McLaren F1 1992-1998 verdict

The McLaren F1 is the finest driving machine yet built for the public road. It possesses more performance than most of the cars racing at Le Mans this year, but that is almost a side issue compared with its real achievement: that of containing such performance within a car that is without guile. A car that always inspires, never intimidates. 

Yes, it has too much performance for most public road situations but, paradoxically, it is this excess that actually provides the F1 with its justification. 

In the event of an emergency and failure of the on-board modem to link to the Woking factory, McLaren will immediately dispatch a mechanic, by plane if necessary

Andrew Frankel

Senior contributing writer

The F1 is a car which, no matter how often you drive it, no matter how skilled you are, will always be capable of showing you something undiscovered, something you didn’t believe a road car could manage.

We can see F1 drivers, after 20 years of ownership, still having their jaws felled by its abilities. And, in that time, there will be occasions where it can safely be exploited to the full and many, many more where merely nibbling at the surface of its abilities will still provide more driving inspiration than any other production car driven at maximum effort.

We are also convinced that the F1 will be remembered as one of the great events in the history of the car, one to rival the launch of the Mini and Jaguar E-type.