Michael Schumacher was not impressed by Ayrton Senna’s antics at the Brazilian Grand Prix during the 1992 season.
Williams dominated going into the 1992 season with their Renault-powered engine and superior technology. Michael Schumacher’s Benetton was still six-tenths slower than Ayrton Senna’s McLaren MP4/7a.
Brazillian Grand Prix would eventually turn out to be William’s third 1-2 with their dominating FW-14B car. Senna driving in his home race was determined to get perform at a superior level.
William’s duo Nigel Mansell and Riccardo Patrese qualified ahead of Micheal Schumacher and Senna. The duo would eventually win the race, but it was the Schumacher – Senna battle that would remain in fans’ memories.
Right after the start of the race, Senna was already encountering problems with his McLaren and the lap times were getting slower. His quickest lap was 21st fastest with just 26 cars in the race.
Schumacher battles Senna’s ill-fated McLaren
As the lap times were getting slower, Senna held Schumacher, Jean Alesi, and Martin Brundle. There was a misfire in Senna’s Honda V12 engine that slowed the laps down.
The upcoming German talent rode his Benetton B-191 ahead of Senna with the understanding that the Brazilian was slow. However, Senna reclaimed the third position after overtaking Schumacher on turn 1.
Also Read: How Brazillian legend Ayrton Senna made his way into Formula One
Schumacher would eventually take the third position going into lap 10. He was already 30 seconds behind the Williams duo going into the 71 laps race.
Meanwhile, Brazil’s own beloved Ayrton Senna retired on lap 17 after both Alesi and Brundle passed by the three-times world champion.
Furious Michael Schumacher describes Senna’s antics
After the race, Schumacher shared his displeasure over Senna’s shenanigans. He felt that the Brazilian should’ve let him pass before so that he could fight with the Williams duo.
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Schumacher said: “After 10 laps or so, he [Senna] started to play a game with me. He knew that he could not finish the race. For the first 10 laps, he was going as fast as he could but then just made it very difficult for me to overtake. He braked in the slow corner, and then accelerated and drove away on the straight.”
In conclusion, the third-place finisher was furious at the way the McLaren driver challenged him for the position. He added: “Eventually when he allowed me to overtake him, he slipstreamed me and overtook me. This kind of driving gave the others close behind me the opportunity to overtake me and I feel upset about this.”
