RED BULL LEGENDS PARADE 2026: TYRRELL P34 (1976)

Designer Derek Gardner was certain that his concept would achieve success, as the front end of the car could be made much flatter by positioning two small front wheels behind each other, thus considerably reducing the surface area presented to the oncoming airflow. He reckoned that this aerodynamic improvement would result in higher top speeds down the straights while at the same time maintaining good cornering thanks also to the increased downforce. What’s more, overall performance would be indirectly improved by as much as 40 bhp. However, his critics were not convinced, citing a range of factors: increased weight, more time needed to change tyres, greater wear on the small front wheels due to their higher rotational speed, the need to develop new tyres, plus too many unknowns regarding set-up and the highly complex technology on the front axle. But the 1976 campaign brought instant success, and no one suspected that the following season would see the disadvantages outweigh the benefits.

The P34 is the best-known example of a six-wheeled Formula 1 car and the only one ever to have been entered in an actual race. Other teams also built similar vehicles as prototypes, but they all chose to double up on the rear wheels, for instance the March 2-4-0 and the Williams FW08B. “Our car wasn’t banned because it had six wheels,” said former Williams chief engineer Frank Dernie, “but because it had four driven wheels.” Ferrari developed the six-wheeled 312T6 racing car with two sets of tyres on the rear axle – four in a row – but ultimately, it was too heavy. Nowadays, everyone accepts that the number of wheels prescribed in Formula 1 is four.

History was made 13th June 1976 at Anderstorp in Sweden when Tyrrell took a one-two win with both drivers at the wheel of a P34, the six-wheeled racing car. It was to remain this revolutionary vehicle’s only success, and yet, is imprinted in the hearts and minds of many motor racing fans who simply love the P34 for its distinctive shape. But rather unexpectedly, South Africa’s Jody Scheckter, the only man ever to secure a race win with it, was not in a good mood as he climbed out of the car, exclaiming: “What a pile of junk!” Despite Scheckter and Depailler finishing third and fourth in the world championship, the South African was extremely critical of the six-wheeler and transferred to Walter Wolf’s new Austro-Canadian team.

Born 1961 in Lugo, Italy, Martini is the archetypal underdog racing driver who never got his chance in Formula 1 with a real top team. He contested 103 races for Minardi, becoming a team legend and a firm favourite with diehard fans. He is the most successful driver in the team’s record books, having contributed almost half of their points – 16 out of 38 – with his bold driving style. Also worth noting, he is the only driver ever to have started from the front row in a Minardi (in Phoenix, 1990). He secured the only two fourth-place finishes and the only leading lap (at Estoril) for the Faenza-based outfit, for which Fernando Alonso, Mark Webber and Patrick Friesacher would also eventually compete. He won the 24 Hours of Le Mans for BMW in 1999.