Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna’s rivalry remains the fiercest and iconic in F1’s history. The Frenchman and the Brazilian were teammates at McLaren between 1988 and 1989. McLaren, who Honda powered, was the most dominant team of the era.
Although Prost was already a 2-time champion, Senna pipped him to win his first championship in 1988. The Brazilian also won in style, claiming 8 wins and 13 pole positions. Prost could only secure 7 victories and 2 poles, which proved the Brazilian’s superior pace in the McLaren-Honda setup.
However, the Frenchman was not having it. Being the more experienced and accomplished duo driver, he wanted to remain the team’s ‘Number 1’ driver status. And when he realized he wasn’t having his way, the 2x champion added fuel to the fire, leading to a fiery exit in 1989.
Alain Prost was aware of Ayrton Senna’s superior speed
Ayrton Senna’s former teammate Gerhard Berger revealed the true cause of Alain Prost’s exit from McLaren in 1989. The Austrian claims the Frenchman did not know how to handle the 1988 championship loss to the Brazilian.
Berger told Business F1, “If you have someone like Ayrton or Schumacher as your team-mate then there are different ways you can handle it.” The Austrian claims after the 1988 season, everyone realized the true potential of Senna.
He added, “At that time Ayrton was the best and everyone knew that. Alain was in the same car and knew he couldn’t beat Ayrton in speed terms, so he realised quite quickly that pace couldn’t compensate.”
The McLaren-Honda car suited the Brazilian’s driving style more than the Frenchman’s. Although they were closely matched on track, Senna was faster at a one-lap pace than his teammate.
According to Berger’s statements, the Frenchman started becoming envious of Senna’s pace. Although Prost could have sorted the entire issue amicably with his team, the Frenchman decided to make the entire situation political. Soon, it was certain that the two drivers could not continue as teammates.
Prost made the situation political in McLaren
According to Gerhard Berger, When Alain Prost knew he could not match Ayrton Senna‘s speed, he started turning the team against him. He started to blame the team and the car, even Ron Dennis, for favoring Senna over him.
Prost could have resolved the situation, Berger claimed. “At that point, he had the chance to say ‘Okay, I’ll find my level and work at that, and get the team working with me,’” he clarified.
He added, “But he refused to accept the situation so it all became political.” “He found fault with everything, and didn’t hesitate to allocate blame,” the Austrian continued.
Prost started accusing Senna of “dangerous driving.” He accused McLaren of favoring Senna’s car, claiming he had only 5 mechanics tending to his car compared to 20 working on the other side of the garage. Prost even claimed the Honda V10s on his car weren’t delivering the same output as his teammates. The off-track drama and the on-track rivalry widened the rift between the duo.
Berger added, “It caused a lot of aggravation, which was a problem for Ayrton, as he knew he was the best and Alain was simply finding fault. It was clear there was going to be a big explosion.”
Subsequently, during the 1989 Italian GP Prost joined Ferrari next season. The 1989 season ended with another controversy, with Senna losing the title to Prost in the penultimate race in Japan.
