A special feature looking at the best F1 Cars since Ayrton Senna won his last championship with McLaren Honda in 1991. However the best F1 car will not only be judged on the championship result. Unlike history we will also pay some hommage to the championship challenger F1 car where apprpriate.

Brawn GP001

As Nigel Mansell said to his son at the Monaco 09 GP, he’s never seen a car that was so quick out of the box since the Adrian Newey designed FW14B that won him the title.  Although it’s too early to say whether this car is the title winning car of 2009, it clearly has dominated the first part of the season.  The car is fitted with a double diffuser giving it extra downforce.  The car is also known for being kind to its tyres compared to the competition and therefore gives its drivers better tyre management over a race distance.  The car favours slow to mid speed corners and circuits with many breaking points as the car is know to break later than many other cars in the 2009 season.  It’s achilles heel is in circuits where conditions are not very warm making it hard for the cars to qualify well due to not getting enough temperature in the tyres. All credit to Ross Brawn, Loic Bigois and Jorg Zander for producing a wonderful car!

Red Bull Renault RB5

David Coulthard was not kidding when he said he couldn’t wait to drive the new Adrian Newey cars, unfortunately his career didn’t last long enough for him to savour the RB5.  The RB5 initially wasn’t fitted with the double diffuser but remained competitive to the Brawn GP car in the early part of 2009.  The car now fitted with double diffuser in combination with the unique pull rod suspension – the only car in the 2009 grid – makes the car thrive in wet and cold conditions as well as favouring fast corners.  The pull rod suspension also tidies up the rear design of the car for a cleaner aerodynamic flow.  Geoff Willis also deserves credit for the RB5 design.

McLaren Mercedes MP-23

A revised version of the MP4 22, where the viking horn wings were removed and a longer wheelbase, this car took Lewis Hamilton to win his first world championship title beating the Ferrari in the last lap of the season finale in Brazil.  The car is great in qualifying being able to get heat into the tyres quickly  winning 8 pole positions in 2008, and over 18 wins favouring slow to mid corners better than its rivals.  The designers were Neil Oatley, Simon Lacey and Tim Goss.

Ferrari F2007

The car that got Kimi Raikkonen after many years of trying, his first world championship title having been a contender in 2003 and 2005.  Although his chances were as an outsider, the constant point taking between Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton allowed Kimi Raikkonen to slip in and take the win required in Brazil.  The car loves fast corners and is very kind to its tyres over a race distance.  The car was designed by Aldo Costa and Nick Tomazis (formerly of McLaren Mercedes).  Some hommage wold be paid to the McLaren Mercedes MP4 22, however Ferrari intellectual property was found to be used on the car and is therefore not credited in this feature.  Proof of that was when McLaren got the flexible floor banned.

Renault F1 R26

The car based on the Renault R25 (that gave Fernando Alonso his first title to see off Kimi Raikkonen), the R26 gave Alonso his second title making him the sports youngest Double World Champion in the history of the sport an exclusive club including Michael Schumacher and Mika Hakkinen.  The R26 wasn’t as fast as the 248 F1 Ferrari, but its reliability and consistency in the hands of Fernando Alonso was enough to win the championhip in Suzuka after Michael had an engine failure putting Alonso in the position to seal the championship in Brazil.  The car was great off the starting line with good acceleration and had excellent maximum grip thanks to the Tuned Mass Damper which got banned (due to Ferrari complaining to the FIA after they failed to get the TMD working for themselves) in the later on in the season which was worth 3-tenths per lap.  The car also was the class of the grid when it came to maximising the Michelin tyres – Alonso adapted his driving style to turn into to the apex form a wide angle to get better corner exit speed whilst fighting understeer. The car was designed by Bob Bell and Tim Densham.

Ferrari 248 F1

Although it didn’t win the title, it was actually the fastest car and arguably the best car on the grid in 2006 hence we thought we’d pay homage to this magnificent car which was a title contender.  The 248 designed by Aldo Costa and Rory Byrne was an evolution of the F2005 (one dog of a car ill suited to the 2005 regulations where tyre changes were banned during pitsops). The 248 F1 is the last Ferrari Formula One race car to use the single keel technology.

Ferrari F2002

Ferrari F2002 is one of the most successful designs of all time for an F1 car, winning 16 races from 20 spanning 2 seasons boasting excellent handling due to a low centre of gravity (thanks to the ultra light titanium gearbox casing) and well heeled in terms of speed aerodynamically. The car, an evolution of the title winning F2001 was designed by Ross Brawn, Rory Byrne and Paolo Martinelli.

Mclaren Mercedes MP4-13

The car that put Mika Hakkinen in the exclusive Double World Champions club having won the title in 1998, the MP4-13 was designed by Adrian Newey.

Williams-Renault FW18

Another Adrian Newey  (let’s not forget Patrick Head) car that gave Damon Hill his world title after seeing off his younger yet very quick tem mate Jacques Villeneuve.  This is the car that  made history as Damon Hill became the first son of a World Champion (Sir Graham Hill) to become a Champion himself.  The car, developed by Damon, enjoyed resilient reliability as well as excellent handling due to a lower center of gravity as the cockpit seat was very low compared to other cars on the grid.

Benetton-Ford 194

The car that gave the Red Baron Michael Schumacher his first title in the tragic 1994 season, though not without controversy after the collision with Damon Hill in Adelaide, was designed by Rory Byrne.  The design made the car incredibily agile as it was designed to run without the reliance on traction control which made it competitive on slow and mid speed corners.  The car also suited Michael Schumacher’s driving style where he likes to point the nose into the apex and induce controlled oversteer, despite the difficult handling.

Williams-Renault FW14B Nigel Mansell 1992

Another Patrick Head and Adrian Newey collaboration that tempted Nigel Mansell form retirement to win his much longed for world title in 1992 with 9 wins.  Features of the car include active suspension.

McLaren-Honda MP4-4 Ayrton Senna 1988

And at last the McLaren-Honda MP4-4, designed by Gordon Murray and Steve Nichols, which took the legend that is Ayrton Senna to victory as the world champion in 1998.  Powered by a Honda V6, Murray designed the lowlines based on his Brabham BT55 F1 design which accommodated the Honda engine very nicely giving the car a very low centre of gravity and the resultant excellent handling.