about those wings when asked by a fan brought on to ask him questions by the ITV broadcast team that weekend. His response was, I think "They don't generate any downforce, they make the rear wing work harder."
Jordan with a 2005 NHL anti-lockout slogan, good god they really were strapped for cash by that stage weren't they....
EJ had sold the team by this point and was on his yacht in Monaco not giving a fuck.
This is my favorite Mclaren F1 car.
Heartbreaking kimi years at McLaren
It's what Hannibal Lecter called the Deep Roller problem. McLaren under Ron Dennis went to extremes; Adrian Newey also went to extremes. Put the two together and you get a car that's cutting too close to the bone. Newey's designs worked much better when his drawings were brought into the real world by people like Patrick Head.
Id beg to differ on the Newey point. His changes in design needed for the McLaren were adopted too late due to the decision by committee that Ron had implemented following the 2004 contract debacle. Newey proved himself at both McLaren and now Red Bull that he is able to implement his designs with the right team around him as F1 is not an individual sport, especially in terms of car development. Peter Prodromou and Giles Wood were poached by Red Bull in 2008 when Newey left as he recognized their technical ability and also worked extremely well with him. Recommend reading his autobiography „How to Design a Car“, if you haven’t already.
By far one of the prettiest F1 car that was ever built ! And this sound is just fabulous !
Oddly enough this got me thinking about the 2002 Monaco Grand Prix where McLaren used bidirectional telemetry to remap Coulthard’s ailing Mercedes engine halfway through the race, in which he went on to win that years Grand Prix.
If that Merc V10 doesn't blow up every other weekend and Kimi does take the title, I wonder if he still leaves for Ferrari. If he doesn't, that means Michael probably sticks around another couple seasons. Does he then win the 2007 or 2008 titles? What a what-if
Tbh I think Kimi wins 07 either way considering how he almost beat Schumacher in 03 in a worse car
@@PetriHelin quite possibly, and I wonder if that would mean anything for rookie Lewis then.
I think The Michael was being pushed out of Ferrari whether Kimi came or not. Luca di Montezemolo wanted the Brawn/Todt/Schumacher trio gone.
@@matthewpuleo9307 I think he might go to another team for a year before a 08 mclaren debut, either that or nothing changes
@@Hydraav2 Yeah thats true, I wonder if it wouldve been Alonso instead of Kimi going to Ferrari in 07
4:44. I actually asked Mark Presley about this in one of his Q&A videos and he said they were for directing air to the rear wing, saying McLaren wouldn't waste development time on a trap for other teams.
The MP4-20 is my all time favourite f1 car. Stupidly fast, just too fragile 😭
The MP4-20 in monza spec is my one of my favourite car of all time in f1 history (at worst top 2 with the MP4-22 also in Monza spec) it was such an awesome car..... when it worked
Kimi should have easily won the title year that version of Kimi could go toe to toe with anyone in the history of the sport for greatest ever driver peak for peak
Kimi and the MP4--20 was a match made in heaven.
In my mind he was the spiritual champion.
The MP4-20 was "the last of the V10 Interceptors - a piece of history" (paraphrasing Max Max 2)
Oh, and as you no doubt have guessed that's the MP4-20 in my avatar. And Kimi.
The glass cannon of Formula 1.
I've heard those V10 engines at Indy. And when I say heard, I mean I felt them.
I've been watching F1 since the mid 80s and this car is my favourite, it was such a beautiful blinding quick beast. Also to be honest the R25 was a great looking car too, the livery not so much.....
Its kinda crazy to think that the rule before 20 years ago was that engine must last only 1 race weekend.
Despite its issues I wish Mclaren would use this car at goodwood. It was the that had so much potential and was glorious when it worked. And it looked and sounded brutal.
Blackstar. The sound in your head. (I've got an early HT, it's epic). And now back to motorsport.
My parents came down and brought my 4x12 Marshall cab with them. Would have been rude not to stack them.
The Star Trek reference was on point.. Another great video!
I love the way that you write those Star Trek references in your videos. Great video as well!
One of my Favourite F1 cars of all Time
excelent video
That sound is so good
Another car that reminds me of the MP4-20 is the Subaru Impreza S6 WRC2000. That car was the fastest car of the 2000 season and when the car worked, it dominated with ease by Richard Burns and Robert Reid. The car was unreliable and if it worked, it would have easily won the drivers and constructor's championship. This Impreza is pretty much the WRC equivalent to the MP4-20 and the 1967 Lotus 49.
Then the following year Burnsie won ❤️
@@AidanMillward One of my favourite moments during my childhood.
@@rosegraham5283 that signed scale model I have was the eBay find of the century.
@@AidanMillward I envy you for owning that signed 1999 Impreza model.
Cheers from the Pacific West Coast of Canada.
That season was so exciting because you never knew whether Kimi would make it to the end, so the whole boring dominance issue never came up. Kimi in 05 was like Max this year if Max had maybe a 40% chance of making the end of the race. It was a really special dynamic and I love the car for that.
car that made me fall in love with f1
The 2005 quali in Monaco was mind blowing.
And it may be the reason I love the Single lap shoot out in Quali
That car’s inconsistency definitely have some 420 vibes
I like to new talking head framing and look. The jokes often are corny but the info is always great. I remember the videos per-copywrite problem you had. They were outstanding. I know, if you could afford the pictures and videos you'd want, your videos would be awesome.
Just means I get to re-do them all and break the bigger ones into more detailed sub episodes.
It actually worked out well.
I've now got to get used to your new right profile! 🙂
The most beautiful car ever!
After that Delta Quadrant reference, I'm pining for the MP7/9 :)
I find ironic because in the 1980s McLaren was winning not because they were always the fastest... But because anything faster was not reliable, and everything else was slower.
And they kind of forgot that lesson over time...
Thanks
No, thank YOU.
I remember De La Rosa's performance in Bahrain in 2005. Was a really exciting and strong drive by Montoya's sub.
Wurz' San Marino run as well. McLaren had an enviable reserve driver roster at the time.
Wurz was an underrated driver of massive proportions.
@@AidanMillward There was something werid about him as a driver. His Benetton spell had such a confusing drop off.
Went from on par to usually beating Fisi (race pace, Q pace no) in 98 to getting taken behind the wood shed in 99 and 2000.
@@Meodread Benetton dropped off pretty hard after 1998.
@@AidanMillward Agreed I'm purely talking teammate battle.
Bennetton went from 4th best car at the start of 98 to like............8th fastest by the end of 2000 and even worse to start 2001 despite a really solid driver lineup.
I just mean he went from being on par with Fisi to start 98 to well laughably number 2 by the end of the partnership in a care that wasn't really changing.
Fragile Rocketship sounds like a great name for a prog-rock band 😁
Damn I miss the V10s. Even if they were slower. This and 04 was peak F1 imo, but each to their own.
Luckily, the better driver won the 05 WDC. Look how badly FA smashed Kimi as a teammate. Basically, beat him in every single quali & race + scored more 3x his points. I like how the MP4-20 gave Kimi viking horns.
3:05 - The contral arm mounting point on the chassis is a flexing piece of titanium. Not a swiveling joint like an A-arm on normal cars. F1 cars don't have much suspension travel and the races are short comparatively. So the flexing sold joint doesn't have enough time to fatigue
The V10's really where a Swiss watch makers dream. Exotic metals and precision.
8:11 It was already in the rules that you could change a tyre deemed dangerous if you could prove it. James Allen said on commentary that Raikkonen should have come in and changed it and that he'd still have got a podium if he had.
10:32 I would say the Williams FW14, but they were on pair IMO
Imagine if Kimi was given the 2007 McLaren, a car with no almost no reliability failures. Would have been like heaven for him
I mean he did get one, it’s called the ferrari f2007
@@e-money9251
Nope, retired with engine failure in Spain
A story time idea, 2005 San Marino where the Michael was taking two seconds a lap out of JB & Alonso after qualifying P13
Aidan please play some more of that Merc engine noise...it took me took long to climax....
New camera? Looks sharper than your previous footage.
That engine noise should be illegal!!
WE SEE AIDANS FACE AGAIN!!!
"And if you found the one person that actually liked that rule, they're lying"
..So can I have them arrested? I might've found two of them.
thank god i grew up in the V12/ V10 era.
I'll always be bitter about this lost title.😂
Can you make a video about alboreto in the 1985 season?
Kimi deserved this championship, but McLaren didn’t.
As an Alonso fan at the time, I lived for those McLaren car failures. That was Renault's only hope practically every weekend. A note about the tire-induced suspension failure at the Nurburgring: As I recall, there was already a precedent for changing tires during the weekend if it posed a safety risk--I think Ferrari had to change one in the first race in Australia, but I could be misremembering--but there was nothing codified about it until after the Raikkonen crash, I think.
It was Spain that Michael had 2 tire failures they changed the tires the first and retired the car the second time
A perfect example of a car too perfect to work. Everything on it was state of the art and untested. It was the fastest, but unreliable. Reliability is key in F1.
I think Newey was right to leave for RB. Mclaren were on their way up at this point, but Newey was so frustrated, he has been better off at RB and has a much better relationship with Christian Horner.
His genius on the aerodynamics though. Such a legend
McLaren was throwing with reliability. Kimi should be a 3x WDC.
At Imola 2005, Schumacher was catching up and pushing Alonso only because the Renault engine was turned down.
Is there any story time/ analysis of Montoya's hand and its consequences?
Montoya's hand and its consequences have been a disaster for Montoya's race.
Just a title suggestion.
Those horns probably created vortecies and directed air towards the wing so yea.
Oh that Voyager ref, can we get Janeway in for Stroll or likes?
I need a Star Trek emote. Maybe Garak.
@@AidanMillward one of the best ST characters - make it so.
Adding to the mechanical woes, it seemed that during the latter part of the season JPM also was on a mission to help Renault (crash in Spa, being overtaken in Turkey). Definitely did not help in WDC nor WCC.
In fairness Spa he got taken out but Turkey when he was being careless lapping the jordan also Japan as well
Without those incidents McLaren wins the constructors despite all the reliability woes
2012 Mc`laren also way quick but wasted potential
nyoom
Kimi could've won 13 races in this car without the problems
The horns must have done something. The extra weight and higher centre of mass would have been a big no, no.
2003 and 2005 should been Kimi's title if they were just that little bit more consistent
Didn’t the merc engine keep blowing up because of the beryllium ban.
I correct myself the ban was in 2001
MP4/27 was also the fastest car in net pace but very fragile. I recon Hamilton lost at least 4 wins by DNFs.
mclaren had its best weekend in japan but it's too late
In the 2000s McLaren lost championships as opposed to winning them... If that makes sense
❤@5:50... Should come with a 18+ warning and proof everyone involved was a consenting adult.
Snoop dog , really 😂
As 420 jokes go it’s under the radar.
i dont know why... but I prefered your videos when you did not appear on them. When you were just voice over
I play that AC mod so much. Probably my favourite open wheeler to drive atm
The RSS 2020 car is an utter machine.
I think McLarens from 2005 to 2012 where just frustrating, each one (maybe not 2009) was good car let down by poor reliability or unconventional design that made them fragile but fast.
I swear this was a mclaren blueprint from like 97 to 06 build bad fast cars that are really unreliable.......
Isn't this the only F1 car to win more than 50% of the races and not win either Championship?
I'm sorry but McLaren went slowly downhill when they got rid of the red and white Marlboro colour scheme on the chassis. I just couldn't get used to the change. It was like Cardiff City having their shirts changed from blue, which they'd been for decades, to red. Thanks to their new Malaysian owners.
What happened to MP 4-18? 😂
It was a death trap so they binned it off and ran something else.
I think Alonso was a lucky double world champion. McLarens was faster than Renault, but unreliable in 2005. And M Schumacher would have been 8x champ had his engine didnt go at Suzuka in 2006.
No he wouldn't. Even if his engine doesn't blow up in Japan, Alonso still wins the championship by 1 point. And if we want to be fair, we need to take into account Alonso's engine failure at Monza when he was 3rd and wheelnut failure at Hungary when he was racing for victory with Button.
And of course the biggest what if. What if Michael hadn't parked at Rascasse. He finished fifth from a pit lane start. He could have won that race and the cascade effect from that result could have won the WDC
Last McLaren with 'my' livery, as the 'all tobacco except Phillip Morris' ban kicked in mid-season. To me, West is McLaren. Not Marlboro, never was Marlboro, never will be Marlboro, that's Ferrari, you weirdos! 😉
'05 was so frustrating. Michael wasn't winning anymore, so I ought to have been having a blast, but... Nope, Kimi's out again. Fernando dominated by accident that year. Then came the word that Newey's heading for Red Bull. "Wow, he's never going to win again." I thought. Yeah... I made that same error with Honda and Red Bull, but surely others did too, I mean we'd all seen the horror show they'd had with McLaren, right?
Hungary was a particular memory in '05. The 'holiday race' that year, so highlights, not live. Last race I watched with my Granda, who lost interest with no Irish presence on the grid following the departure of Jordan. Michael on pole and podium, and Kimi won, so everybody was happy.
Funnily enough the race you mentioned was even the last race in f1 sponsored by a tobacco company and the last race ever that had the full McLaren West sponsorship in a race weekend (for the Friday at least)
Last time we saw those Marlboro trophies which were just Ferrari steering wheel replicas lol
I don't know why people like this car. The 2005 cars were hideous with the reg changes. The 2006 cars helped a bit as the cars got more svelte to remove drag (due to less engine power and smaller engine/cooling needs).
Because it was an absolute weapon on paper with all those numbers it was chucking out.
2005 was more Kimi's car breaking down than Alonso winning the title. Fernando win it by tootling around waiting for the McLaren to conk out. Not a worthy championship imo