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Originally Posted by Oran Park Forever
'At the time', it was very apparent to me (personally) as I was fortunate enough to meet Ayrton, twice in 1990.
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It was to me Oran, I'd met him at Silverstone tyre tests, so only brief.
But I was referring to the wider public. I have been attending every British GP meeting and tyre tests since 1982. In the UK, Senna didn't have the biggest following. Racing the national hero Mansell, vetoing Warwick from Lotus, taking on a politically savvy adversary at Mclaren, being intensely passionate about his work, all these conspired against him during his racing life.
In 1992, and 1993, some of the fans banners were shameful, language and sentiment...
Yet, weeks after his death, everyone at Silverstone was wearing Senna "S" t-shirts, wearing Nacional caps, flying Brazilian flags. I found their discovery of Senna quite sickening really.
So much of what we see colours our views, I wasn't surprised to hear so many wonderful stories of Senna, he was truly humble and I think people didn't see that as he was this international superstar.
But the clues were there.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Oran Park Forever
Agreed, they were close but in so many other ways they were poles apart.
One angle I find intriguing is the way Senna & Prost left each of their respective teams during their careers.
With Prost, he left no doubt about his acrimony toward Renault in '83 & McLaren in '89. Ferrari didn't even give him the pleasure in '91 & his final races for each didn't exactly endeer him either.
The only happy ending was with Williams in '93 although one can suggest that it was due to his 'master plan' working exactly as he planned.
With Senna however, it can be said that each team would much rather he stayed. Even in '84 after the mid year bust up (over Lotus), Toleman were revelling in Senna's results, complete with a farewell podium.
Again with Lotus, even though he was heading for greener pastures, Senna fought for every place till year's end, finishing with a (later DSQ) 2nd in Adelaide.
Ayrton's final race for McLaren is played out majestically on the superb "Season with McLaren" doco. To hear the team's comments (especially Jo Ramirez) on how it will be without him certainly proved Senna as a team player........with the icing on the cake being one of his best victories as a farewell gift.
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What a great point. It's true, the teams hated losing Senna.
Toleman punished Senna by withdrawing him from Monza 1984 becaue he signed for Lotus.
I read the book about Senna's Lotus years. In Brazil 86, he told Warr, the boss, that he wanted Honda engines, otherwise he would look elsewhere.
Because of what he brought to the teams, Warr went out and got Honda engines.
At Mclaren, in 1991, he got in the car, new V12 Honda engine and he said before the season began, that the team and engine hadn't moved forward enough. There was no anger, they just knew he was pushing for more. He was proven right also.
Prost, I heard, was sacked by Renault, not only because of his criticism of the team, but because he'd been having an affair with Dudot's wife, him being the Renault boss.
He complained about Honda engines and equality, and he gave the Mclaren trophy to Ferrari fans off the podium, not team personel. It's written in Mclaren's contracts, that drivers have to give over their winning trophy to the team. Prost angered Ron Dennis over this. It was spiteful.
I wouldn't say Prost's final races with Williams were particularly happy. He was being forced to leave because Williams had signed Senna earlier that season.
Prost's master plan forced Mansell out for 1993, and Renault bosses said at the beginnning of the 1993 season, how great it would be to have a French WDC, hardly supportive of D.Hill.