Ferrari, McLaren, Lotus, Williams F1 cars in the Petersen Museum

The cars were loaned by Juan Gonzalez, CEO of Mission Foods, one of the sponsors of the Arrow McLaren SP IndyCar team, who was the primary driver of Juan Pablo Montoya’s Indy 500 entry this year.

The exhibition will “provide an opportunity to educate visitors about extreme vehicle aerodynamics, unusual materials such as soft racing tire rubber and other unique facets of the design and construction of F1 cars”.

“Pole Position is guaranteed to delight our guests, especially those who are avid F1 fans or geared fans,” said Petersen Managing Director Terry L. Karges. “Seeing these cars up close is a rare opportunity.

“Anyone who is fascinated by the mechanics of speed and aerodynamics will be fascinated by this breathtaking presentation of sophisticated machines.”

“Pole Position: The Juan Gonzalez Formula 1 Collection” was opened to the public on July 24th and can be seen at the Charles Nearburg Family Gallery until June 5th, 2022. More information is available at Petersen.org.

The Petersen Automotive Museum is located on Wilshire Boulevard along Museum Row in the Miracle Mile neighborhood of Los Angeles, CA 90036.

The cars

Lotus 99T Honda

Photo: Petersen Automotive Museum

The earliest model on display is a 1987 Lotus 99T Honda, the type of active suspension Ayrton Senna drove to victory in Monaco and Detroit that year on his way to third place in the championship.

Probably the most important curiosity for F1 freaks is the 1994 Williams FW15D-Renault, a model that has never raced. It was last year’s dominant FW15C, as designed by Adrian Newey and driven to its fourth and final title by Alain Prost, but without active suspension and traction control. This was Williams’ interim car before the 1994 Pukka FW16 was available for testing, when Formula 1 ushered in an era when such electronic “gizmos” were banned.

The 1995 McLaren MP4 / 10 (including the ‘B and C’ derivatives) wasn’t a particularly successful car – nine top five finishes, including two runners-up in the hands of Mika Häkkinen – but it was the first of the collaborations between the Significant to both McLaren and Mercedes-Benz, a partnership that would last 20 seasons (and restart in 2021).

The Ferrari F399 achieved six victories in 1999, Eddie Irvine was forced into the lead role of the Scuderia for much of the season after Michael Schumacher’s broken leg at Silverstone. He ultimately failed to beat Häkkinen to the drivers ‘title, but he, Schumacher and Schuey’s sub Mika Salo collected enough points to earn Ferrari its first constructors’ title in 16 years.

The “shrink-wrapped” look of the McLaren MP4-20 Mercedes is quite astounding – though less so for any student of Newey’s designs – and is highlighted by the subtle gray / silver / black color scheme of the team’s sponsor, West Cigarettes. The car took 10 wins that year thanks to Kimi Raikkonen and Juan Pablo Montoya, and only unreliability prevented Raikkonen from beating Ferrari’s Schumacher for the crown.

Although the McLaren on display in Lewis Hamilton livery bears the number of its 2008 title-winning MP4-23, it is an MP4-24, and the new Formula 1 regulations that the designers were bound to for 2009 are immediately on the high rear wing of the Cars recognizable, full-width front wings and the lack of aerodynamic flicks and strakes on the body. Hamilton took two wins, but Brawn GP dominated the first half of the season and Red Bull Racing was on the rise …

The McLaren MP4-26 brought Hamilton and Jenson Button to six wins and five and five respectively.

The 2013 Ferrari F138 is considered significant for two reasons. It was of course the last Formula 1 Ferrari to be constructed with a 2.4-liter naturally aspirated V8 before the Grand Prix race was switched to hybrid regulations the following year. It is also the model with which Fernando Alonso turned 32.

The Scuderia Toro Rosso STR12 was the small team from Faenza’s last Renault engine and marks the first F1 drive for Pierre Gasly, the star of the team in the last 18 months in which he scored an underdog victory at the Italian Grand Meaning price.

The 2018 McLaren MCL33 is the first of the team’s three Renault-powered models, and while unsuccessful, it matters as the last model Alonso drove for the team in Formula 1 before taking a two-year sabbatical took to (successfully) the World Endurance Championship, the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the 24 Hours of Rolex in Daytona. The MCL33 also features the halo device around the cockpit, mandated by the FIA ​​earlier this season.