McLaren MP4-20: the fastest car of 2005 that did not win the title

The McLaren MP4-20 was the car with which McLaren competed in the 2005 Formula One World Championship. Fast but unreliable, it won ten races yet lost both championships to Renault and Fernando Alonso, and Kimi Räikkönen later called it his favourite Formula One car.

McLaren MP4-20 at a glance

based on one source (English Wikipedia).

History of the McLaren MP4-20

The chassis was an almost completely new design after the failure of the MP4-18 and MP4-19. It had the revised aerodynamics and suspension that the 2005 rules required, with a raised front wing, a smaller diffuser and a rear wing moved further forward, and a shorter wheelbase to make the most of the Michelin tyres. Behind the overhead air intake the bodywork carried distinctive horn wings, an attempt to recover downforce lost to the rule changes. The wide, flat nose had been tried on the MP4-19 at the 2004 Italian Grand Prix and was used in full for 2005.

The car was fast but unreliable in testing. Räikkönen made the most of it early in the season, while Juan Pablo Montoya, who had joined from Williams, struggled with the set-up and the unusual driving technique it required and was then injured off track, missing two races. His stand-ins finished fifth at Bahrain, Pedro de la Rosa setting the fastest lap, and third at San Marino for Alexander Wurz. Montoya later settled with the car and took three wins and several podiums.

The Mercedes engine was the most powerful in Formula One that year but suffered reliability problems, which cost Räikkönen the drivers’ title to Fernando Alonso and McLaren the constructors’ title to Renault, despite ten wins to Renault’s eight. Räikkönen won seven races and was in a position to win at least three more, while Montoya lost a possible win in Hungary and possible podiums in France and China. Continuous development made the MP4-20 the fastest car from mid-season on, as the poles and fastest laps of both drivers showed, but both championships went elsewhere.

At the Hungarian Grand Prix Räikkönen declined the traditional champagne spraying as a tribute to Darren Hawker, a 29-year-old McLaren chef who had died on 27 July after falling from the eighth floor of a Budapest hotel. McLaren entered 2005 with sponsors including Mobil 1, Mercedes-Benz, SAP, Siemens, Hugo Boss and AT&T, and Johnnie Walker replaced West as title sponsor from the Hungarian Grand Prix, when the European Union tobacco advertising ban took effect. This was the last McLaren in West’s grey and black livery, a partnership that had begun with the MP4/12 in 1997. McLaren was also one of the first teams to test 2006 V8 engines in the summer of 2005, using the MP4-20B in the traditional papaya orange test livery with de la Rosa at the wheel.

Design and features

• Horn wings: small wings behind the air intake that recovered downforce lost to the 2005 rules.
• Short wheelbase: chosen to make the most of the Michelin tyres.
• Mercedes-Ilmor V10: the most powerful engine of the season, but fragile.
• J-damper: a tuned mass damper in the suspension, introduced at the 2005 San Marino Grand Prix.
• Development race: the fastest car in the field from mid-season onwards.

McLaren MP4-20 versions

• MP4-20 (2005): the race car of the season.
• MP4-20B: a test car in papaya orange used for the first 2006 V8 engine running.

The MP4-20 followed the MP4-17 and came before the MP4-22; the Honda-powered MP4/4 had been the team’s last turbo title winner. More cars are in the McLaren collection.

Video: F1 Spa 2005 Kimi Raikkonen McLaren Mercedes MP4/20

Video by YouTube on YouTube.

Sources

• McLaren MP4-20, English Wikipedia: design, 2005 season, J-damper, livery