{"id":936,"date":"2024-02-01T15:51:11","date_gmt":"2024-02-01T16:51:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/howtokauai.com\/?p=936"},"modified":"2025-01-21T18:04:13","modified_gmt":"2025-01-21T18:04:13","slug":"motorsport-legends-prost-vs-senna","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/howtokauai.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/01\/motorsport-legends-prost-vs-senna\/","title":{"rendered":"Motorsport Legends: Prost vs Senna"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prost vs Senna is one of the greatest rivalries to ever happen in motorsport. So, grab some popcorn as we tell the full story.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Separated by a five-year age gap and entirely different cultural backgrounds, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna were two very different people \u2013 but both ferocious competitors. In hindsight, perhaps it should\u2019ve been obvious that pitching the pair of them against each other (often in the same garage) would result in fireworks. But, it didn\u2019t start out that way.<\/p>\n

Although they had both held places on the F1 grid<\/a> throughout the early-to-mid eighties, the story really begins in 1988. Fresh off the back of a successful stint with Lotus, Senna graduated to the McLaren Formula One team, which at the time was the crew to beat. Replacing Stefan Johansson, he took up the role of Alain Prost\u2019s teammate; the Frenchman having won the F1 World Driver\u2019s Championship the previous year. However, Senna proved to be a much closer match for Prost than Johansson ever was.<\/p>\n

The pair of them traded victories throughout 1988, culminating in what would turn out to be a rather foreshadowing showdown in Japan. Heading into that race at Suzuka, a win would see Senna dethrone Prost as king of F1, but a dodgy start meant he was faced with an uphill battle. After dropping down to as far as 14th, Senna miraculously climbed his way back up through the order, even managing to hunt down Prost and re-pass him. With that, Senna claimed his first F1 driver\u2019s world championship title at Prost\u2019s expense, but this would barely be a footnote in the story that was yet to come\u2026<\/p>\n

\"Alain<\/p>\n

Teammates turn sour<\/h2>\n

Although the battle had been hard-fought, Prost and Senna remained relatively amicable throughout the 1988 season. However, that all changed in 1989.<\/p>\n

Imola was the venue where the spark would be ignited. Behind the scenes, McLaren had come to the agreement that whoever was first to make it to turn one would be allowed to cruise to victory without threat from their teammate. And, given the dominance that McLaren had over the other teams at the time, they knew that nobody else would be a factor either. To an outsider, it all sounds tremendously unsporting, but I guess this was just another example of Ron Dennis\u2019 hard-nosed management style. Unfortunately, when you have two drivers as competitive as Prost and Senna, such an agreement was never going to be a good idea.<\/p>\n

A deal gone wrong<\/h3>\n

At the start of the race, Senna converted pole position into the race lead as the pack of cars headed into turn one. And, as requested, Prost kept in line without offering much in the way of a challenge. Not too long later though, Gerhard Berger suffered a massive accident in his Ferrari, which burst into flames. Fortunately, Berger would get away from the incident with \u2018just\u2019 a set of bruised ribs and second degree burns. Nevertheless, the race was halted under red flag conditions so that the medics could extract the Austrian from his car.<\/p>\n

On the restart, things went down a little differently at the head of the field. This time, Prost beat Senna off the line and led into turn one, but then Senna retook the lead of the race further around the lap. In his mind, this didn\u2019t breach McLaren\u2019s prior agreement, as he had already \u2018earned\u2019 the win by leading before the race had been temporarily halted. Prost, however, did not see it the same way, suggesting that the opportunity for \u2018earning\u2019 the victory should have been reset after the red flag period. This was the first real sign of tension between the two sides of the McLaren garage; tension which would bubble away and evolve into something much greater as the year went on.<\/p>\n

Two Suzuka showdowns<\/h2>\n

\"Senna<\/p>\n

1989<\/h3>\n

Just like in 1988, the pair were pretty evenly matched throughout the 1989 season, resulting in a winner-takes-all scenario in Japan yet again. Senna had to win to defend his title, and although Prost was leading in the latter stages of the race, the Brazilian was reeling him in. Eventually, Senna launched his car into an overtaking move at the chicane<\/a>, which was the penultimate corner of the lap \u2013 just in view of the massive grandstand along the start-finish straight.<\/p>\n

Diving down the inside, Senna quickly found that the gap he had gone into was closing rapidly. Approaching the corner, Prost turned in as per usual, as if he either hadn\u2019t seen Senna \u2013 or simply didn\u2019t care that he was there. A cynic might call it calculated. The result was, inevitably, contact between the two of them.<\/p>\n

Prost retired on the spot, but Senna wouldn\u2019t give up. The marshals managed to bump start his McLaren, and after a quick trip to the pit lane, Senna was back out onto the circuit. Due to the dominant speed of the \u201989 McLaren, the only real barrier to victory for Senna was Alessandro Nannini\u2019s Benetton, which he dispatched with relatively easily. Indeed, Senna would go on to win the race, but that still wasn\u2019t enough. Hours after the checkered flag had fallen, the FIA governing body disqualified him for that bump start he got off the marshals \u2013 a move deemed illegal.<\/p>\n

So, in the end, the title would go to Prost. After the event, Senna reiterated his intent to always fight until the very end, meanwhile Prost \u2013 who was headed out the McLaren exit door for Ferrari \u2013 said, \u201cto be very honest, I\u2019m quite happy to leave because it becomes absolutely impossible to work with Ayrton.\u201d<\/p>\n

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