BY MICHELINA ANDREUCCI
In 1977 Renault had entered F1 as a manufacturer developing both the chassis and engine. Unusually at the time, Renault had decided to build a 1.5 litre turbocharged engine, a specification that had existed in the regulations since 1966, but had not been considered a competitive option.
It took Renault until 1979 to win a Grand Prix and, although it was unable to win a world championship before withdrawing from F1 in 1985, it had performed sufficiently well to encourage other manufacturers such as Ferrari, Honda, Porsche and BMW to develop their own turbocharged F1 engines.
Honda entered F1 as an engine manufacturer in 1983 in partnership with Williams, having previously entered as a full manufacturer to take advantage of the regulation changes in 1961 (Hilton, 1989). Importantly the engines were supported by a significant commitment from Honda in terms of both people and resources.
They used the relationship as an opportunity to develop some of their most talented engineers and to transfer F1 design and development capabilities to their production car programme.
In the mid eighties the Williams/Honda partnership was very successful, but at the end of 1986 it moved to supply both McLaren and Lotus for the 1987 season. By the end of the year it had dropped Lotus to focus solely on McLaren.
In 1988 the Honda powered McLaren MP4/4 car was the fastest and most reliable car on the circuit, winning an unprecedented 15 out of 16 Grand Prix. Escalation in the performance of the turbo-charged engines was causing concerns both in terms of safety and costs.
Teams were using a single engine specifically for qualifying for the race in excess of 1200 horsepower (hp); these engines were designed to last for only a few laps and an alternative specification engine would be used for the race itself.
Various regulations had been introduced to reduce the power and performance of the turbo engines, but their performance and costs were rising inexorably. In 1987 the FIA made the decision that, from the 1989 season on, turbo engines would be banned and all power units would be normally aspirated.
In many ways this period was the most significant in terms of shifting the balance from one set of dominant teams (i.e. Lotus, Brabham, Tyrrell), to a group of new entrants such as Williams, Renault, and in particular new engine suppliers (i.e.: Porsche, Honda, BMW).
Lotus went into terminal demise, mainly due to its inability to adapt to the turbo era after the loss of its entrepreneurial founder, Colin Chapman, who had died from a heart attack in 1982; marking the end of a team that had successfully competed across four competitive periods.
In contrast, a number of teams were able to make a very successful transition to the turbo era. Ferrari had been developing turbo technology since Renault entered F1 in 1977 and McLaren was particularly successful in working with new suppliers such as Porsche and Honda to maintain its competitive position.
The period 1989 – 1993, saw the continued domination of McLaren which continued its success from the previous period by finding new engine partners following the withdrawal of Honda. However, sources of competitive advantage shifted from the engine to control systems and related technologies, placing the emphasis on enhancing the ability of the car to respond to the various inputs provided by the driver.
The McLaren Honda combination dominated F1 from 1988 through 1991. However, in September 1992, Honda confirmed that it was pulling out of F1 racing, bringing its domination to an end.
Williams had resurrected its fortunes by creating an alliance with Renault to supply engines and focused on creating competitive advantage through a range of innovations on the car.
These included the adoption of semiautomatic gearboxes (originally developed by Ferrari), drive-by-wire technology and its own active suspension system (Lotus had also developed its own system at the same time).
The Williams FW14B of 1992 won the first eight Grand Prix of the season which led to a second successful period for the constructor. However, despite Williams’ success with what was often referred to as their ‘gizmo’ car, there was increasing concern that technology was replacing the skill of the driver.
While F1 was undoubtedly a technologically driven form of competition, many felt it had gone too far in negating the role of the driver and other human factors.
This led the FIA to introduce regulations in 1994, which banned the various forms of active suspension systems, driver aids such as traction and launch control and re- introduced refuelling through pit-stops made during the race.
For Ferrari this proved to be a particularly difficult period. Enzo Ferrari passed away in 1988 at the age of 90.
He had remained highly influential in the operation of the team up to his death and his passing meant that control of the team passed to Fiat who installed a succession of their senior managers in the team, none of whom appeared to grasp the essentials of how different an F1 team was from an automotive manufacturer.
Although this particular period was relatively short, it was significant in the history of F1 since it involved a shift away from the core technology components of engine, chassis and aerodynamics to bring greater emphasis on the integrating technologies of control systems which linked the component areas.
These systems included, for example, ‘fly-by-wire’ throttle systems, which enhance the link between the driver and the power of the engine, and active suspension systems, which enhance the link between chassis dynamics and aerodynamics.
The period is underlined by the marked shift in competitive performance – notably the growing domination of McLaren and Williams and the relative decline of Ferrari.
Dr Michelina Andreucci is a Zimbabwean-Italian researcher and a published author in her field. For Comments E-mail: linamanucci@gmail.com
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