Performance, reliability, safety - Grand Prix lessons on picking investment platforms

Engines alone do not determine who ends up on the podium

clock • 5 min read

Richard Budnyj uses the world of Formula 1 racing to highlight the criteria that really matter when building or selecting an investment platform.

The McLaren MP4/4 is arguably the greatest Formula 1 car of all time. It was so dominant in the 1988 season, it won 15 out of 16 races with Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost behind the wheel. On six occasions, the MP4/4 qualified first and second with a margin of a second or more. But, even more amazing, this incredible pace involved no detriment to reliability - the MP4/4 retired just four times, two of which were as a result of crashes. So why was it so dominant? In 1986, a designer at Brabham by the name of Gordon Murray had a theory that - by lowering the height of the car and reducing th...

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