Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective
McLaren MP4-17
Formula One racing car From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Remove ads
The McLaren MP4-17 was the car with which the McLaren team competed in the 2002 and 2003 Formula One World Championships. The car was driven by Briton David Coulthard and Finn Kimi Räikkönen in both seasons.
 | You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in French. (December 2023) Click [show] for important translation instructions.
|
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (July 2016) |
This was the first McLaren Formula One car supplied with Michelin tyres since the MP4/2 in 1984.[2]
Remove ads
Design
The chassis was designed by Adrian Newey, Mike Coughlan, Neil Oatley and Peter Prodromou with Mario Illien designing the bespoke Ilmor engine.
2002
The team did not perform as well as expected in 2002, in a season dominated by Ferrari, and due to the unreliability of the car; they eventually finished third in the Constructors' Championship with 65 points and one victory (in Monaco).
2003
Using a development version of the car, the MP4-17D, the 2003 season started very promisingly with wins at the first two grands prix of the year, one each for Coulthard and Räikkönen. However, rival teams soon caught up as McLaren was sidetracked by the development of the McLaren MP4-18, a radical new design, which due to reliability problems, never raced in anger. As a result, the team gradually fell slightly further back as the season progressed, allowing rivals, developing their cars more efficiently, to catch up. However, despite this setback, Räikkönen consistently finished in the points and challenged Michael Schumacher for the championship to the last race, eventually losing the title by only 2 points. The team again finished third in the Constructors' Championship, having 142 points, just two points behind Williams F1.
Sponsorship and livery
Despite the livery design being similar, there were notable sponsorship differences, such as Computer Associates (2002) and Siemens Mobile (2003) branding on the bargeboards. 2003 was the final year for Loctite, as the brand itself was owned by Henkel and it would be switched for 2004.
McLaren used the 'West' logos in both seasons except at the French and British Grands Prix.
Other
Sarah Fisher tested a MP4-17 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway ahead of the 2002 United States Grand Prix.
Complete Formula One results
(key) (results in bold indicate pole position, results in italics indicate fastest lap)
Remove ads
References
Wikiwand - on
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Remove ads