“He must be prepared to race anybody” – When Ayrton Senna called his archrival a ‘coward’

Ayrton Senna called his archrival a ‘coward’ in 1992 and called him for not being sportive and fighting the championship on equal terms.

The feud between Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost is not a mystery to the F1 world. Both the drivers were two of the greatest of their time having fought several battles between 1988 and 1993.

Amid the several controversies that the two drivers enjoyed was the one where Senna said that Prost is not putting up a fair fight.

Senna and Prost raced together in McLaren for two seasons during which time the Frenchman accused McLaren of favouring Senna. He said that the Brazillian had a better relationship with Honda. He believed that Senna’s car was more competitive than his own.

Prost had argued that this was confirmed to him by the CEO of Honda when Prost travelled to Japan. Following this season, Prost announced that he had signed to race for Ferrari.

Having raced for two seasons in an inferior Ferrari, Prost took a sabbatical in 1992. Ferrari fired him for publicly criticizing the car and the team. Meanwhile, Senna struggled as McLaren was no longer at the top of its performance and was in a tough battle with the Williams.

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An infuriated Ayrton Senna

The Frenchman then decided to come back to the sport and announced his return with the dominating Williams F1 team. Senna also wanted to join the Williams team in 1992 as they were the most competitive.

But the Frenchman had a clause in his contract that excluded Senna as a teammate. During a conference, Senna said that this was a cowardly move by Prost.

Ayrton Senna was never backwards in coming forward, expressing his views on the return of rival Alain Prost for the 1993 #F1 season and calling him “a coward”.#McLaren #Senna pic.twitter.com/clloMHMCSB

— McLaren F1 Nation (@McLarenF1Nation) November 20, 2019

He said, “I think if Prost wants to be called the sole champion, three-times world champion, come back in a sportive way, maybe win another championship, he should be sportive.”

“The way he’s doing, he’s behaving like a coward. And if he wants to be sportive, he must be prepared to race anybody, at any condition, at equal terms,” he added.

Also Read: F1 fans remember three-time World Champion Ayrton Senna on his 28th death anniversary