The McLaren MP4-19 is a

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

racing car that was built by

McLaren McLaren Racing Limited is a British motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor, the second oldest active team, and the second most successful Formul ...

for the 2004 season. The chassis was designed by

Adrian Newey Adrian Martin Newey, (born 26 December 1958) is a British Formula One engineer. He is currently the chief technical officer of the Red Bull Racing F1 team. Newey has worked in both Formula One and American Championship car racing, IndyCar raci ...

Paddy Lowe Patrick Allen Lowe FREng (born 8 April 1962), known as Paddy Lowe, is the founder and CEO of the fossil-free synthetic fuel companZero Petroleum A former motor racing engineer and computer scientist, he spent 32 years working in Formula One and ...

Pat Fry Pat Fry (born 17 March 1964) is a British motorsports engineer. Primarily working in Formula One, he has previously held positions with the McLaren, Ferrari, Manor Racing, and Benetton teams. As of 2022, Fry is the Chief Technical Officer for t ...

Mike Coughlan Michael Coughlan (born 17 February 1959) is a British motor racing engineer and designer. He was Chief Designer for the McLaren Formula One team from to , where he was suspended for his part in the spygate scandal between McLaren and Ferrari, ...

and

Peter Prodromou Peter Prodromou (born 14 January 1969) is a British/Greek-Cypriot aerodynamicist and engineer. Currently, he is working as Chief Engineer (Aerodynamics) for the McLaren Formula One team. Biography Prodromou originally joined McLaren's design of ...

with

Mario Illien Mario Illien (born 2 August 1949) is a Swiss engineer specialising in motorsport engine design and comes from Chur in the Canton of Graubünden, Switzerland. Despite living in a country in which motor racing was banned in 1955 (when Illien was si ...

designing the bespoke

Ilmor Ilmor is a British independent high-performance motor racing engineering company. It was founded by Mario Illien and Paul Morgan in November 1983. With manufacturing based in Brixworth, Northamptonshire, and maintenance offices in Plymouth, Mic ...

engine. The car was driven by

Kimi Räikkönen Kimi-Matias Räikkönen (; born 17 October 1979), nicknamed "The Iceman", is a Finnish racing driver who competed in Formula One between 2001 and 2021 for Sauber, McLaren, Ferrari, Lotus, and Alfa Romeo. Räikkönen won the 2007 Formula One Wo ...

and

David Coulthard David Marshall Coulthard (; born 27 March 1971) is a British former racing driver from Scotland, later turned presenter, commentator and journalist. Nicknamed 'DC', he competed in 15 seasons of Formula One between and , taking 13 Grand Prix vi ...

. It was described as a "debugged version" of the ill-fated

McLaren MP4-18 The McLaren MP4-18 (sometimes stylised as MP4/18) is a Formula One car which was built with the intention to compete in the 2003 Formula One season. The car, designed by Adrian Newey, Mike Coughlan, and Neil Oatley, was a radical new design tha ...

, but it was not a successful car. The team suffered various problems concerning reliability at the beginning of the season, with eight retirements in the first seven races. Launch control and fully-automatic gearboxes were also banned for , meaning the driver had to start using the paddle-shifters, and find the effective bite point and release the clutch manually, again. These electronic driver aids had been used by the team for the previous three seasons, since the 2001 Spanish Grand Prix. By mid-season, a new car, the MP4-19B, was required. This was an all-new car with a radically redesigned aerodynamic package. The results were immediately positive and gave the team hope of a better end to the season. Coulthard qualified third for the MP4-19B's first race at the

French Grand Prix The French Grand Prix (french: Grand Prix de France), formerly known as the Grand Prix de l'ACF (Automobile Club de France), is an auto race held as part of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile's annual Formula One World Championsh ...

, followed by further points and podiums from both drivers. The upgrade was finally justified when Räikkönen gave the team its only win of the season when he won the

Belgian Grand Prix The Belgian Grand Prix (French: ''Grand Prix de Belgique''; Dutch: ''Grote Prijs van België''; German: ''Großer Preis von Belgien'') is a motor racing event which forms part of the Formula One World Championship. The first national race of ...

. For most of the season, the MP4-19 featured a narrow, needle-like nose design first seen on the MP4-18. A wider, flatter nose was trialed at the

Italian Grand Prix The Italian Grand Prix ( it, Gran Premio d'Italia) is the fifth oldest national Grand Prix motor racing, Grand Prix (after the French Grand Prix, the United States Grand Prix, the Spanish Grand Prix and the Russian Grand Prix), having been he ...

but was not retained.McMurray, Bob (2004-10-22)
"Ask Bob: Edition 18 2004"

Television New Zealand , type = Crown entity , industry = Broadcast television , num_locations = New Zealand , location = Auckland, New Zealand , area_served = Nationally (New Zealand) and some Pacific Island nations such as the Cook Islands, Fiji, and the Solom ...

. Archived fro
the original
on 2015-01-28. Retrieved 2015-01-24. This would later be carried over to the MP4-20 in , whilst the needle nose would be reused on the MP4-21 in . The team eventually finished fifth in the Constructors' Championship with 69 points, the team's lowest finish of the

- Mercedes partnership since the 1996 season. McLaren used 'West' logos, except at the

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

, French and

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

Grands Prix. Mclaren racing usgp 2004

Complete Formula One results

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

) (results in bold indicate pole position)

References

McLaren MP4 19 2004 Formula One season cars {{F1-stub