 It was the first all-new chassis design for McLaren International since the successful Barnard designed MP4/2 series of cars debuted at the start of the 1984 season and the first McLaren designed by anyone other than Barnard since the Gordon Coppuck designed McLaren M30 had appeared in the last three races of the season.The MP4/3's aerodynamics were completely different from the MP4/2, and the car appeared much more low-slung, to take advantage of the maximum fuel capacity limit of 195 litres, rather than the 220 litre limit in effect from 1984 to 1985.With addition of side-ducted radiators, the car's basic exterior shape was all-new and sleeker than its bulbous looking predecessor with the only visual reminder of the car being its nose section, though this too had been re-designed and was in fact lower and approximately 10% smaller.