The COAT - QF - Maserati 250F vs McLaren MP4/4

[crmalcolm]

Into a quarter-final match now, and for the first match we have the Maserati 250F taking on the McLaren MP4/4.

Both cars had comfortable round three wins - the Maserati defeating the Williams FW11 8-2, and the McLaren taking a 6-1 victory over the Mercedes-Benz W196.

Maserati 250F (drivetribe.com):
The Maserati 250F may not be the most dominant car, but its longevity is seriously impressive. Debuted in 1954, it won its first two races that it entered with Fangio behind the wheel. Fangio would leave the team for Mercedes, but further wins would follow as Stirling Moss won both the Monaco Grand Prix and the Italian Grand Prix in 1956.

Fangio would return to drive the 250F in 1957 as he secured six podiums out of 7 races to win the world championship. As a team, Maserati retired from F1 after this season but the car was still used by private entries until 1960. In all, the car achieved 8 wins and 26 podiums.

McLaren MP4/4 (goodwood.com):
The McLaren MP4/4 is, statistically, the best F1 car of all time. In the 1988 F1 season, in the hands of Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna, the MP4/4 won 15 of the 16 races, only missing out on the complete set at the Italian Grand Prix when Prost’s Honda engine let go and Senna was then removed from the race while lapping Jean-Louis Schlesser’s Williams. The weekend after Enzo Ferrari died, even McLaren had to feel OK with losing that one win to Ferrari.

But for the rest of the season the MP4/4 was imperious in a way never seen before or since. It holds a 93.8 per cent victory rate.

Coming toward the end of the first turbo F1 era, McLaren’s first step toward the total dominance of the MP4/4 had been to basically steal the engine supply of its nearest rival. Williams had won the last two Constructors’ Championships with Honda power, while McLaren’s time using a privateer engine, financed in house, built by Porsche, had been initially successful, but was gradually being overtaken by the better financed manufacturer engines. Secured with the best engine on the grid McLaren now needed a chassis to match. Here we introduce not only McLaren chief designer, American Steve Nicholls, who designed the car, but also South African Technical Director, Gordon Murray, a name with which you may be familiar. Between them they clothed the Honda V6 in a chassis and body that proved well beyond anything its rivals could come close to. Prost won seven races, Senna won eight, and the Brazilian secured his first of three F1 championships.

[S griffin]

The 250F is a legend in it’s own right, but it has to be the MP4/4

[Adam43]

This is difficult. Both cars had great drivers too.

McLaren.

[Gerard C]

Yes, this is difficult.
Maserati for me.

[merak1974]

These two should both be at the finals.
I go for the Maserati. An icon from an epic period.