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<strong> Ayrton Senna Special:</strong> Part 29 - The beginning of an era - The first world title (1988)

Ayrton Senna Special: Part 29 - The beginning of an era - The first world title (1988)

Published on 22 Apr 2019 19:00
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By: Fergal Walsh

After four consecutive victories the Formula 1 world was able to write down a number of statistics. Ayrton's pole position in Belgium was the ninth in eleven races, putting him on the same level as the world champions Niki Lauda and Nelson Piquet. It was also his 25th pole position in the eighties.

Knocked out of the race by Schlesser

During the Italian Grand Prix Ayrton was back on pole position as usual. His time of 1:25.974 was 2.514 seconds slower than that of Nelson Piquet in 1987. Prost was second in qualifying, the gap 0.303 seconds. Again Prost took over the lead from Ayrton at the start, but Ayrton regained first place within one lap. After that it was business as usual, Senna drove away and Prost followed. On the 34th lap the Frenchman saw his McLaren-Honda fail with an engine problem.

It was McLaren's first time that year it was out of the race due to mechanical problems. Ayrton seemed to be aiming for a victory without any threat until he caught sight of the rear of Jean-Marie Schlesser. Schlesser, then test rider at Williams, had his first Grand Prix start. It would be a memorable experience for the Frenchman as he hit Ayrton, who was winning, off the track. McLaren's dream of winning all the races in 1988 came to a brutal end. Berger and Alboreto gave the Italians an emotional gift with a one-two finish. It was the first Grand Prix without Scuderia Ferrari president and founding Enzo Ferrari.

At McLaren, this Grand Prix is known as 'The one that got away'.

McLaren legend Neil Trundle, also known from the Formula 3 championship in which Ayrton drove in 1983, gave his vision of the story at a later stage. "There was a rumour that Alain knew that he would fall out and therefore the pressure on Ayrton would increase. People came up with a theory that Prost was chasing Ayrton so that Ayrton was left without gasoline at the end of the race. Unfortunately this story is not correct!

"Honda drove another NGK Spark plug at Monza in 1988, the reason I don't know. During the race, Alain lost one of his cylinders. He came into the pits and it was clear that overheating was the cause of his failure. This caused the spark plug to break down. We then ordered Ayrton by radio to make the mixture richer and keep the plugs cooler. The whole thing was different from what we normally got from Honda, she rarely if ever made these mistakes. You could say that Alain really lost the chance to win a world title there, even though it wasn't his fault."

Moderate results in Portugal and Spain

Ayrton's car was not suited at Portugal and after qualifying on Friday he got out with a sour face. He didn't speak much and on Saturday things didn't go much better. Ayrton was not in the best mood at the time. It actually got worse when he had to concede pole position to teammate Prost. In the race, in which he finished fifth, there was little honour to be gained. Prost won and dominated the Grand Prix. With five victories the Frenchman came a little closer to Ayrton. In terms of points, the Frenchman had overtaken Ayrton, yet Ayrton remained the best statistically, as seven victories were still two more than Alain Prost.

In Spain he managed to get the pole position ahead of Prost with a 0.067 second lead. In a race where again he couldn't convince, he finished in fourth place. Prost had found a better setup for the race and dominated the race again. It meant that the battle for the championship was completely open. Ayrton seemed to have declared at the end of the race that he couldn't see how much fuel his car had left on board. As the race unfolded, the difference between the set-up of the cars seemed to be getting bigger and bigger. However, after the Spanish Grand Prix he was only one Grand Prix victory away from the title.

The impossible race at Suzuka

It is not difficult to understand that the Japanese public has enormous respect for Ayrton Senna. It would be the first title fight between Ayrton and Alain, both equipped with the impressive Honda V6 engines. It was also the last time that the Japanese could see the dominant Honda V6 engine at work. While the championship was decided in 1987 by the crash of Nigel Mansell, the Japanese hoped that Ayrton Senna would conquer the title in Honda's home country.

Ayrton had won seven races before the race at Suzuka. Prost had six victories. At the start of the penultimate Grand Prix Prost had to win to keep his chances of winning the title in his own hands. If that didn't happen Prost would still have an escape in Australia, only under the condition that Senna wouldn't win the race.

In practice Senna showed that he was capable of anything. In the first free practice session he was 1.6 seconds faster than Prost. During qualifying he set a new record: It became the twelfth pole position in one season, an achievement that no other driver had achieved so far. Prost, however, remained close, but a three-tenths difference was a significant gap in similar cars. The first row of the grid also reflected the season as a whole: Senna first, Prost second.

Senna's McLaren couldn't get away at the start. Waving his arms, he hoped he wouldn't be hit by the cars that started behind him. Besides the fact that Ayrton wasn't hit by any of the other drivers, he was lucky that the straight on Suzuka is on a downward slope. He managed to restart his McLaren and started, in the midfield, his race. From 14th place he had to try to get back to the front of the race.

Prost took the lead and everything seemed lost to the Brazilian. On the first lap Ayrton caught up with six drivers, in the second lap followed by catching up with Patrese and Nannini. It meant that Ayrton was already in the points after two laps. On the third lap he picked up Thierry Boutsen and passed Michele Alboreto on the next lap. At that moment the Brazilian was only twelve seconds behind Prost. Ayrton was fullly again in the battle for the championship.

At the end of the tenth lap Ayrton passed Gerhard Berger and was third. It was only Ivan Capelli in the March-Judd who drove between him and the chance for the world title. Ayrton tried to get closer when he saw that it started to rain. Prost and Capelli arrived at the backmarkers and lost precious time. This allowed Ayrton to join the Italian. Ayrton passed Capelli at the end of the 20th lap and from then on became a fixture in the Prost rear-view mirror. The rain finally stopped in Suzuka and it started to look like there was a direct fight for the world title. Ayrton followed Prost for a number of laps and finally saw his chance on the 28th lap. Ayrton prepared his attack on the straight of the pit lane and finished his most spectacular overtaking action of the day.

The Frenchman spent the rest of the race behind the Brazilian, but he couldn't catch him. Ayrton managed to widen the gap between him and Prost and finished thirteen seconds ahead of his French teammate. Ayrton's first world title was sealed. Ayrton's victory ensured that the title remained in Brazil. The title tasted even better with the idea that he had dethroned his 'nemesis' Nelson Piquet. It was the sixth world title for the South-American country, three were won by Nelson Piquet and two by good friend Emerson Fittipaldi.

"Luckily it's over, it's been a long season", Ayrton said after the race. "I think it has been a fierce battle for me and Alain. There was also a lot of pressure. It was very difficult. I still can't believe it." Prost congratulated Ayrton on his title: "I'm happy for Ayrton. I am disappointed in how the championship has developed. I was comfortably in the lead of the race until I had problems with the gearbox and the backmarkers. I lost a lot of time there. After that I couldn't keep up with it, I had gearbox problems. In the end I gave up when the rain came. Ayrton has had a fantastic season."