As pre-season hype is consigned to the bin, it's worth recalling that, around this time 30 years ago, one of the greatest F1 cars ever turned a wheel for the first time and the outside world knew next to nothing about it. And those who did -- Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost and the McLaren -- were thrilled to bits with what they found.
The 1988 season did not get under way until the Brazilian Grand Prix on April 4. This being the final year before a complete switch to 3.5-litre normally aspirated engines, season previews suggested a swingeing fuel capacity reduction to 150 litres would ensure a limp swansong for the turbo, never mind the fact that McLaren were switching from the TAG-turbo to the Honda V6.
But pundits reckoned without the engineering and design brilliance of Gordon Murray, Steve Nichols, Bob Bell and Neil Oatley, never mind Honda's refusal to take their foot off the gas after winning the title with Williams in 1987.
McLaren's rivals had been heartened by news from pre-season running, as the test mule -- basically a 1987 MP4/3 with the Porsche-inspired V6 swapped for the Honda -- proved difficult and off the pace. Ferrari and the rest were feeling optimistic, coupled with the hope that Senna would need time to become accustomed to his new surroundings following a move from Lotus.
This was in the days of unlimited testing, McLaren's struggle with the test hack continuing until the last minute at Imola. Then a red and white truck rolled into the paddock and disgorged the first MP4/4. Lower than anything seen before in F1, the simple, clean appearance on the surface made an immediate impression before the car had so much as turned a wheel. Indy Lall, in charge of McLaren's test team, vividly recalls the moment.
"We'd had a horrendous time with the hybrid car from 1987," says Lall. "This was the final test before Brazil and, while we were there with this awful car, the race team arrived MP4/4 -- and it just looked the bollocks.
"We were knackered and we were just sort of shovelled into the corner because Ayrton didn't want to know about the old car any more -- and you can't blame him. It gives me goose bumps to this day when I think about what happened next. The MP4/4 went on track and the lap times just went quicker and quicker and quicker. It was getting dark -- and Ayrton didn't want to stop. It was an absolutely amazing experience."
McLaren's quiet optimism would be confirmed a couple of days later when Senna put the car on pole in Rio, with Prost, finding difficulty settling into the laid-back driving position, qualifying on the second row. The unfinished third MP4/4 had been loaded into the hold of the Wednesday evening Varig flight to Rio, the rush to complete all three cars taking its toll on race day.
Senna's gear linkage (paddle-shift semi-automatic boxes were still a year away) became deranged on the parade lap. The partisan crowd were in for further disappointment when their hero was disqualified for starting from the pit lane in the spare car.
The McLaren mechanics, having worked until 2 am on Friday, 3 am on Saturday and 5.30 am on Sunday, had barely enough time to return to the hotel for a shower and fresh uniforms prior to the race morning warm-up at 8.30 am. But there would be more than adequate reward as Prost, making the most of the grid space ahead vacated by Senna, led from start to finish.
It was to the beginning of an extraordinary season for MP4/4. McLaren would win 15 of the 16 races to claim almost three times as many points as Ferrari in second place.
McLaren must today recall such domination with a mix of pride and envy. We may have moved on massively in 30 years but it would do no harm for the FIA and Liberty Media to consider the McLaren-Honda MP4/4 as a template for how a F1 car really ought to look.