Johansson’s one-year hitch

Stefan Johansson never quite snatched the Formula 1 win his career deserved. His best shot should have been 1987, when he left Ferrari for McLaren – just as the Woking team briefly lost its edge. Johansson luck.

“Unfortunately, I was there for just a year, but I had an inkling it might only be that way,” he says. “Ayrton Senna was lurking in the shadows. But it was a great opportunity because McLaren at that time was stronger than Ferrari. The year before they had won the championship. It was unfortunate that in 1987 they had one of the worst cars they’d had in a very long time. Prost only finished fourth in the points and I was sixth. It wasn’t the best year, also a lot to do with reliability. But it was great because I learnt a lot being team-mates with Alain.”

Watching Prost close up was a privilege. “He was in a different league. I learnt more from him in that one year than I did in my whole career. Just the way he managed the weekend with the car, the team, how he operated with set-up. Back then we had hardly any data, so it was down to what the driver was relaying. That had a huge effect on development. It was a great experience.”

The following year, Senna arrived with Honda’s V6 turbo and McLaren won 15 of the 16 grands prix. And Johansson? He joined… Ligier.