For many Formula 1 lovers, the 80s were the best in history. Comparisons are impossible, but The Ayrton Senna-Alain Prost duel had epic touches. Because, furthermore, it was a time in which also Pilots such as Nigel Mansell (1992 champion), Nelson Piquet (monarch 1981, 1983 and 1987), and Niki Lauda (1975, 1977 and 1984) met on the track. With other names, who did not win titles, but left their mark, such as Jean Alesi and Gerhard Berger. But the flashes went to Senna and Prost.
Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost marked an era in Formula 1. AP
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The war between the two crossed all barriers. The Frenchman had the full support of Jean-Marie Balestre, who presided over FISA and the FIA. The first battle was at the 1984 Monaco GP, when, under a deluge, Senna managed to advance to the lead with a humble Toleman, overtaking Prost, who asked for a red flag to stop everything. The Doctor’s wish was order, the one-lap classification before the suspension was taken as the final and the Frenchman was the winner.
The most critical clashes were when they shared a team in McLaren, with the tremendous tournaments of 1988 and 1989, and the two crashes in Japan (1989 and 1990, with Prost already in Ferrari). Formula 1 was fueled by the duel between them.
The 1994 season began without Prost, who after a 1992 sabbatical, had returned to win his fourth title in 1993 with Williams. Ayrton had everything arranged with Frank Williams to join Grove’s team in 1993, but the Doctor made it a condition of signing the contract that Senna not be his partner. The Englishman accepted and the Brazilian had to wait a year. Ayrton’s death in Imola left the category without its great figures in a very short time.
It took a lot for Formula 1 to recover. The emergence of Michael Schumacher was key for F1. Williams replaced Senna with Damon Hill, a great driver, but far from Ayrton’s talent and personality. The sweetened Schumi-Hill battle was the duel that inherited post-Senna-Prost attention, but it was short-lived.
From F1 they paid for the arrival of Jacques Villeneuve, an illustrious surname in the category. Gilles’s son arrived in 1996, was champion in 1997, had duels with Schumi, but he was not enough to cover the gap left by Prost’s retirement and the death of Senna.
Many years passed, they had duels (Mika Hakkinen-Schumacher, Fernando Alonso-Schumi, Alonso-Lewis Hamilton, Hamilton-Nico Rosberg, Hamilton-Sebastian Vettel, Hamilton-Max Verstappen), but they never reached the level of Prost-Senna, two idols , who probably would not have been what they were without each other.
“When I retired, I talked a lot with Senna. He called me a lot. Sometimes even twice a week. I felt like he wasn’t right. When we were racing he never called me. But without me he was kind of disoriented. Maybe I was his motivation,” said the Frenchman many years later.