Is it fair to compare different F1 eras? (Part 4 of 7: The 90’s)
- cgonzalezmi6
- 14 ene 2021
- 5 Min. de lectura
Actualizado: 21 ene 2021
Is it fair to compare different F1 eras? (Part 4: The 90’s)
By C. Gonzalez
As mentioned in the previous blog, the turbo era came to an end after the dominance of the McLaren MP4/4 in 1988, winning 15 out of 16 races was very impressive and unprecedented. With the ban of the 1.5-liter turbo the 3.5-liter V8, V10 and, V12 engine era began.
One key element during this time is the evolution, if not revolution, of electronics. The development of smaller, faster, and more accurate computers allowed teams to begin experimenting with various devices that just a couple of years earlier were impossible to consider. Due to the additional weight and complexity to control them if implemented. As an example, the Electronic Control Unit (ECU) for engine management improved significantly, now calculating millions of operations/second.
I need to take a pause here because the 1990s will always be remembered by Formula One fans all over the world for one day, one track and, one corner: May 1, 1994, Imola and the Tamburello corner.
It was the day that the Formula One world lost one of its icons on live TV doing what he did best, leading a race at over 200 MPH when suddenly disaster happened. Ayrton Senna da Silva died that day in an accident that, in the beginning, was thought to be just a “regular” crash the world of F1 will never be the same after that day.
McLaren was still the most dominant team at the beginning of the decade. Winning championships in 1990 and 1991, both by Ayrton Senna now powered by the V10 engine developed by Honda to meet the new regulations, Ferrari returned to its tradition developing a V12 Engine and, Ford-Cosworth debuted its HB V8 Engine for its factory-backed team (Benetton). An evolution of the DFV engine the DFR was designed for its customers like Tyrrell, Arrows, Minardi, AGS, among others. Dropped by Honda in 88, Williams briefly used engines developed by Judd for 1988, then convinced Renault to return to the Formula 1 Championship as an engine supplier for 1989 with its V10 design. Renault had withdrawn from F1 as a team in 1985 and as an engine supplier in 1986.
For Williams, after decisively winning the championship in 1987, the early nineties were a time for reconstruction. They recruited a then relatively unknown designer Adrian Newey. The 32-year-old was fired from the Leyton House (March) F1 team, a move that was never understood since it was due to Newey’s genius aero design that they had opportunities to be competitive on the track.
For him joining Williams for the 1992 season to help develop the FW14 was the right move at the right time. Teams were moving to include more electronic aids like traction control, assisted brakes and steering, active suspension and, several other electronic devices. These were key elements in the development at the beginning of the decade. Williams embraced these changes like no other team leading to what is possibly the most sophisticated vehicle ever developed, in combination with the aerodynamic package designed by Newey, almost a copy of the aero package from Leyton House made the car almost undefeatable.
Nigel Mansell won the Drivers Championship in 1992 and Alain Prost won his 4th and final Drivers Championship in 1993 with the evolution of the FW14.
After Mansell left for America to compete in the CART Championship, he became champion in his rookie year driving his Ford-powered Newman- Haas car holding both, the Formula One and the CART Championship titles for almost two months.
Every driver was keen to drive the evolution of the FW15C, the car driven by Alain Prost that announced his retirement for the second time in 1993.
He took a “sabbatical” during the 1992 season after he got fired by Ferrari in 1991 after criticizing the car and Ayrton Senna ended his 6-year relationship with McLaren opening the door for the Brazilian to join the Williams team, however, due to the dominance of the car for the last two season and the complaints of the purists that electronics were taking over the sport not allowing the drivers to show their driving skills the electronic aids were banned for the 1994 season also, a rising star named Michael Schumacher driving the competitive Benetton-Ford B194 was making headlines since his debut.
Schumacher had an appearance in Formula One in 1991 for the Belgian Grand Prix driving as a substitute driver for the Jordan-Ford team, replacing Bertrand Gachot, who was serving a two-month prison sentence after an altercation with a taxi driver in London, he qualified an impressive 7th place on his debut, unfortunately, he retired with a clutch problem on the opening lap. That qualification, however, caught the eye of Flavio Briattore to offer him a ride for the remaining of the 1991 season for the Benetton-Ford F1 Team, and by 1993 they were already challenging the Williams team after including their active suspension in 1992. In 1994 the Benetton-Ford proved to be unbeatable but, there were allegations that the car was still using traction control but were never proven.
The Williams FW16 became an exceedingly difficult car to control without electronic aids. To this day, there are still several people that attribute the accident to the lack of electronic aids a later investigation revealed that a steering column failure was the cause of the accident and an unlucky hit by an arm of the suspension who penetrated the helmet and hit him in the head was the cause of death, he was 33 years old.
After Senna’s death, a young Formula 3000 driver named David Coulthard replaced him at Williams and was now a full British squad. Michael Schumacher won the first of his seven World Championships in 1994. At the end of the season, he dedicated the award to the man who would be champion had he not been killed in San Marino: Ayrton Senna.
By 1995 Benetton switched engine supplier to Renault, M. Schumacher won the Drivers Championship for the second time. After his success at Benetton, he signed for Ferrari in a risky move that later proved to be extraordinarily successful to Schumacher and Ferrari, names like Jean Todt and Ross Brawn began making waves in the F1 world.
The aero package developed by Newey allowed Williams to be back on top. Damon Hill won in 1996, joining his dad Graham Hill, as one of the few father/son duos that have won the Formula One Championship, the other one I recall is Keke and Nico Rosberg.
By 1997 a young Canadian coming from the CART series in America arrived by storm to Williams and became World Champion. Jaques Villeneuve achieved something his late father Giles could not due to his tragic death while at the peak of his career.
For the 1998 season, Newey signed for the archrival McLaren Racing team, now powered by Mercedes Benz engines. He showed the F1 world his genius as a designer once again. Adrian Newey designed the cars that Mika Hakkinen drove to his back-to-back World Championships and bringing fans some exciting races between him and Michael Schumacher
As you can see, the ’90s was an era of innovation driven by the implementation of high-end technology: electronic sensors, aided power steering and brakes, semi-automatic gearboxes, and active suspensions were breakthroughs that helped to advance the sport and the auto industry in general and after Ratzenberger and Senna’s deaths led to a significant revision of safety standards performed by the FIA and the F1 Management Group leading to improvements on the safety of drivers and spectators.
The new century will bring new challenges, the rivalry between McLaren and Ferrari will continue adding a new team to the mix, but that is the subject of next week’s blog as always, let me know your opinion and share your comments if you like it share it and hit like
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