During the 1980s, Ayrton Senna’s McLaren F1 team discovered that their car’s performance mysteriously improved on humid days, leading engineers to eventually realize that moisture in the air slightly increased tire grip—a phenomenon so subtle that competing teams initially dismissed Senna’s advantages as purely driving skill, when the humidity itself was contributing measurable tenths of a second per lap.
Car Fact #4 — June 20, 2026
