1984 Formula One season
The 1984 Formula One season was the 35th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1984 Formula One World Championship for Drivers and the 1984 Formula One World Championship for Manufacturers which were contested concurrently over a sixteen-race series which commenced on 25 March, and ended on 21 October.
In the Drivers' Championship, the season became a duel between McLaren's Alain Prost and Niki Lauda. Prost won 7 races to Lauda's 5, including the last two Grands Prix of the year, but Lauda eventually prevailed by half a point – the smallest margin in Formula One history. The Formula One World Championship for Manufacturers was awarded to McLaren.
The season had been expected to see a continuation of the Brabham–Renault–Ferrari battle from 1983, with supporting roles for McLaren, Williams and Lotus. McLaren however had stolen a march on its competitors thanks to its TAG turbo engine and the John Barnard-designed MP4/2. The combination of dual World Champion Lauda, nine time Grand Prix winner Prost, the TAG-Porsche and the MP4/2 quickly became the class of the field.
FISA had introduced new fuel economy rules aimed at reducing speeds, ruling that cars powered by turbocharged engines would only have 220 liters of fuel per race, with re-fueling now banned (the tank had to be 220L, but teams were free to try and squeeze more in if they could, which some tried with methods such as freezing the fuel inside the tank). TAG, while still a sponsor with Williams, became a partner with McLaren team boss Ron Dennis, and commissioned German sports car manufacturer Porsche to design and build what would become the TAG-Porsche V6 turbocharged engine. Porsche had extensive experience with similar economy rules due to its participation in endurance racing (which included the 24 Hours of Le Mans) and this translated in superior fuel economy. Coupled with the superior aerodynamics of Barnard's MP4/2 (especially at high speed), this made the McLaren's almost unbeatable in races throughout the season.
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