Ayrton Senna’s big Alain Prost ‘fear’ revealed with unique McLaren solution discovered

McLaren’s Ayrton Senna races Alain Prost at the 1989 San Marino Grand Prix. Imola, April 1989.

Former McLaren co-ordinator Jo Ramírez revealed Ayrton Senna had a “fear” at McLaren, specifically that Alain Prost would be given the best car due to his longer relationship with the team and his connection with Honda.

The two greats formed one of the fiercest team-mate rivalries in Formula 1 history when they duelled at McLaren in 1988 and ’89, winning a title apiece in dominant machinery and among the backdrop of a fractious personal relationship, which later grew into one of mutual respect as their paths diverged.

Ayrton Senna McLaren ‘fear’ revealed with Alain Prost as team-mate

Ramírez was working for McLaren through the team’s most dominant period in Formula 1, with two of the sport’s greats behind the wheel, but that came with its own complications.

He said Senna in particular feared favouritism was being given to Prost, given his longer association as a McLaren driver, but the team developed a workaround whereby that would not be possible.

As for how he would set the car up, he was also sensitive to minute differences in how the car would feel underneath him, and Ramírez added the Brazilian would ask him to give him the same set-up as his team-mate to make the cars equal, and he would adjust his driving style accordingly.

Given the way their relationship at McLaren panned out, with a high-profile collision at Suzuka in 1989 eventually sending the title in Prost’s direction in controversial circumstances before his departure for Ferrari, Ramírez explained that such a pairing would be unlikely to occur again in the present day.

“I wouldn’t do it because it’s too difficult. I wouldn’t repeat a Senna-Prost,” Ramírez told Mundo Deportivo.

“The experience we had in McLaren… people think twice. I wouldn’t do it because the egos of these sportsmen at this level are very big and it’s difficult.

“For example, Ayrton always had a fear. He would tell me: ‘Alain will always have the best car because he has been with McLaren the longest, he will always have the best engine because the connection between him and Honda is so strong’.

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“And it got to the point that when we received the engines, we would tell them: ‘These are the five engines we are going to use in this Grand Prix’. And in one race Senna’s chief mechanic would choose his engines and in the other race Prost’s chief mechanic would choose his engines, and the mechanics didn’t even have a clue which one was better.

“There is always a little variation between engines… about five or eight horsepower difference… but there was no more suspicion and controversy.

“They weren’t going to complain anymore, so they knew there was no favouritism.

“As for the difference in the chassis, it was up to them to find the right set-up. Ayrton was always afraid to change any of the car’s settings because he thought it would take away from what he had already achieved.

“So, there would come a time when he would change very little. I would say to him, ‘Make a big change…. If you make small changes, you won’t notice them. He would say to me: ‘Don’t worry, I’ll notice them’.

“But they weren’t changes that were going to make a big difference, and in the end he would say to me: ‘You give me the same car as Prost’s and I’ll adapt to it’.

“And that was the virtue he had, that if he didn’t like the car and it wasn’t to his liking, he would change the way he drove and adapt to the car.”

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