F1 rewind: When McLaren made it ten 1-2 finishes - in the same season

The 1988 Hungarian GP saw the McLaren of Ayrton Senna take the chequered flag as the winner. Teammate and title rival Alain Prost finished second behind him. That wasn’t unusual for that season. In fact, it was notable for being the 10th one-two finish for McLaren in that season alone. Such was the dominance of the Honda powered car that no one else on the grid could catch them. But even then, it was a notable feat. Teams have created cars that can sweep the field as often as F1 has been a sport. But no one could match the dominance of the McLaren’s at the time.

For modern fans, it is something like what Mercedes have done in recent years. Or what Ferrari did in the early 2000s with Michael Schumacher.

With 33 years having passed since the day, let’s look at how McLaren made history.

The background

Heading into this race, it was Prost who led the driver’s standings. Senna knew he needed to get a better result than his teammate to stay in the title hunt.

The McLaren’s were the quickest cars on the grid but had contrasting fortunes in qualifying. Senna finished on pole, with Nigel Mansell just 0.1 seconds behind in his Williams.

However, Prost could only manage a seventh place finish in qualifying. The Frenchman would have some work to do in the race.

Quick word on Mansell: the Brit was driving against doctor’s orders, having picked up chickenpox prior to the race. Sadly he would have to retire from the eventual race.

McLaren for the win

Senna made a good start but was nearly caught out by Mansell at Turn 1. However, once away, the McLaren began to pull further away from the grid.

Prost, by contrast, was in ninth having made a terrible start. Clearly there was work to be done for the Frenchman if he was to catch his teammate.

Prost would begin to catch the others with time. He was helped considerably by Mansell spinning and dropping into fourth, and would soon catch Senna when Mansell pitted.

Senna was about to lap two cars with Prost just behind. In a daring move, the Frenchman overtook all three cars at one go. But he ran too wide at the turn, leaving Senna to retake the position.

That didn’t deter Prost, however. He saw off a challenge from Thierry Boutsen in third and held on to second, all while chasing Senna.

The victory, however, would go to the Brazilian. Amazingly, Prost would cross the line a mere half a second afterwards, showing how hard Senna worked for the win.

Senna was now level on points with Prost, who had done quite well to even finish second. And grant the team their 10th one-two finish.

The aftermath

The team would take two more one-two finishes before the season came to a close. But it was Senna who ended up winning the championship, that too with a race to spare.

Prost would finish second but this was not to be the final run-in between the two – far from it. Their rivalry would go on to define that era of Formula 1.