Alain Prost, a four-time Formula One world champion, reflects on his intense rivalry with Ayrton Senna during the late 1980s and early 1990s. While they had numerous clashes on the track, including championship-deciding collisions, Prost says their relationship changed after he retired - they became friends and discussed their history openly. Prost remains fascinated by Senna's memory and driven personality. He also comments on the current rivalry between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, hoping the team does not intervene and lets them fight for the championship themselves.

1. sport finalC10
gulfnews.com | Saturday, October 18, 2014 | Gulf News
Prost: Ayrton
and I made a
story together
F1 legend recalls his rivalry
with the late, great brazilian
Abu Dhabi
I
t’s been 20 years since his
great rival, Ayrton Senna,
perished after a crash at
the San Marino Grand
Prix — but memories of
the Brazilian continue to stalk
Alain Prost as relentlessly as his
former foe used to pursue him
on the track.
“How often do I think of
him? Very often,” the four-time
Formula One world champion
told Gulf News in an exclusive
telephone interview. “I am in
my office at the moment and I
look on the left and I have a pic-
ture of Ayrton and myself, and
on the right I have his helmet.
[Laughs] So I cannot be without
him, because he’s part of my
history in Formula One.”
Even in his new role as co-
owner of the E.Dams Renault
team in the recently launched
Formula E series for electric
cars, the Frenchman cannot
escape the ubiquitous Senna,
as the late Brazilian’s nephew,
Bruno, is a competitor along-
side Prost’s son, Nico.
Then there is Prost-Senna
thrillingly revived in the form
of Lewis Hamilton and Nico
Rosberg’s fierce tussle for su-
premacy in the 2014 Formula
One world title race.
The Frenchman’s fero-
cious face-off with Senna still
resonates thunderously in the
hearts and minds of sports fans
due to the pair’s savage mutual
enmity, which was character-
ised by two championship-de-
ciding collisions.
These were two contrast-
ing characters: Prost, the cool
and calculating Frenchman,
known as ‘The Professor’ for
his cerebral driving approach,
and two-time world champion
Senna, the moody and mercu-
rial genius with the swarthy
good looks.
Both supremely gifted driv-
ers and among the best of all
time, they engaged in wheel-
to-wheel combat and psycho-
logical warfare of the most furi-
ous and fascinating order from
the mid-1980s to the early 90s.
Although their spats were
numerous after Senna joined
Prost at McLaren in 1988, the
acrid hostility between the
pair can be distilled in two key
incidents, which proved cru-
cial in deciding the F1 title in
either driver’s favour in 1989
and 1990.
Preferable treatment
At the Japanese Grand Prix
in 1989, Prost’s block of an
attempted pass by Senna sent
the pair spinning off the track
— but, incredibly, the Brazil-
ian resumed the race and went
on to win.
However, Senna was lat-
er disqualified and handed
a six-month suspension and
$100,000 (Dh367,000) fine,
leading him to accuse FIA pres-
ident Jean-Marie Balestre of
favouring his compatriot Prost.
The following year, by
which time Prost had left
McLaren for Ferrari due to the
pair’s shared hatred, Senna
wreaked spectacular revenge
on his nemesis by deliberately
driving into him — again at
the Japanese Grand Prix.
The Brazilian went on to win
both the race and the champi-
onship after Prost’s retirement,
with the Frenchman later fum-
ing: “What he did was disgust-
ing. He is a man without value.”
Fast forward to 2014 and
Prost, 59, is in more mellow
and reflective mood.
“Do I regret [such colli-
sions]? I never regret any-
thing,” he said. “I really
pushed very much to have Ay-
rton in my McLaren team. We
had a fantastic battle which,
physically speaking, was a lit-
tle bit tense sometimes. But, at
the end of the day, we made a
story; a story that almost eve-
ry day or every week people
talk about.”
Prost went on: “It was a
drivers’ battle, it was a hu-
man battle. We were differ-
ent, charismatic people, with
a different education and from
different generations almost.
“I can’t be unhappy about
that, because if you talk about
my history in Formula One,
you talk about Senna. When
you speak about Senna, you
talk about Prost. It’s really
fantastic.”
It’s little surprise, then, that
Prost welcomes Mercedes driv-
ers Hamilton and Rosberg’s
similarly incendiary duel — the
Briton currently leading the
German by 17 points in a pul-
sating season, during which
they have clashed on and off
the track.
“I think it’s really good for
the sport,” Prost said.
Replicating Senna
Last month, Rosberg publicly
admitted ‘an error of judge-
ment’ after a collision with
Hamilton, which forced his ri-
val off the track and helped him
win the Belgian Grand Prix.
Hamilton has since said he
could foresee himself driving
into someone deliberately if
pushed hard enough, a la his
hero Senna.
What did Prost think about
the 2008 world champion mak-
ing such a controversial state-
ment?
The Frenchman said: “I
wouldn’t make any comment
on that. You can have a sort of
comparison when you have two
teammates with the best car
fighting for the championship.
But if you start to compare per-
sonalities from memories, no
way, no way. Then we see he’s
not Ayrton and I’m not Nico.
It’s different.”
He added: “It depends which
way it ends up, if you have a
big rivalry which finishes quite
well on the sporting side. I had
two different sides of it with
Ayrton in 1988 and ‘89.
“In 1988, he won the cham-
pionship after winning one
more race, although I got
more points, but because of
the regulations he was world
champion. But we had a good,
good season and good, sport-
ing spirit.
“1989 was really a disaster.
I don’t know if it was good
for the fans, but at least they
were able to see something
dramatic. They could see that
character. I don’t know if we
can see that today because
Formula One is different and
more quiet in a way, with less
charismatic personalities.”
Prost hopes Mercedes do not
implement team orders to fa-
vour whoever takes a decisive
lead in the championship race.
He said: “What is good for
sport is people fighting un-
til the end, not being num-
ber one or number two. And
you let them fight and have
a problem sometimes. I like
the way it is and I don’t know
what’s going to happen. Every
race you can have a different
situation. I hope the team do
not make any team orders be-
fore the end of the season, as
that would be a shame.”
Prost would not be drawn
on who he thinks will clinch
the title, but said the outcome
could depend more on ‘the
psychological side than on the
performance side’.
It was in the mental depart-
ment that the calmer Prost
arguably had the edge on the
more volatile Senna, whose in-
stinctive brilliance often veered
into recklessness.
These were two antagonistic
forces colliding, then uniting,
to remain forever inextricably
linked — a remarkable case
study of the vagaries of the hu-
man condition.
Odd pairing
How could such bitter en-
emies end up becoming firm
friends after Prost retired from
F1 in 1993, to the extent that the
Frenchman was a pallbearer at
Senna’s funeral?
Prost said their tensions
eased when he retired, adding
that they had enjoyed many
deep discussions about the past
and issues in their sport, such
as safety concerns.
Did they discuss the 1989
and 1990 episodes and offer
apologies and explanations?
“Oh yeah, for sure,” Prost
replied. “We talked about eve-
rything. But it was more of a
laugh than reproach. Did he
admit he drove into me delib-
erately in 1990? Yeah, yeah,
for sure. He did that publicly
and the year after. It was part
of his personality.”
Such heart-to-hearts also
revealed just how ardent and
all-consuming Senna’s desire
to outperform him had been.
“When I stopped racing
in Adelaide [at the Australian
Grand Prix] in 1993, the rela-
tions with Ayrton were com-
pletely different,” said Prost.
“I understood very clearly that
his main motivation, before he
arrived in Formula One, was re-
ally myself.
“When I stopped and we
were on the last podium, it was
really unbelievable [to hear
him] saying he would be bored
without me and not find the
same motivation. Then slowly,
with different discussions, I
understood why he was so ag-
gressive and like this.
“It was his challenge, the
way he was thinking and al-
most living. You can forgive
different things when you learn
things.”
But was his raging will to win
ultimately destructive?
“He had his different think-
ing and different way of look-
ing at things,” said Prost. “I still
think of him as different and
very special.”
Memories of the brooding
Brazilian are myriad and read-
ily spring to mind for Prost —
but their last encounter is his
most abiding one, a fitting end
to a tumultuous journey from
feuding teammates to broth-
ers in arms.
“I went to see him in the ga-
rage just before the [San Ma-
rino] race,” he recalled. “He
was doing some stretching and
he’d said to me: ‘Please come
and see me in the garage’. He
was alone and we had that last
discussion.
“And that is really a moment
I will never forget.”
Later that fateful day on May
1, 1994, Senna’s Williams spun
out of control and hit the track
wall during the San Marino
Grand Prix.
Despite strenuous efforts to
save his life, one of the most
revered drivers of his genera-
tion due to his innate driving
skills, charm and honesty, suc-
cumbed to severe brain inju-
ries, leaving sports fans world-
wide paralysed with shock and
anguish.
Few ached as much as Prost,
though, who said: “Don’t forget
that I was also doing the com-
mentary for French TV at the
same time. It was really, really a
very difficult moment.”
By Euan Reedie
Chief Sports Writer
— Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi
F
ormula One legend Alain Prost is vigor-
ously opposed to the final grand prix of
the season, in Abu Dhabi, offering dou-
ble-points to the winner for the first time.
However, Prost also expressed his love of
the capital’s Yas Marina Circuit, which will
host the F1 finale between November 21 and
23, praising its special ambience.
The venue will celebrate its sixth grand
prix since its inauguration in 2009 by being
the scene of a potential championship decider
between Mercedes rivals Lewis Hamilton and
Nico Rosberg, the Briton leading the German
by just 17 points with three races to go.
But Prost told Gulf News in an exclusive in-
terview that he doesn’t “like it at all” that 50
points, as opposed to the normal 25, will be
on offer for the winner.
The Frenchman said: “From the begin-
ning, I always said that I don’t like that at
all. I don’t think it’s good to have this kind
of artificial rule.
“But, when it is decided, you need to
stay positive, although if you asked me to
vote for it, I would never do it. Everybody
is talking about the double points, though,
which could keep the suspense going until
the very end.
“But, on the other hand, is it good
for the sport having just one race hav-
ing more importance than the oth-
ers?”
Prost says he does not want to miss
the Abu Dhabi GP, however, and is
planning to fly there straight after
his commitments with the E.Dams
Renault Formula E team, who will
be racing in Kuala Lumpur, Malay-
sia, the day before.
“I love it,” he said. “I honestly
love to go there. It will be really
nice. I like the track. I like the way
they have done it.
“I’ve been every year except
the first year. All the other years I
could see the importance of the gen-
eral ambience around the track and
around the race.”
Prost not in favour of Formula 1
double-points system
By Euan Reedie
Chief Sports Writer – Abu Dhabi
rule change
Inseparable
■■ Ayrton Senna (left) and
Alain Prost became
bitter rivals when the
former joined the
Frenchman at McLaren
in 1988, but they became
firm friends when Prost
retired from Formula
One in 1993.
Rex Features
Alain Prost | F1 legend
❝What is good for sport is people fighting until
the end, not being number one or number two.
And you let them fight and have a problem
sometimes…”