This McLaren MP4/1B was Niki Lauda’s F1 comeback car

At the 2024 Goodwood Festival of Speed presented by Mastercard we will be celebrating the sprawling life and achievements of the late great Niki Lauda, on the 40th anniversary of his third and final championship win. A two-time F1 world champion that retired from the sport, only to return and win a third.

With some other drivers, it would be easy to overlook the man while in awe of his on-track achievements. But Lauda’s personality and convictions were well-known and felt in the paddocks throughout his racing career, and decades after he completed his last contemporary racing lap in an F1 car. Most notably and recently, we know him for his role as a lead figure in the Mercedes-AMG team, playing a significant part in the signing of Lewis Hamilton. Throughout his entire F1 journey he was also a huge figurehead and advocate for increasing safety in F1, enduring famously as he did, his own lucky escape.

As ever, when it comes to celebrating the departed titans of his like, we tell their story and conduct that celebration through their cars. And so, to the class named Niki Lauda: The Resilient Racer, where we will look on the Hill featuring, among many incredible machines, his McLaren MP4/1B that he campaigned during his F1 return in 1982.

Lauda first took to chassis 6 for its debut at the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix at Zolder. A weight discrepancy led to his disqualification but the podium finish he raced it to was enough of an indication that this chassis was quick. Indeed, Lauda went on to win the British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch in this car later in the year, while Lauda’s teammate, John Watson, tallied up another win in this car at Long Beach, albeit with it in converted non-ground effect MP4/1C specification.

It is however, in its Brands-winning ground effect MP4/1B specification that this car has spent the majority of its retired days. It made its way into the ownership of none other than the Sultan of Brunei before moving to a German Collection for many years. It’s had a successful latter life in historic racing at the hands of Bobby Verdon-Roe, before moving into the ownership of the current owner in 2022.

We met up with him and the car earlier in the year at the 2024 Monaco Historic Grand Prix to get his impressions of the car, an insight to his history with it, and a look ahead to the Festival of Speed where we’ll be seeing him demonstrate it.

Meeting at the main pitlane on the infield of the Monaco circuit with cars going around, storming down the start/finish straight running parallel, my chat with owner Mark Higson about the car required raised voices. But we powered through it.

“It’s a very interesting car,” Higson says, “because it’s the B iteration of the first carbon fibre chassis, which was famously designed by John Barnard. In ‘82 it was perhaps the ultimate iteration – the last year of ground effect. It’s particularly interesting for me because in 1980 and ‘81, when John Barnard was looking at this, he was talking to British Aerospace about using carbon fibre. I was working for British Aerospace as the supervisor on the first application of carbon fibre in an aircraft at the time.

“It’s the ratio of stiffness to weight that is the huge advantage. If it’s done properly, it’s also very safe. It’s a wonderful car. It’s a beautiful car to drive but much faster with the sliding skirts. We don’t run them now. It’s the last of the old mechanicals, with the DFV but with an incredibly advanced chassis and quite advanced aero and suspension.”

“I started with a 1976 March 761,” explains Higson, “the first car Frank Williams ran when he started Williams Grand Prix engineering. I owned that for about seven years, did a few Monacos, had a good result and loved it. Life took a turn and I stopped but I got very lucky that when my circumstances changed, this car came up. It was my comeback car and Lauda’s comeback car. He of course went on to win the championship in 1984.

“I’ve had it a couple of years and I’ve done seven or eight Masters racers. This is the second Monaco but we’ve had a few mechanical problems so it hasn’t been straightforward. But now it should be right. It’s got a new engine and we’ve re-done the gearbox, so there are no excuses. It just needs a proper driver. These cars make you humble.

“The car’s been very successful in historic racing. The previous owner was a very serious driver. It’s very good on high-speed circuits – Spa and [Paul] Ricard. It’s good on all of them really. It doesn’t bite. When they’re set up like this, they’re great.

“Everybody loves the car. I have people coming up to me thanking me for bringing it for them to see. I’ve let people sit in it and they’ve cried, it means so much to them. It’s a real privilege. We’re going to be at the Festival of Speed but I want to demo it at the Members’ Meeting [presented by Audrain Motorsport]. I’ve asked many times, so if you could put in a good word…”

We’ll get on it, Mark. What a wonderful car that we look forward to seeing again on the Hill this weekend, where it will be joining cars from across Lauda’s history in the sport, from his 1972 BRM P180, to the Jaguar-Cosworth R2 from 2002, when he was manager at Jaguar. But in those Marlboro colours, with those enormous side pods from which sliding skirts once hung, there’s a good chance Mark Higson’s McLaren MP4/1B will steal the show.

The 2024 Festival of Speed takes place on 11^th-14^th July. Only Thursday general admission tickets remain, with Friday, Saturday, and Sunday tickets now sold out, although a limited number of hospitality packages for all days are still available. Tickets and packages can be purchased from £70.

Images courtesy of Motorsport Images.