1/43 Model Review: 1994 McLaren MP4/9 Peugeot

Background

Having lost ground and lead driver Ayrton Senna to Williams, McLaren were looking to rebuild the team. Mika Hakkinen impressed in the few races he was given in 1993 which led to a full time race seat in 1994, next to Martin Brundle from Ligier. Peugeot were also making their debut in Formula One and suffered many reliability problems, most notably on the starting grid at the British GP, when Brundle's car was smoking when standing still, but when the lights turned green, a huge fireball erupted from the engine. Brundle scored a second place in Monaco, but the team were unable to compete for victories, their first winless season since 1980.

Martin Brundle, a reknowned journalist today, was an ex Sportscar champion, who beat Ayrton Senna to the F3 title, but sadly smashed up his legs in a horrific crash in 1984 and arguably, he may not have been as quick as he once was. Brundle was not the first choice to partner Hakkinen for the 94 drive, but it was all pending on whether Alain Prost would return to the team where he won 3 of his World Championships (in 1985, 1986 and 1989). Prost tested the car, but decided against a return. In fact, had Peugeot had their way, it would have been Philippe Alliot, who deputized for Hakkinen (who had a ban for causing the accident in the 1st corner at the German Grand Prix) at the 1994 Hungarian Grand Prix, who would have been next in line, but Ron Dennis over-ruled in favour of Brundle. More info can be found on Ibrar Malik's blog on his new book about the 1994 season.

http://www.1994f1.com

Hakkinen, in one of his only finishes early in the season, was on the podium at the San Marino Grand Prix. Hakkinen was on the podium again, despite clashing with the Jordan of Barrichello on the last corner of the last lap, for which Mika was awarded a suspended ban which was enforced after causing the crash at the German GP as mentioned above. On his return, Hakkinen finished third in the Belgian GP, promoted to 2nd after Schumacher's disqualification. Hakkinen then scored another 3 podiums, ending the season in 4th place in the Drivers' Championship.

The car itself is visually very similar to the 1993 MP4/8. The biggest change is the sidepods which were further back and notably very small. A low nose was used, but the underside rose quite high around the suspension region, a compromise between not having a high-nose to running a low-nose, and encouraging more air underneath the car and energising it to be later used by the diffuser.

To my knowledge, only 3 models of this car exist, all made in the mid-90s.

Minichamps

Standard Model

Minichamps - 530944308

The base model comes with either Hakkinen or Brundle and the shape and general sponsor locations of the early season car, probably the Brazilian GP - albeit with non-tobacco logos instead of Marlboro.
Score: 7/10

British and German GP Models

Minichamps - 533944387

Only 1000 of the German GP models were made, and the same volume for the British GP version. That has made this model particularly rare and expensive, still fetching close to £100 today. The main difference from the base model is that it contains the large barge boards, with the associated change in logos. It also has the updated helmet shape which is much nicer. Of course, the shape is based on the early season regulations, so there are no changes to the front wing nor diffuser. They haven't even used decals for the hole in the engine cover. However they did fix the mirror holder which is now black instead of white on the base model. I think this is a very nice model and one of the better 1994's models made that year. 

Score: 8/10

Heritage Racing

***updated July 2019***
After a few months of watching out for a cheap version of this car on ebay, I managed to get a Heritage Racing McLaren. Because there were never any particularly good shots online, I always simply assumed it was an Onyx built car, albeit a successful one from them. It was only as I started to look at this car that I noted it had very familiar features and realised it is the original Minichamps car repackaged and presented in an Onyx style box. My model is in remarkably good condition considering its age.
Score: 7/10

BBR

BBR - MET08

I bought a hand-built BBR model based on the Brazilian Grand Prix, this being Brundle's car where he was involved in an accident caused by Eddie Irvine when he collected 3 cars and was subsequently banned for a couple of races. The model is nice and accurate, and it comes with lovely details like the 3D fuel cap for example. But I'm left a little disappointed by the quality of the decals the sponsors themselves are not particularly great.

Score: 7/10

Tameo

Tameo TMK178

Tameo's version of the Brazilian Grand Prix does seem to capture the contours of the model nicely. The area around the side of the cockpit is not wide enough for me, which makes it feel like there's something missing from that area of the car. 

Score: 8/10

You can see my GP4 creation of the Australian Grand Prix version here: https://fongugp4.blogspot.com/2019/01/gp4-1994-mclaren-mp49-peugeot.html

For more 1994 Model Reviews, click here: https://fongugp4.blogspot.com/p/1994-model-review.html