So who was responsible for the design of the MP4/4? Designer Steve Nichols had penned the forerunner, the MP4/3, but technical director Gordon Murray had already developed a letdown concept with the Brabham BT55.
Did it matter? Within a few laps of testing Prost knew the 1988 car would win the world championship. And while he objected at the lower profile driving position, he couldn’t argue with the windtunnel results. At the second race, Prost and Senna had lapped the entire field. The car won 15 of 16 races and at year’s end scored 199 points in the constructors’ championship, almost three times as much as runners-up Ferrari.
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