{"id":823685,"date":"2021-10-20T07:11:31","date_gmt":"2021-10-20T06:11:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/?p=823685"},"modified":"2021-10-20T07:11:36","modified_gmt":"2021-10-20T06:11:36","slug":"ayrton-senna-the-last-v12-powered-f1-champion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/articles\/single-seaters\/f1\/ayrton-senna-the-last-v12-powered-f1-champion\/","title":{"rendered":"Ayrton Senna: the last V12-powered F1 champion"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Can it really be 30 years ago today? Unfortunately, it can! On October 20 1991 Ayrton Senna<\/a> became Formula 1<\/a> world champion for a third and what turned out to be final time in a McLaren<\/a> powered by a V12 engine, marking something of a full-stop for this most celebrated of powerplant configurations.<\/p>\n

As Motor Sport\u2019s<\/em> current issue<\/a> reminds us, the V12 still had plenty of racing life left in it in sports prototypes, particularly though the turbo-diesel era from 2006. But in F1 terms the V12 story was almost done. Ferrari<\/a> persevered \u2013 inevitably \u2013 with his 12-cylinder love affair through to 1995, but although Michael Schumacher<\/a> tested the last of the breed and liked what he found, he\u2019d only ever race V10 Ferraris. Three decades on, 1991 was a seminal season in more ways than one. Just to add to the mix, it was also the last F1 title earned with a manual gearshift.<\/p>\n

In the context of what Senna achieved that year, winning what was arguably the finest of his F1 titles without a significant car advantage and against the gathering force that was Williams<\/a>-Renault, Suzuka<\/a> should have been a moment of wonder. But it didn\u2019t turn out like that. Nigel Mansell\u2019s<\/a> lame capitulation, understeering off into the Turn 2 gravel as early as lap 10, created a sense of anti-climax after what had been an increasingly tense and fascinating season-long duel, between two drivers who regarded each other with a wary, grudging respect at best, and between Britain\u2019s two finest and most successful F1 teams (even if Lotus<\/a> remains the most cherished among those old enough to remember it in Colin Chapman\u2019s pomp). But what really took the shine off was Senna himself and the way he chose to conduct himself in the midst of one of his finest achievements.<\/p>\n

The patronising gift to team-mate Gerhard Berger<\/a>, lifting off on the run to the line to allow the Austrian to claim a hollow race win, was cringe-inducing enough. Worse, he chose the moment of supposed glory to launch a tirade<\/a> against outgoing (and never to be missed) FIA president Jean-Marie Balestre, dredging up the dark events that occurred at the same circuit 12 months before. Raking back over his reprehensible professional foul on Alain Prost<\/a>, the only driver he really cared about beating, showed a lack of class too often forgotten in Senna\u2019s subsequent deification in the years following his tragic death at Imola in 1994. Yes, of course this was a great racing driver, certainly among the most vibrant and impactful in history \u2013 but it was times like these, at Suzuka 1990 and also a year on, why for some of us Ayrton can never be considered the<\/em>\u00a0greatest.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n

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From the archive<\/h2>\n \t\t\n\t\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tArchive<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe V12 engine’s rise to power\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t
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Ultimately it was the sound. Higher rpm delivered smoothly thanks to smaller, lighter reciprocating parts and an even firing order, plus the cachet of costly complexity, added to its appeal.…<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNovember 2021\n\t\t\t\t\t\tIssue<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
By\n\t\t\t\t\t\tPaul Fearnley<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t\n<\/article>\n <\/div>\n
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Having said all that, one can\u2019t help but admire the sheer relentless competitive fury of Senna and how he instinctively refused to accept weakness in the teams he drove for. It\u2019s quite clear the Brazilian was a pain in the neck to Honda through this period, because it was as clear as day to him what was coming. Propelled by the increasingly potent Renault V10, he knew the nascent Patrick Head-Adrian Newey partnership at Williams would likely spell the end of McLaren-Honda\u2019s period of technical domination. The Marlboro World Championship Team was beginning to creak and Senna knew he needed to work ever harder, on and off the track, to keep their run of success going. Equal to his pure speed over one lap, it is here where Senna\u2019s true greatness could be found.<\/p>\n

Honda\u2019s entirely new 60-degree V12 was a direct response to the growing storm brewing in Viry-Ch\u00e2tillon. The RA121E was the Japanese manufacturer\u2019s third F1 engine configuration in as many years and at 720bhp, it had plenty of punch \u2013 but it was also longer, heavier and thirstier than the previous RA100E V10. That would cause problems down the line, but in Neil Oatley\u2019s latest MP4\/6 the combination remained the benchmark \u2013 for now.<\/p>\n

But having sampled the new engine in the MP4\/5 test mule, Senna was unconvinced \u2013 and harangued Honda accordingly. Naturally conservative project leader Akimasa Yasuoka pushed back, insisting on detuning the engines in the early races of the season to preserve reliability. He was right to do so, the new Williams FW14 proving unreliable, specifically concerning elements within its new semi-automatic gearbox \u2013 and with hindsight that was at the core of Senna and McLaren\u2019s championship wins. Ayrton won the first four races, while Mansell struggled even to get off the mark.<\/p>\n

\n \"Rear\n
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Senna gifted the Suzuka win to Berger<\/p>\n

\n Pascal Rondeau\/Allsport\n <\/p>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n

At this point it\u2019s perhaps important to remember that McLaren more than lived up to its side of the bargain. Outwardly an evolution of its predecessor, the arrival of Henri Durand from Ferrari mid-1990 proved a significant aid to Oatley and his design team on the MP4\/6. The chassis was significantly different to accommodate not only the longer engine but also the larger fuel cell it demanded. The suspension too was a departure, thanks to new a installation positioning of the pushrod-activated coil springs and dampers. As always in F1, change one thing and that has a knock-on to the dimensions, shapes and sizes of everything else. McLaren was still cutting edge on chassis design, even if Honda appeared to be losing its mojo in what turned out to be its penultimate season before pulling the plug on F1 \u2013 and even if the Woking team was about to fall behind its rivals in Didcot when it came to the brewing electronics war that would change the game entirely in 1992.<\/p>\n

The heavy fuel consumption almost fatally undermined all that good work from the early races in 1991. By mid-summer Mansell was shrugging off the surprising threat from his team-mate Riccardo Patrese and FW14 was finding its groove \u2013 just as Senna suffered two embarrassing retirements in consecutive races at Silverstone and Hockenheim. His car had run out of fuel and the team worked frantically on the fuel metering issue \u2013 imagine what Senna must have been like to live with in those weeks! But then Honda reminded Renault and everyone else that it was far from a spent force.<\/p>\n

\n \"Nigel\n
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Mansell congratulates the champion: his moment would come in ’92<\/p>\n

\n Kazuhiro Nogi\/AFP via Getty Images\n <\/p>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n

Already on its third spec of V12 by Silverstone, in Hungary the RA121E could now rev to 14,800rpm in short bursts and in combination with a lightened chassis and a bevy of new bits \u2013 Newey recalls McLaren personnel weighed down on arrival at the Hungaroring by bubble-wrap packages \u2013 Senna hit back with a vital victory. He did it again at Spa, despite nursing a gearbox problem and helped in large part by both Ferrari and Williams unreliability. By hook or by crook, his lead was back to a comfortable 22 points after Belgium \u2013 only for Williams to strike back with three wins on the bounce, albeit with mechanic finger trouble at an Estoril pitstop robbing Mansell of a wheel and a vital hat-trick. Still, after Spain and the first grand prix on the new Circuit de Catalunya, Senna was back under pressure with two rounds to go \u2013 only for Mansell to let him off the hook with that journey into the gravel at Suzuka, as more Honda engine development kicked in.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n

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Related article<\/h2>\n \n\t\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhen the wheel fell off Mansell’s ’91 F1 title challenge\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t
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Thirty years ago today, on September 22 1991, Riccardo Patrese won the Portuguese Grand Prix for Williams-Renault. Significant? Well, it was for the Italian, obviously; it turned out to be…<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t

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