When Ayrton Senna met Alain Prost

After becoming teammates at McLaren in 1988, their battles for the drivers’ world championship dominated Formula One until Prost retired in 1993, when they continued to be close friends.

Four-times world champion Prost and three-times winner Senna will go down in history as the most famous drivers of all time, whose racetrack rivalry at its peak was witnessed by an estimated 32 billion television viewers worldwide.

Tragically, their friendship came to an untimely end when Senna died in 1994, aged 34, following a horrific crash during the Italian Grand Prix on one of motorsport’s darkest days.

Senna early career

For Ayrton Senna, Formula One represented the pinnacle of a 21-year motor racing career that began in São Paulo, Brazil, when he was 13. Born in 1960, the son of factory owner Milton and his wife Neide Senna da Silva, he had his first toy car at three years old. At seven, he was taught to drive a jeep by his father, who later built him a kart, which he began racing at Interlagos.

From 1981, Senna worked his way up through Formula Ford 1600 to F3, winning the 1983 British Formula Three Championship. His F1 career began in 1983 as a test driver for several teams, until he was snapped up by the relatively new Toleman Motorsport team; he drove his first race in Rio de Janeiro at the 1984 Brazilian Grand Prix.

Senna and Prost first meeting

Alain Prost, born in Loire, France, in 1955 to furniture store owners André and Marie-Rose Prost, was a talented all-round athlete in his youth. He considered a career as a professional footballer before discovering kart racing at 14.

After winning many races, he became a full-time kart driver in 1974, aged 19, before moving to the French Formula Renault series in 1976. Winning the French F3 championship in 1978, Prost made his debut with the McLaren F1 team in 1980.

When Ayrton Senna met Alain Prost in 1984, at the ages of 24 and 29 respectively, both were ambitious F1 drivers hungry for victory. Prost had been sent to pick up Senna from the airport to take him to the Nürburgring racetrack in Germany, later saying they “got along well”. During the race, Prost took the lead, but their rivalry started early on the track, with Senna claiming, “After half a lap, he pushed me off!”

During an interview in 2017, Prost said it was clear that Senna had a “special talent” and was “very tough on the track” from the word go, but despite their rivalry, they were friends who got on well outside motorsport.

Formula One 1989 season

Prost admitted his friendship with Senna began to unravel after they became teammates at McLaren in 1988, as it was difficult to be friends when they had such intense rivalry on the track. In 1989, during the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola, Italy, their relationship “disintegrated”, according to Prost.

With Senna qualifying in pole position and Prost second on the grid, they agreed not to “fight” at the first corner and to just see who got there first. However, the race was stopped after Austrian driver Gerhard Berger crashed.

As the race restarted, Prost got ahead on the first corner, only for Senna to overtake him. Prost felt his teammate had broken their earlier agreement, but Senna denied this, as it was a restart and not technically the start. Prost said it created a “bad atmosphere” as they headed to Suzuka Grand Prix in Japan at the end of the year. He was ahead of Senna on points and told the team he didn’t intend “opening the door any more” to do his teammate any favours.

However, with Prost in the lead, he and Senna collided at the chicane as the Italian tried to overtake. This effectively ended Senna’s championship hopes, leading to accusations that Prost had orchestrated the accident deliberately to scupper his rival’s chances – something he has always denied. “I didn’t want to finish the race like that,” Prost said later, claiming he simply hadn’t intended leaving Senna even a one-metre gap.

1990 Japanese Grand Prix

The rematch at Suzuka one year later was the scene of Senna’s controversial revenge. Once again, the rivals were battling for the championship, with Prost having joined Ferrari by this time. “Into the first corner, Senna drove into the back of me,” Prost told reporters. “He later admitted he did it on purpose.”

Following the controversial race, Prost and Senna spoke of the incident, with Senna saying it was “not how he wanted it”. Prost was infuriated, believing it was deliberate, and said he felt like retiring from F1 afterwards because he was so upset. Finally, in 1991, Senna admitted that crashing into Prost had been deliberate, as it was payback for the 1989 Suzuka incident.

During their illustrious careers, Prost won the F1 world championship in 1985, 1986, 1989, and 1993, and Senna won in 1988, 1990 and 1991. They finally managed to overcome their differences and became friends again.

How did Ayrton Senna die?

After Prost announced he planned to retire, “everything changed completely” with Senna. The tension between the two drivers evaporated, and when Prost won his final world championship in Adelaide, Australia, in November 1993, he was congratulated by Senna, who hugged him on the podium. “After that, we spoke on the phone,” Prost said, recalling they had a conversation about safety in F1 – something they intended to discuss further at Imola, where the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix was taking place between 28th April and 1st May.

However, a major tragedy occurred at Imola when Austrian driver rookie Roland Ratzenberger suffered a fatal accident during the qualifying session on 30th April. Prost said that on the morning of the race on 1st May, Senna was “very down” and they agreed to speak again the following week. Sadly, this never happened, as Senna was killed during the race as he rounded the Tamburello high-speed corner on lap seven, when his car smashed into the concrete wall at 145mph.

At the racing legend’s funeral on 5th May 1994, Prost and fellow F1 drivers Emerson Fittipaldi and Jackie Stewart were among the pall bearers at São Paulo’s Morumbi cemetery. Discussing his relationship with Senna in an interview, Prost, now 69, said, “Whatever our problems, one thing that never changed was our respect for each other as drivers.”

Lessons of competitiveness, sportsmanship and respect were learned, as Prost said with hindsight, if he could do it all again, he would say to Senna, “Listen, we’re the best: between us, we can beat all the others!”

A celebration of Senna’s life is still held every year, while the UK premiere of the documentary film, Senna, in June 2011 led to a meeting in London of F1 greats past and present at the Curzon Mayfair Cinema as a mark of respect for the late champion.