4. MP4/1 (1981)
It’s not often that a car can claim to be revolutionary, but as the first car with a carbon fibre monocoque in Formula 1, the MP4/1 has a pretty good shout. John Barnard’s design brought new levels of lightweight structural rigidity and ideas still used today. It wasn’t the fastest McLaren, as rivals soon copied the idea and moved it on, but it will always be an important machine in F1 history.
