The wild theories around Michael Andretti’s McLaren F1 nightmare
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 25 มิ.ย. 2024
- When Michael Andretti stepped off the podium at the Italian Grand Prix in 1993, he knew he’d just made his last F1 start.
And if you’d asked him back then if he’d ever want to set foot in an F1 paddock again, the answer would almost certainly have been no. Which makes his current desire to get back in as a team owner 30 years later all the more amusing.
Andretti has said that those 13 races in F1 nearly ruined his career. Despite ending on a high, it was a nightmare. And both Michael and his legendary father Mario - the F1 world champion in 1978 who was desperate to see his son succeed there too - believe it might not have been coincidence that Michael’s attempt to crack F1 went so badly.
Could there really have been a conspiracy behind all this? Or was it just bad luck, bad timing, and simply Andretti doing a bad job in the second best car on the grid?
00:00 A nightmare
01:20 Bad timing?
04:21 The Hakkinen factor
06:28 McLaren's role
07:36 Crossing the Atlantic
08:33 Conspiracy theories
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Racing with senna as teammates not a good idea at all lol
It's Basically Favoritism...
One of the most interesting facts in MA favour was the press conference that Senna held after he was sacked to tell everyone how poorly he was treated by the team. Senna didn't have to do that. Senna said MA was quick , in (their limited) private test days MA was .1-.2 seconds off Senna and faster than Hakkinen. MA's 1st Indycar race back , in a mid field winless team , took pole and won , beating Mansell , Villeneuve - Former and Future F1 champions . There were forces within F1 and Mclaren itself that had vested interests in MA not succeeding , we will just never know the extent they had a direct effect . It could have been outright interference , or just a level of un willing and uncooperative individuals . But that can be enough to sabotage a drivers chances. Look at redbull and their succession of un-supported 2nd drivers. Even just a small shift in driver support and resourcing can ruin a drivers season.
I would not read too much in Andretti beating Mansell in 1994 because Lola had fallen behind the other chassis' in Indy Car.
Michael Andretti was mediocre in the US before his tests in F1. Stop inventing bs.
I am typing this without even watching the the video. I knew the Andretti's a while back (Mike's uncle Larry specifically). From what I've heard through him and other sources is that F1 severely restricted testing. When Mike was sitting on the starting grid for his first race, he barely had any seat time in the car. He should have had hundreds of testing miles in before that. Then, there was the reliability issues that crept up every now and then. This happened more often at this time in F1. Ron Dennis and Mike did NOT get along at all. They were too similar (personality wise) and just didn't like each other for it. Not that either was wrong, they just didn't get along.
Senna was the ONLY person that gave Mike the time of day and really tried to help him. At the time, Senna was very unhappy with the way F1 was going and even tested for Penske as he wanted out of F1 and was seriously considering jumping to CART.
I'm not sure they' cover this in the documentary, but Mike was consistently faster than the McLaren test driver at the time. Who, BTW, had hundreds of laps in the car because he wasn't under the same testing restrictions. His name was Mika Hakkienen!
Despite all these negative factors, Mike was still able to podium.
"not that either was wrong": ...if you're the team boss vs. a driver/employee... guess which one of you is considered "wrong".
Only that once Hakkinen got to race the MP4/8, he produced some very impressive results immediately. Take nothing away from Michael Andretti, but ultimately I think it was just bad timing and McLaren were clearly struggling with some issues like getting a real engine in that car.
@@dpause10 Mika was their test driver and had literally hundreds of miles in the car compared to Mike who had barely any. Also, Senna tested with Penske, he was done with F1 and would have made the switch to Indycar had he lived. You're right, it was a difficult time for many (teams and drivers).
He was paired with Ayrton Senna, did not move to Europe, and there was a reduction in testing and the number of laps allowed in practice were also reduced.
He didn't have the feedback abilities of Senna either.
Also Senna was probably the best F1 driver of all time combined with years of experience and several championships under his belt. I think Andretti who came in as a foreigner never had a real chance. Under fair circumstances it would have taken him one and maybe half a season to get up to speed. But maybe lucky for him the 94 and 95 McLarens were pretty rubbish so in the end it wasn’t such a bad thing he quit F1 early.
Going against Senna in his team. He never got a real shot and his overdriving style of racing at Indy hurt him in F1
He still doesn’t want to be in Europe
Don't think the in-season testing reduction was brought into play until 2000s. If there was any sort of reduction, it would have been trivial as even the 2007 restriction set a 30,000km limit or about 100 race distances for testing.
@@wraithefulCan you blame him?
I went to the Donnington race and in the group were a couple of Americans who came to the UK just to see Andretti and so the tour manager got them tickets at the first corner so they would see him once, and that is all they saw of him as he was taken off by Karl Wendlinger on the first ;ap.
It has always bugged me that there's no footage of that incident. All that ever seems to have been caught on camera is the aftermath.
I saw it from the outside of McLeans. Andretti went for a gap that was always going to narrow.
Typical lap 1 tangle in the rain.
But who was responsible?
@@jrjehad7325 was hard to tell from my angle how far behind MA was when they collided. It was probably a racing incident.
They weren't there for practice and qualifying?
It makes you wonder: if this hadn't happened would he have found success as a team owner? Because I'm sure he does look back and regret but also realizes what he achieved because of not achieving in F1.
It is ridiculous to even let a driver get in the car in the worlds top series when he never driven on those tracks before. Those are not US ovals and F1 is not the place to be learning tracks from scratch. Then again F1 is historically that way- some drivers are not there because of their skills/experience.
@@hagestad Your statement is ridiculous. So, drivers migrating from F1 to IndyCar or going to Formula E shouldn't be allowed to race because they don't know any of the tracks? That's complete lunacy
@@smokeybandit9760Today in the time of awesome simulations/simulators is not that much of a problem. Back then how are you suppose to learn everything at once? It is not the movies. You are racing against 20-30 year old drivers that were racing on those tracks before they were 10. Good luck with that. Im not a pro level driver but on my local track that i did thousands of laps i can very much hang with the pros provided that the car is not insanely fast like f1 (you have to have some neck muscles for that)
@@hagestad back then you had unlimited testing. You could just send the driver to run laps anywhere and anytime you wanted. Most teams essentially had an entire 3rd car entourage that would spend every week testing anyways. The only thing that prevented Andretti from performing was his attitude, which is still obviously filling him with delusions such as the conspiracies detailed in this video.
This is also why Andretti holds on to legacy hacks for as long as they could. No more Last Name Merchant will suffer again under the Andretti Banner.
For those that remember F1 and CART were locked into a furious battle with CART many times being more popular and offering way better racing. CART was absolutely on the rise and F1 on the nose in many circles.
Bernie was very worried and he should have been. Senna tested an Indy car, Mansel and Finnipaldi were driving one and Ferrari had built one. F1 didn’t have a good experience in the US and didn’t trust Americans. Indy Car was hot then and Andretti was a good driver.
@@briankearn6991 Andretti's move to F1 w/McLaren was one of the first signs that IndyCar would split
Welcome to Formula One, Michael. Your main competition will be your teammate.
Who is my teammate?
Ayrton Senna.
The original Vandoorne
Not just Ayrton Senna, but a 3-time champion Ayrton Senna with a new girlfriend, so he was racing more relaxed as ever
@@Ausknutz Not just that. I was a Senna fan. When Prost was on the grid, Senna drove at a different level. His entire motivation was to beat Prost. 1992 Senna (absent Prost and in an inferior car) was just okay. You could see it from South Africa onward he wanted to stick it to Prost (as always). So to your point, a MOTIVATED Senna
Just pointing out the beacon at Magny-Cours - which could have been caused by anything other than malicious intent - doesn't excuse all the clumsy errors throughout the rest of Michael's campaign. Senna won five races and finished second in the championship in the same car that Andretti couldn't figure out how to stop spinning and crashing in ( _and that Hakkinen immediately outqualified Senna at the next race after Andretti was dropped_ ). By Imola I was nearly in tears. It was painfully embarrassing to witness.
Did you watch the video? As a rookie he had had no preseason testing and there was a limit to the number of practice and qualy laps he could do on tracks he's never raced on before. That's extremely restrictive even by todays standards. And were talking about him going up against Senna. Senna... Hakkinen was no rookie either. Ignoring the beacon drama, I think you could excuse some of his fumbles.
That’s just Karma. Andretti is a flaky clown and nepotistic window Iicker just like Stroll
I got so tired of the commentators saying "Poor Michael". It wasn't made easier by the fact that 'that Hakkinen dude' seemed to have real skills in that csr. A Very painful watch. indeed.
its just unfortunate for Michael cause he didn't have a proper racing background in Europe. Besides having limited track time and also inexperience at the majority of tracks, the fact he didn't want to move to Europe to get more test time there also hurt his chances.
Excuses for incompetence. Few accomplished Indycar drivers were able to make any mark in 1990-2000s F1 simply due to the vast differences in car technology and race tracks. Many other capable drives have failed, with Jacques Villeneuve and JPM the only exceptions. Both didn’t have a very long career in F1 due to different circumstances
Even sebastian bourdais later on got beat by sebastian vettel..
JPM had a background of racing in Europe. I saw him in F3000 in 1997 at Spa and a few other tracks.
Ron Dennis ruined JPM. He never should have left Williams.
10:09 Villeneuve's Indy 500 win in '95 was also the final Indy 500 in CART (in 1996, IndyCar split into two different series: one was CART itself (later Champ Car) which Andretti raced until 2003, the other was Indy Racing League which only raced at ovals until 2004. Two series re-merged in early 2008 and the rest is history
I wish the Tony George never created the IRL and CART still existed today. The Indy car series today is sadly more of IRL dna than CART. Because it really was champ cars demise/pending bankruptcy that led to them joining the irl. When Ganassi and Penske, along with Toyota and Honda left CART at the end of 2002, that was the beginning of the end for cart and they were on borrowed time until 08.
@@kieferclarkf1674Tony George destroyed single seat racing in America. That form of Motorsport is in sad state in US.
So, you wish Tony George never created IRL and CART still called CART or what?
Good thing he left McLaren early as we all know McLaren struggled using unreliable Peugeot engines in 1994 and the 1st McLaren Mercedes in 1995 was very uncompetitive.
Andretti at least became a very successful race car team owner compared to Prost who failed big time as F1 team owner 😂
LOL successful my ass
@@MrBlazemaster525Andretti team have 6 Indy 500 wins and won championships, the heck are you on?
@@Rayuzan_M those aren't Dumbdretti's at all 🤡🤡🤡 all he did was suck up to Barry Green
Compelling story. In 20 years, will we have Latifi complaining to the media how the Williams team wrong him?😔
Abu Dhabi 2021
Bernie along with bill france were instrumental in convincing Tony George to split indycar. Not far fetched at all.
He did get a McLaren F1 road car as part of his deal, which was nice, however he didn't use it and it sat in storage for years in the UK. I saw that very car on the road about 3 years ago, and very nice it is too!
Sounds like his attitude was off from the very start!
I remember being really excited prior to the 1993 season at the prospect of an Indy Car Champion joining Formula 1. The fact that it was the son of formula 1 champion Mario Andretti made it even more thrilling. Was such a shame it didn`t work out. As Michael said the turning point for him could have been at Donnington Park. You could see before he crashed out that the car was handling well in the wet, and if he had safely negotiated Wendlinger with a bit more patience, i think he would have finished 2nd behind Senna. I also think the limiting of testing, and just 23 laps of practice at grand prix, and just 12 in qualifying were huge factors. Shame that Mclaren did not give him more time as that was a great Podium at Monza. Didn`t he have to make an early pit stop on the 2nd lap to replace a front wing, but he still came through the Field to get a podium.
Thanks for an interesting story I’d never heard about as I didn’t start watching F1 until 2001 so didn’t know Michael had ever driven in F1, and was teammate with Senna!
There is a telling scene in a 1993 documentary where both drivers are asked alone about the upgraded engine.
Michael's answer: "The same. Just the same", he said with a shoulder shrug.
Ayrton's answer: "The engine for sure is better!" and he then proceeded to explain in what areas the engine was better.
Michael's head was somewhere else. It looked as if he wasn't enjoying his new job with its new demands. But when you are paid by a top F1 team, feedback and especially good feedback should be the least that you can give.
It was called The Race & it was fabulous.
This tells you Michaels engine had less HP than Sennas.
@@AlistairMaxwell77 Right; Senna's was remarkably better and he could explain how and why and Michael's was the same.
@@AlistairMaxwell77Or maybe it tells us that Senna knew what he was talking about.
@@leoarc1061 that he was being sabotaged , yes . he called a press conference when MA was fired , to say how shit mclaren had been .
The Andretti racing genes diminished with each generation. Mario won F1 and Indycar championship, Michael only won the Indycar championship once and Marco only won 2 races in Indycar
Sounds like a perfect storm. All the bad things that could happen happened at the same time for Andretti. To succeed in F1 all the stars have to align and you also need a touch of good luck. Would have could have should have is the Andretti F1 story for Michael. Overall though I think he had a very good racing career and is destined to have an outstanding ownership legacy. Hopefully that ownership legacy will include F1.
Or just have your dad buy majority ownership in the team you join. That way you can keep on STROLLing along regardless of your results.
@@Zadkiel862 I could care less if a rich family buys a team and the son or even daughter drives provided the "family driver" is truly talented enough to drive in F1. Could earn at minimum a second seat on another team on the grid and finishes consistently close to or ahead of the other driver on his family owned team.
Clearly young Stroll is not that caliber. An older Alonso has demonstrated that in spades. I wish I had Lance's skill though I would be a dam good driver but be in a different format, Indy, Nascar or endurance.
Stars don't help. It all comes down to people. Greedy, selfish people.
I didn't follow the history but the way you described and hearing the substance of the events, it sounds like he was a bit of a cry baby and gave up.
Nor was he committed enough to the sport, come on, even now people will live near the factory to get the hands on when we have internet. It was only 1 year, rent a place make the effort if you want to win. People move for alot less prestigious jobs.
In 2018, I had dinner in CT with Mario Andretti in a small Italian restaurant. He confirmed the falsehood of rumors about Michael’s traveling between continents being a problem. Rather, McLaren had issues with the drivetrain package, which was where the lack of performance manifested. However, the MAIN issue was in FACT the messy situation with their 3-driver lineup. So, Dennis wanted him out, period, and made the remaining time uncomfortable for his son Michael, until he ultimately decided to move on. Mario clearly felt Michael got a raw deal internally @ McLaren, and F1 didn’t want him in the series.
that stab at ron for mclaren not having a fun atmosphere is clearly sour grapes
I mean not that mclaren was a fun atmosphere but before one can play hard at a new work environment, one must work hard. Michael was getting trounced by senna like stroll does by Alonso
From everything I've heard about working with Ron Dennis, he made Helmut Marko look kind and supportive, and made Flavio Briatore look honest.
Jo Ramírez, then in about the middle of his 15+ years at McLaren, thought Michael Andretti lacked a strong internal desire to be a racing driver. He was following in the business of his father. If Mario had been a (say) carpenter or banker, Michael would have gone that way. One man's opinion, but with Stewart, Prost and Senna in Jo's CV, he has some perspective. Story from Jo's autobiography.
Jos Verstappen ------> Max Verstappen
🤔
Never liked Jo Ramirez, he was extremely bias in the Senna documentary, another time he criticized Nikka Lauda for being concerned with safety.
Michael was a good driver but thought he would just get F1 straight out of the box and in that era it would have been a real achievement to do it in one season, these days no so much of an achievement
Great vid, but you absolutely forgot to tie it back to the beginning where you mentioned andrettis podium. Was waiting for it the whole time but it never came
All the drivers that struggle in F1 have a very similar struggle story.
So many EGO's and so much money involved clouds the issues. My own recollection of Michael
was seeing him at the races when the company I worked for sponsored another car. His mouth often times exceeded his talent. His behavior was not pleasant at times , kind of like a spoiled child. I can only hope he has matured and I truly wish him all the best . It would be nice to see another American team in F1 along with Haas .
I heard that both Michael and his wife were not popular in the F1 paddock.
@@simonkevnorrisMostly Sandy who insisted on being in the garage during race weekends. She was a real trailblazer because thanks to her, every driver's wife or girlfriend are standing in the back of the garages now.😂
@@paulo9504 there is a great interview where Shelly Unser smoked and told dirty jokes in the garage with the crew during Little Als williams test . Patrick Head was extremely not amused.....
Formula One - Michael Andretti+Nigel Mansell+Jacques Villeneuve - IndyCar Series
What A Triangle Relationship 😮
16/10/2023 15:37 At My Local Time.
Seems a lot more likely Andretti was just less good than the other F1 drivers.
And clearly not as good as future Indycar F1 converts like Villeneuve & Montoya.
The IRL / CART split was beginning around this time, too. A very unfortunate period for race fans.
That year can he finish how many round he know
Agreed in general. btw,, 3rd best car. show's you how good Senna the Eternal GOAT really was.......
Anyone against Senna would be a struggle. A different animal
Prost and Hill didn't.
Hakkinen out qualified Senna at Estoril in his first race for McLaren.
@@michaelskoomamacher5652 Prost quit and hill, who was he ?
@@rafsccpyeah that's why Prost has 4 titles and Senna 3
@thatguy4noreason Senna was killed at his peak. Come on man!😂
He simply wasn't that good despite his father's name. Just look at Marco in indycar. Even the guy married to the force daughter is second best in his house lol.
If anyone wanna watch a really good video on Andretti season of 1993 I *Highly* recommend the Mobile Chicane video on this very top
Good indepth on video on his brief time in the sport
Excellent channel for long form documentary style videos on f1
Wait, so Zak Brown and Michael Andretti aren't the same guy? Well I'll be
😂😂
Good one. 😆
He had podeoms. Was supposed to stick around but according to his father Mario his manager did nothing to get a 1994 drive. And Mika was testing and had more European experience.
The theory about someone turning off the beacon doesn't necassarily have to have been done with agreement from the McLaren team management. I'm sure Bernie had insiders in each team who would help him when required.
It sounds very similar to what happened to Hamilton's car at the Brazilian Grand Prix in 2007 when Bernie didn't want a McLaren driver to win the World Championship because in his words live on TV before the race "it would be bad for the sport". Words he later on (still prior to the race) insisted on coming on live TV again to retract, which made it look even more suspicious.
Somehow Hamilton's engine randomly went into neutral during the Grand Prix.
I’m not shedding any tears for this Nepo-baby.
Jacques Villeneuve is the only drive to successful move from Indycar to F1 and he barely won the F1 championship in ‘97. Otherwise the move from North America to Europe just doesn’t work. And prior to Villeneuve no Indycar driver made the move successfully and McLaren knew this. So what’s the great surprise this video is going to reveal to us?
If none of the teams are on board the easiest way to prevent or delay their entry into the grid is by every team refusing to supply them an engine. Its that simple.
Rules say an existing engine manufacturer has to supply them an engine if they come in '25. Alpine would be the first manufacturer since they aren't supplying any team other than theirselves. People say well Alpine ended agreement to supply Andretti. Not true. Alpine and Andretti had a pre-contract for engines that was dependent on getting approval for 11th team. The pre-contract expired before FIA completed approval process. Now Alpine will wait until FOM approves before drawing up a new engine supply deal with Andretti.
The uncomplicated explanation...he wasn't good enough.
That saves 11 minutes of BS excuses.
It's a skill issue
There was defo something suspect about the Andretti-McLaren car. And i'd not put it past Bernie to do anything. Indy racing was better in 1993
I never thought Michael was a champion level driver. Moving to driving a team and pushing paper is more his thing.
He did not impress in IndyCar either, ever again really
@@MichaelEilersthats simply because Newman Haas didn't have "the package"
Michael was an awesome driver.
@@MichaelEilers😂😂😂😂 You clearly never watched Michael Andretti in CART.
@@tjantilagNewman-Haas had the package in 1991! With Mikey and Mario in 1992, Newman-Haas sorted out all of the bugs in the Ford-Cosworth XB in time for Nigel Mansell's CART arrival in '93.
Very interesting insights
Ego superseded talent, any more questions?
It reminds me of what's happening to Max's teammates..
Pretty much when against any champion caliber drivers. And also the fact that the battle aren't just done on the track, but also behind the curtains with all those infamous political stuff unique to F1.
@@apophisstr6719 wel not any mate.... I remember championship battles between teammates...
Senna made drivers look worse than they actually where, and it only goes worse from there because they're trying to hard to achieve the same consistency and laptimes.
Why is the audio in this video so quiet??? Whoever is in charge of exporting video for TH-cam at The Race is clearly using incorrect export settings. Your team really, really needs to look into this problem. The quiet audio in your videos make you look like amateurs. I have no business subscribing to a channel where I cannot hear what's being said in the videos.
Think I'm being dramatic? Right click on this video and select "Stats for Nerds". From there, you will see that TH-cam measures the audio in this video as almost 10 dB too quiet. 10 dB is impossible not to notice.
I don’t know if Andretti would have ever been great, but this was a time when drivers usually had essentially unlimited testing time before seasons. So, only have a 1.5 days was truly a disaster.
I’m glad I’m a fan in the post-Eccelston period. What a piece of work that guy was, opening manipulating the sport in many different ways, an absolute despot with too much power and a disgusting mafia boss attitude. I hope he spends his last few days in jail or under house arrest for fraud.
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but your opinion shows massive ignorance. You would not be enjoying F1 today without Bernie Ecclestone and his past endeavours.
At the beginning of the season, Andretti was spinning out virtually on the first corner of the race. I don't see how this could be any form of sabotage, since all of the errors appear to be human-made. I personally think he wasn't ready for the big change and perhaps he should have moved to the U.K. to be close to the action - it might not have helped, but it certainly wouldn't have hurt him either. He could be the reason we haven't had a single successful American driver in F-1 since Mario.
We all know why he didnt, taxes. All f1 drivers are greedy AF, most having lived a privledged life, and they seem obsessed with paying as little tax as possible, hence why they they all move to monaco these days.
Andretti was under the impression he could bully other drivers in F1 like he bullied other drivers in CART. He was mistaken.
No American true, however JPM and JV came from North American racing and were pretty successful (Although JPM had experience in Europe before and was a Williams test driver)
And they were much more international
F1 cars were not always more refined than IndyCar. When Newey joined IndyCar in the 80s, he introduced tons of revolutions that made them more refined than F1. After turbos were banned, F1 quickly shot by and left IndyCar in the dust.
It makes a lot of sense, also when you think of Bernie’s many dirty games in F1. It’s a money business, especially at that time. And the rhetoric from Bernie at the time with IndyCar and F1 being labeled as wrestling vs heavyweight boxing, definitely shows the battle. Also labeling F1 as being “more enjoyable for the drivers” is something so far away from the truth when you think about how much of a “gameboy” F1 was at the time with TC, active suspension, and more. It showed that the teams and Bernie loved to posses more power over the results than the driver often had. Anybody that now just a fraction about racing know the true joy is in a pure racing experience with no aids.
He thought that he could " phone it in " meaning that he never really gaive it his all. He never moved to the UK, the home of F1 and commuted back and forth from the US, thus limiting his time at the factory and the time availble to him from the team due to logistics and time zones.
As such he shot himself in the foot and thus ended his career. He he moved to the UK, there would have been more time and resources made available to him just by being at McLaren and being able to spends hours pouring through the data instead of saying the 10:30 to the USA is leaving Heathrow soon , so i had better get going.
That is maybe why there hasn't been any American drivers since him. They just don't understand what is required to be in F1. How would Scott Dixion done in F1, if he stayed in New Zealand instead of moving to America. The same can be said about Mark Weeber, Daniel Riccardo and Oscar.
You get the picture. If you want to be successful at something you have to give 100 % or as in the case of F1 110 % or go home.
The whole not living in the UK thing is so blown out of proportion it is laughable. Senna lived in Monaco, so what? Helicopter flight from Monaco to UK or a Concorde flight from JFK to UK, what is the difference? People who bring up the whole travel thing and use it as some sort of reason to tear Andretti down are clueless.
I don't think so. If you commit to something, you should FULLY commit! Apparently Shane van Gisbergen has already bought a house in North Carolina, US to get ready for his pending Nascar move in 2024. Andretti seemed to be half-hearted and quite arrogant about his F1 move. @@paulo9504
@mikespearwood3914 You don't know the reasons clearly! Testing was practically prohibited in '93. He was basically seeing circuits for the first time when he arrived for a race weekend. He visited the factory. He attended the meetings there. You ignore that Senna lived in Monaco at the same time. He didn't live near the McLaren HQ either. It is a lame excuse used by those who didn't like him.
The guy racing next season in NASCAR from New Zealand, will be racing almost every week here. Not every two weeks or so, 16 times a year like Mikey did F1. 16 races versus 32 or more races here. Do the math!
Lets be honest, Andretti just wasn't good enough.
Didn't help that Hakkinen was waiting in the wings, and was extremely good.
Andretti never should have had the 2nd seat at McLaren over Hakkinen to start with, they only signed both because they thought Senna was going to follow Mansell over to the States to compete in Indycar.
@@CharlesDarksonAndretti was in the frame at McLaren long before Hakkinen was. Mika was plan B if Senna didn't return. As the season went on and relations between Andretti and Ron Dennis deteriorated, Dennis triggered some option with Hakkinen that would give him two races in '93. Ron Dennis told Michael to pick two races to give his seat up. Andretti said he would make Monza his last race. Hence, giving up his seat the final two races.
Mike was a capable racer but not up to F1 Standard. Neither was he fit enough, had the technical feedback nor the skill for this nervous beast. These shoes were too big. But he came back to Indy and enjoyed a good carreer.
He had not raced at any of the tracks and kept on f!ting back to the USA (his father did that at one point whilst in F1 but I'm not sure which season's that was. Mario did drive for Lotus and then Alfa Romeo for full seasons and did guest appearances at Williams and Ferari (after Gille's death).
this is one of the most remembered but yet very controversial of it
there is a 4 or 5 part documentary about that 1993 McLaren season.. I think its available on TH-cam go and watch .. and ull come with ONE conclusion... Michael Andretti was clueless.... Bernie and Dennis did not make all those Crashes happen.. HE acts like a spoilt brat .. and the fact that he said that McLaren "was not fun" says it all
I think to some degree McLaren got themselves into a tangle by making too many agreements with too many drivers. Like many drivers paired against him, Andretti was probably to some extent trying too hard to match Senna's pace. It's clear that McLaren tried to give Andretti as much support as they could, but I think what ultimately did him in was that silly rule that limited the number of laps drivers and teams could do in 1993. This rule was always going to hurt someone completely new to the F1 tracks like Andretti, compared to veterans like Senna.
I understand his frustration in every time he was called to the factory, he was told he wasn't needed. It's just unfortunate I feel
One could argue if the aim was going to be F1, a move to Europe earlier in his racing career race to test his mettle and talent as Senna and others have done was the better path over 10 yrs in Indy Cars.
"..in the end I said, ‘No' to Marlboro. I asked them to understand that I didn't want to make a mistake; I didn't know Watkins Glen and I didn't know the car. I said I thought it would be a better idea to organise a test."
Alain Prost on declining the very first offer he got from Mclaren, to drive in a third car at the final race of the 1979 season
Sounds to me like wrong place, wrong time indeed. Getting to grips with all the extra technical systems would require a lot of time. Remember that aside from not being able to make a lot of practice laps... they also didn't have the same high quality level simulators as they do have now. Can understand Andretti having bad feelings about it, hope they have evaporated by now.
Also I presume he had never driven in any of the tracks used by F1 before.
Best comment so far. Too many saying that Michael lacked talent are just being dumb and ignorant.
@@simonkevnorrisYep plus in-season testing at tracks holding races was prohibited prior to the event. During 1993 season, Andretti went to every circuit blind. He had just one in-season test. That was at Magny-Cour following the French GP.
Probably could have used a lot more standing-start practice as well....
well maybe it could be tied up with the Marlboro/Senna 1M per race sponsorship deal Bernie sorted out. I think Maybe Ron did write off the whole season anyway, knowing He'd lost his engines.
Michael didn’t move to Europe. So he was remote from the team. He also rammed into the back of a competitor and said’”I didn’t know these cars could stop that fast”. And he’s just not that good of a F1 racer.
The circumstances he was in were far from productive and constructive .Despite the impossible conditions, he performed admirably.
Senna raced incredibly in 1993. He was artisinal and resilient. He validated his greatness that season amid 3 championships. He was cool and consistent in 1993.
Bernie has probably done lots of underhanded things. But also probably not that particular underhanded thing.
Mansell won indycar title as a rookie. Jacques Villeneuve won indycar title and indy 500 in his second year and F1 turtle in second year also.
Michael won 0 Indy 500`s and even no more titles after f1
He was also faster than Prost in his own car during testing after he got the full time boot. Dude can drive, i mean he won an indycar championship. Not many people can say that
F1 is elite top-tier, Indycar is not
@inmate1614 nobody ever said it wasn't but that is debatable considering the current talent in f1 has 6 good drivers and I'd say 7 but Alonso was not competitive in the 500 or the weeks leading up to it at any level.
I don't think Alonso had any experience of racing on an oval when he tried for the Indy 500. Mind you I don't think Jim Clarke, Jackie Stewart or Graham Hill had experience of ovals either but did quite well.
@inmate1614 it'd be top tier if the drivers were top tier but they just aren't
@@StalinsPurge Fernando Alonso is one of the greatest racing car drivers of the last 30 years, the Indy 500 is irrelevant. I was a big Dan Wheldon fan and I used to love Indycar when it was predominantly ovals but I find the quality of the street circuits to be vastly inferior. I much preferred the pre 2012 cars as well, they were beautiful at times.
7:03 Are we sure Helmut Marko wasn’t in control of McLaren.
The son seldom achieves the same level of performance as the father in the same venue...
Yet, Max is way better than Jos could ever hope of being and Jaques was at least the equal of Gilles.
I had the honor of meeting Frank Arciero at his winery in California. We had talked about Bernie Ecclestone and Frank told me that he knew of several occasions where Bernie had assisted in trying to sabotage Indycar. Frank Arciero sponsored Mario Andretti most of his racing career. Frank told me he thought Bernie was behind Michael's demise in F1. I never thought much of that conversation until I saw this video. The fact that Bernie was recently convicted of fraud doesn't surprise me at all. I hope he rots in hell.
What a load of horse shxt
Guy might have a great racing name and was a pretty reasonable cart driver
He just couldn't adapt not the first driver and shouldn't think he will be last
Ron just didn't take things lightly and was well known for his direct and strong ways and attention to details ( having all the autoclaves pipe work redone as it didn't match building)
I hope AAS get their place on the grid
Wow… so much dishing. Somebody wants a cake and to eat it as well.
Ron place, wrong time.
I feel like Michael is one of the most overrated racers of all time. Heck-you even mentioned that he only won ONE IndyCar/CART championship despite racing mostly for Newman/Haas, the #2 team in the 80s & 90s after Penske.
I think he just couldn’t cut it.
The Race continuing to deliver TOP tier motorsport content 🤍
Or recycled garbage, in this case. How many different spins can you put on Andretti's '93 F1 season?
Long story short, andretti believes "Opps Mad"
Sabotage, just like Checo's RBR now! 😂😂😂
I hope to see an Andretti f1 team
Off-topic idea....I wanna see what someone with today's knowledge would do with an 80s F1 car and 80s regulations. What wasn't thought of back then.
There is far more to this saga than meets the eye. Micheal had to fly home after every race. Let's just say it had to do with the home life. And leave it at that. After he got that sorted out years later, he started to win races again.
Why leave it at that, if there’s more to the story then please do tell
@@matthewbarber13 Strictly talking about his private life during that time, his relationship with his then wife was shaky to say the least. Not to mention she acted like a spoiled princess Ron Dennis even employed someone to take her out shopping and not messing with the paddock businesses.
@@matthewbarber13Someone is fishing TMZ level.
@@michaelskoomamacher5652thanks for that, I can only picture Ron’s face in having to deal with that. I can also imagine there would have been Gunter levels of swearing involved too 😂
Just goes to show that sometimes no matter how hard you try your personal life can really effect your ability to perform to your best.
@@paulo9504if you say so
Bernie has never been one to meddle…
It was probably the 3rd best car not the second best car.
And... if you read deep enough into organizational behavior, it's 100% plausible that someone inside was trying to sabotage him. It's amazing what people will do not only for $$$ but also out of shear pettiness. Most people reading this have at least one saboteur at their workplace (assuming it's 20+ people); it's not so far fetched.
Although I wouldn't be shocked if it were in fact sabotage I don't think it's actually the case. Bad luck, the fastest guy in the sport as a teammate, new tracks, the pressure, and car issues... there was just too much stacked against him. He also was never likely to be a championship contender. Perhaps a race winner and top 5 or 10 driver (very respectable remembering that Indycar is a little different than F1). He wasn't likely a top 3 driver nor a generational talent (not in F1 at least) like his teammate.
The 93 McLaren was the 2nd best car that year.
Performance was highly variable depending on the track. It was actually close between McLaren, Benetton and Ferrari. Based on qualifying times it's likely that Senna would have been faster in the Benetton (at a narrow majority of the tracks). The Ferrari was definitely faster at a few tracks. If you look at the times/results, drivers that had no business keeping up with Senna (with all due respect) were pretty close to him. Senna in the Benetton would have been just a touch faster (but maybe less reliable).@@marcpaola1371
I'm just saying, I don't think it's a coincidence that F1 management is against Andretti
Am I right to think that at the time mansell went to cart and won championship in his first season so that would not have looked good in comparison to MA performance in F1
Ron won a host of championships with McLaren… like him or not, the guy got results. Having fun doesn’t come into it.
Yes he sounds absolutely idiotic
He was in the Ron place at the Ron time.
Its a theory.... nothing more
2nd best car, what? 3rd best car, with some luck!
The Benetton aero was superior and the late deal with Ford meant that McLaren had to race a B-spec engine for half the season. 60hp less than the Benetton counterpart. The fact that Senna scored wins in that car was a god given talent. Nothing short of a miracle.
But then again, he also had wins in 92 with also the 3rd best car on the grid. Senna was used to the struggle.
Senna arriving late at the party also meant that he didn't test the car much and Hakkinen was freaking fast in his Lotus days. Hakkinen was a top tier talent and it was clear there Hakkinen and Schumacher were the future of F1.
I really hoped Andretti did well. I hope he stomped Senna but you know, wishes don't often come true. And I was a young fool thinking that a novice could take on the GOAT. If Prost, one of the GOATs, in his prime couldn't and had to resort to politics, Andretti wouldn't come close. But I was young and I didn't like the Brazilian flag so.. well.. I just needed an excuse to not like Senna, but as it turned out, I never saw talent like that again. I watched it live. It was unbelievable. Still felt sorry for Michael though.
I’m sure McLaren would do it if burny was giving them millions… ever thought of that?
I always wondered what happened. And it makes sense now. Clearly his bid is now in focus, he wants to start the process to dominate the sport, although it will take time-I wish him all the best!!
This video doesn't even cover half of what went down between Andretti and McLaren. Pretty one-sided account.
The intro was written by Felipe Massa wasn’t it? 😂😂😂
I wouldn't put it past Bernie.. he absolutely would do this
lol, had no idea this guy was an F1 driver. i mean, really? :))
His record is not noticeable. I did see him on the podium at Monza in his last F1 race. I did see him go past once at Donington Park!
Was the gap in performance in 1993 between williams and everyone else bigger than the gap now in 2023 between Redbull and everyone else?
In 92, Mansell in a Williams was over 2 seconds a lap faster than the other teams.
No.
The 1993 Williams was a monster of a car and clearly the best by a margin.
Senna won 5 races in '93. Two in rain at Brazil and Donington where Prost basically sucked. He won at Monaco and Adelaide which were street circuits which neutralized the Williams-Renaults advantage. Otherwise the Williams was the dominant car in '93.
Michael's wife didn't want to move to Europe so Michael was flying from the States to wherever he need to go. His marriage was on the rocks too.
Flying back and forth is a big strain on a person and made it harder to succeed in F1. On top of trying to gel with a team and learn F1.
IMO, that was a huge mistake. He should have done whatever was necessary to make the switch from Indy to F1. Immaturity, ego and bad decisions hampered him.
I don't think he was going to win a championship but he could have won races. Just my opinion.