For two-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner and long-time Formula 1 tester Alex Woods, the question of choosing a favorite car doesn’t depend on whether he’s ever raced it or tested it. Instead, the chairman of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association chose the McLaren MP4-17D for a simpler reason, the machine that narrowly missed out on the F1 World Championship with Kimi Raikkonen in 2003.

“I just thought, ‘I’m pushing it to the limit in every situation’—empty (tank), light, alone, against the competition,” Wurz said. “And the 17D is the most balanced, happiest and fastest car to drive.”

The original MP4-17 appeared in 2002, where it was blown away by Ferrari’s F2002 along with the rest of the field. Newey’s describes the first car to result from the matrix structure implemented by Martin Whitmarsh after Adrian Newey narrowly defected to Jaguar the year before how to build a car The autobiography was “a somewhat clumsy design, certainly not one of my best”, with David Coulthard’s triumph in Monaco the only noteworthy result. There was little sign that McLaren would mount a convincing title challenge with an evolution of the same car in 2003.

In fact, McLaren felt it would take a big step to challenge Ferrari, and therefore fully backed Newey’s “ambitious” new MP4-18. But despite its promising wind tunnel data, the infamous machine proved to be aerodynamically unstable in testing and was plagued by excessive engine vibration and cooling issues. Such was the problem with it that the car was never considered competitive enough, as McLaren instead stuck with the 17D throughout the 2003 campaign.

Wurz, who joined McLaren after losing his seat at Benetton as a tester for the 2001 season, did a big test drive in the MP4-18 at Jerez and said it was “entirely related to what makes the 17D so special”. on the contrary”.

“It’s definitely the least popular,” he said, reflecting on a car that formed the basis of an uncompetitive 2004 MP4-19A, “actually 18 cars with different badges,” Newey said.

“I respect speed, I’ve had shunts in my life, but I’ve never been really scared. But at 18 I was scared because things kept breaking and you had big shunts.”

The successor to the MP4-17 never lived up to expectations, forcing McLaren to return to an updated version of the old car in 2003

Photo by Lorenzo Bellanca/ motorsport pictures

Knowing the new car wouldn’t be ready before the season started, McLaren updated the existing MP4-17 to good effect with a new front suspension kit, aerodynamic revisions and gearbox improvements. Wurz feels completely at home with the car.

“The 17D is a car, an extension of myself,” he said. “Whatever the circuit, whatever the conditions, it always does what the brain wants.

“I can’t wait to drive it because I know from the outside circle how to let it slide, how not to let it slide, how to correct it, fast corners, slow corners. It doesn’t matter if it’s raining, water skiing, it feels like me extension on nearly every track.”

The result came quickly at the Grand Prix weekend as well, as it won the first two races of 2003. Coulthard inherited Australia’s season opener win after Juan Pablo Montoya’s Williams spun, while Raikkonen Malaysia broke his duck by a stunning 39 seconds.

“We have achieved so many lap records in the testing of this car and I am very proud because I have been instrumental in the development of this car” alex woods

Either of them could have won in Brazil – Coulthard would likely have finished the race as he was stopped from the lead shortly before the red flag, while Raikkonen was initially considered victorious despite a slight slip Lost the lead to Giancarlo Fisichella before his Jordan team won the protest.

Ferrari maestro Michael Schumacher’s weaker-than-expected start to the season meant Raikkonen led the points lead when the ringside landed in Montreal in round seven. Whitmarsh later admitted that work on the flawed MP4-18 for the opening third of the season had affected the continued development of the MP4-17D if Raikkonen’s championship against Schumacher and Montoya For the challenge to persist, development needs to accelerate.

It did work, as Raikkonen was in the chase until the final round, and despite having to start from behind twice in the new single-pole qualifying, he ended up just two points behind Schumacher — he recovered to sixth at the Canadian Grand Prix, suddenly layered on the long straight, but was out when he couldn’t avoid the stalled Jaguars of Spain’s Antonio Pizonia — and was out on the pit lane in Melbourne. A speeding free throw forfeited a possible win.

Raikkonen misses 2003 F1 world title by two points in McLaren MP4/17D

Photograph: Andre Vor/Sutton Images

The other begged at the Nürburgring, with Raikkonen leading until his Mercedes engine stalled. Newey cites this as a key factor in McLaren’s failure in his book, attributing it to Mario Illion, technical director of Mercedes engine maker Ilmo, at partner and managing director Paul Morgan ‘completely overwrought’ after death in plane accident

“The engine suffered as a result and our performance was lower than that of Ferrari and BMW,” Newey wrote. “To make matters worse, reliability becomes even more important.”

This matches Wurz’s recollection: “They ran out of spare parts for the 17D engine,” he said.

Still, the Austrian has fond memories of his time as part of McLaren’s test setup and is not bitter that he never got the 17D work rewarded for himself.

“We test every week,” said Wurz, who was on the podium in F1 for the first time since Silverstone in 1997 and his only time at Imola for McLaren in 2005. , when he replaced the team’s injured new signing Montoya. “We traveled all over Europe and even went outside of Europe in some tests.

“We’ve achieved so many lap records with this car and I’m very proud because I was instrumental in the development of this car. It’s really my favorite in the long run. car.”

In fact, the MP4-20 he drove to finish fourth in the road race at Imola – before Jenson Button was disqualified for third after inspectors found his BAR illegal drop tank – was the Another car in Karen’s challenge for the title, as Raikkonen ultimately lost out to Renault’s Fernando Alonso. But for Wurz, it’s not in the same class as the MP4-17D.

“It’s a nice car, but it’s still flawed in terms of setup,” Wurz said of the MP4-20. “It was moody on some tracks; it didn’t open up the tires very well when the tires were cold. Some projects were okay, but not as good as the 17D.”

Wurz thinks the MP4-20 is a close match for the MP4-17D on his all-time list

Photography: LAT Photographic

The only car that comes close, he reckons, is the Peugeot 908 LMP1, which he won Le Mans for the second time in 2009, 13 years after his breakthrough as a rookie in 1996. Wurz said he conducted extensive tire testing with Michelin “with the car and the tire as one unit”. “The Michelin driving style fits perfectly with my natural driving style” is also helpful.

“I say Peugeot before the 2014 Toyota (TS040) because we won with that car,” he said of a race he was canceled due to electrical problems related to a melted wire loom. “With the Toyota, I remember Le Mans in ’14, when I started the race and built the lead super fast because the balance was perfect that day. And a super car to drive.

“But I would mention the Peugeot because in the end we won races with it and it was just an extension of (me). Whatever I wanted to do, it did. But not as refined as the 17D.”

Peugeot’s 908 LMP1 misses out on Wurz’s favorite car

Photography: Ed Hartley