In 1987, I had just started in Formula 1 as aerodynamicist at Leyton House. I worked a little bit on developing the 871, and then worked throughout the winter on the 1988 car with Adrian Newey. I was straight out of university, so it was obviously a fascinating and formative time in my career.

Particularly at that age, one had a tendency to get fixated in the direction that we were developing the car. Adrian was completely focused on aerodynamic efficiency — achieving the smallest possible package was the flavour of the month. The 881 was absolutely tiny in all respects, and had what is now quite a conventional ‘female’ moulded chassis.

Our March seemed reasonably good, but there was this other car which was just totally and utterly dominant — the McLaren-Honda MP4/4.

It came out at a time when John Barnard had left McLaren, and there was a new order, with Gordon Murray overseeing everything. The design team was led by Steve Nichols, and of particular note for myself was Dr Bob Bell, who worked on the aerodynamics. He eventually worked with me at Benetton, and has become a firm friend.

There were a number of things about the MP4/4 which taught me a lot, and which I really admired. The detailing and packaging aesthetics were marvellous. Under the bodywork, it was fearsomely symmetrical — a glorious machine. The attention to mechanical detail was very impressive. It still looks good to me, bodywork on or off.

The Honda engine was great in terms of driveability and consumption, but McLaren did far better with it than Lotus that year. They had paid great attention to the installation of the engine, and did a fantastic job on the transmission. They made a triple-shaft gearbox which kept the engine as flat and as low as it could be, because it was a low-crank engine with a small clutch. I believe Lotus used a two-shaft gearbox, pointing the engine and gearbox up at an angle to get the output flange at the right height for drive-shaft angularity. Obviously, that had an effect on centre-of-gravity height.

“It was a magnificent car”

Rule changes that year meant a driver’s feet had to be behind the front axle centre line, and the fuel tank was cut down to 150-litres, so there was much repackaging to do. McLaren reclined the driver a bit more, which was obviously Gordon Murray-esque, harking back to what he did with the ultra-low Brabham BT55.

In almost all respects, it was the antithesis of what we had done on the 881. It was a male moulded chassis, which continued in the line of all John Barnard-penned tubs. It meant the internal design of the monocoque and the packaging of the suspension could be done very accurately. But it was a compromise aero-dynamically, and that was so true throughout the whole car. It had huge side outlets, and our tests suggested that would be horrendously inefficient, because the dirty air would come out and go straight underneath the car. Well maybe it did, but that’s what the Honda turbo required to make its power. We soon realised we had paid not nearly enough attention to the cooling system of the 881, which boiled the hell out of the engine (John Judd’s V8).