You misunderstand and have confused timelines. I mention 1991 as the year of comparison. That year MacLaren raced the MP4/5c and the the MP4/6. Benetton raced the B191. In simple terms the McLaren MP4/6 was powered by a v12 Honda displacing 3.5L. It as heavy, thirsty and its drivability was shocking. Senna prefered the V10 but Honda was committed and he had to endure the V12. The McLaren still had a mechanical gearbox and clutch. The Benetton B191 as driven by Schumacher from the Italian GP was fitted witha 3.5L Ford HB V8. This was not the Zetec unit he used to win the title in 1994, but a mechanically updated DFV which has its design origin in 1966!! The B191 also had a mechanical gearbox and clutch. The Ferrari F643 as raced by Alain Prost had the required by Italian law V12 engine fitted with a 7speed semi automatic gearbox with auto clutch. The Williams FW-14 was fitted with Renaults Rs15 V10 unit with pneumatic valve actuators, Semi auto gearbox and clutch. Both the Ferrari and the Williams were state of the art at the time. Another interesting bit of information is that the Williams and Benetton chassis were moulded in a more advanced manner than the ferrari and Maclaren but the Benetton was overweight. In order for Schumacher and Senna to keep their cars in the fight they needed to work much harder behind the wheel to win. That Senna still won the championship is largely due to the Williams lack of reliability that year. The following year they won something like 12 out of 16 races. Sorry had to step out for a minute. Cool you know your stuff, to be honest i didnt realise that their(mclaren) car wasnt on parr with the other teams. I thought that since they were the first to use a carbon fibre chassis in the 80's they'd stay ahead of their game. You know that the MP in their car's code originally stood for Marlboro Project
