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<strong>Ayrton Senna Special:</strong> Part 30 - Problems at the team - Perfect start despite a loss in Rio (1989)

Ayrton Senna Special: Part 30 - Problems at the team - Perfect start despite a loss in Rio (1989)

Published on 23 Apr 2019 15:00
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By: Fergal Walsh

McLaren switched to Honda V10 engines in the winter of 1988/1989. The new Honda engine was the answer to the change in the regulations for 1989. Turbo cars were banned and the Japanese manufacturer decided to start developing the Honda RA109-E during the 1987 season. The car, the MP4/5, saw its debut during the pre-season tests and was immediately up to speed. The car was also reliable.

Brazil

Ayrton was determined to win his home race for the first time. He knew exactly what it would take to achieve this: "Apart from speed, the car must be well balanced and reliable as the circuit is very demanding and the heat will be almost unbearable".

During qualifying, Ayrton drove to his career 30th pole position. Ricardo Patrese drove the Williams Renault to second place on the grid and was almost one second slower. Teammate Alain Prost didn't get any further than fifth place, and his gap was 1.470 seconds. It was clear that Ayrton had not only come to his home country to win the Grand Prix, but also to lay the foundations for his second world title.

At the start, Patrese was just a bit faster away than Ayrton, and at first it looked like Patrese let the car come in a bit and Ayrton had to make a move to the right. This was not the case. The Brazilian media blamed Patrese for the collision Ayrton had with Gerhard Berger's Ferrari, but this was not an objective judgement of the South Americans.

Senna pinched Berger and James Hunt, commentator at the BBC, explained in detail to the viewer what went wrong: "Berger came to sit next to Senna and at that moment Senna made a move to the right. That's out of order and he sees himself mangled". Ayrton lost his front wing and then entered the pits. His chances of a good result were gone and Mansell finally won the race. "It's a pity to have an accident like this because our car was very good. The MP4-5 is competitive and reliable. I think we can prove this in San Marino", Ayrton said after the race.

San Marino (1st battle)

Upon arrival in Italy, Ayrton received a grand welcome from the Tifosi. It was a special occasion for a non-Ferrari driver to get so much applause from the Italian stands. On the straight, there was a flag saying: "Senna i tifosi de Napoli te espettano Ferrari 90" (Senna, the fans of Napoli expect you at Ferrari in 1990 Ferrari).

It had been clear for some time that Ferrari's team boss Cesaro Fiorio was impressed by the Brazilian. On the track Ayrton again achieved pole position with a 0.225 second lead over Alain Prost. Prior to the start, according to Alain Prost, a pact was made between Ayrton and Prost. The first person to go through the first corner would win the race.

The start on Sunday was for Ayrton. He took the lead with Prost in second place. On the fourth lap Gerhard Berger crashed at Tamburello. The heavy crash caused the car to catch fire and the race was stopped. Berger was taken out of the car and taken to the hospital with broken ribs and second-degree burns. After a delay of almost one hour, the race was restarted.

At this restart, Prost took the lead but Ayrton came slowly to Villeneuve. He caught up with Prost and took the lead. The time of the first laps would be counted in the final score. Ayrton's overtaking action at Prost would eventually go down in the books as 'the beginning of the war'. The Frenchman indicated afterwards that Senna had broken the 'pact' by overtaking him after Prost was in the lead after the first turn.

According to Ayrton, this was not the case, because the 'pact' would only apply to the first start. As the race had already started, both were free to race. From that moment on the Frenchman was on the warpath. Senna had an easy race from the moment he passed Prost, he drove away from his teammate by 40 seconds and put the rest of the field on one lap. Prost was lucky enough to spin, but not to get stuck in the gravel pit.

"Alain put some pressure on at the start of the race, but I got into my rhythm and opened a six-second gap. After he spun off the track, there was no more pressure from behind", Ayrton explained after the race.

Monaco

The dominance during the qualification for the Monaco Grand Prix in 1988 turned out to be no coincidence. Ayrton's pole position lap of that year has been turned into 'art' over the years, but the pole-lap of 1989 was also there. In a direct fight with Alain Prost, Ayrton was more than one second faster. The next non-McLaren car was Thierry Boutsen's Williams who was two seconds down.

It was therefore not surprising that Ayrton wanted to strike back after his dramatic race in 1988. It was the sixth pole position in a row. The start was postponed due to an issue for Derek Warwick, but before long, all drivers were ready for the second start. While Ayrton had a lot of trouble getting away in the previous Grands Prix, this time it wasn't the case.

After an excellent start Ayrton quickly left Prost. During the race, Ayrton managed to avoid the problems with the remaining riders in a smart way. Prost on the other hand had more problems. During long periods in the race the Frenchman couldn't choose the right points to pass the backmarkers. Prost was stuck several times and that resulted in a 52-second gap at the finish line. The biggest cause of this delay was not only the clumsiness in catching up, but also a blockage in the Loews Hairpin by Andrea de Cesaris and Nelson Piquet. The McLaren driver lost a lot of time because of this. In a race that had no pitstops, Senna was clearly the king of Monaco.

Ayrton left no room for speculation as to whether he was ready for a second title. Even with a broken second gear, a problem Ayrton had at the beginning of the race, it was clear that the Brazilian was not reachable. It would be the first of five consecutive victories at Monaco. For the rest of his (too short) life, the Brazilian has won in the principality. "Given the problems I had with the gearbox, this is a great result", Ayrton said.

"I lost my first gear and five laps later I lost my second gear. Then I changed my driving style with the tools I had available. I then had to keep my speed to show Prost what I was doing", Ayrton said. After the race, Prost and Senna were tied for the championship. Prost scored three-second places, Senna two first places. Ayrton was ahead of Prost in terms of points, as his two victories would count for more than Prost's three-second places.

Mexico (matching Jim Clark's record)

The 33rd pole position came in Mexico, a match of Jim Clark's record. Ayrton's pole time was 0.408 seconds slower than his 1988 pole position time, but 0.897 seconds faster than Alain Prost's time. Gerhard Berger, who made his comeback after the crash in Tamburello, qualified in sixth place. Ayrton stated that he was happy to see Berger back in the car. It would be the first basis of a long friendship between the two drivers.

At the start Ayrton took the lead, followed by Mansell and Berger. The Ferraris were on the McLaren's heels and teammate Prost was fourth at the first corner. On the first lap there was a crash in which Stefano Modena and Olivier Grouillard were involved. The organisation decided on a red flag. The race was stopped and every driver was able to regain his original grid position. This was good news for Prost who had a bad start.

At the second start Ayrton took the lead again. Ayrton was not happy with the procedure, as he thought that Prost should have started from fourth place. It became clear then that there was more going on between the two. While in Monaco there was still talk of a reconciliation meeting, in Mexico there was no truth to that. Ayrton had to have his 'psychological warfare' with Prost on the same level as the Frenchman.

After all, it was clear how brutally Prost could deal with his teammates. At the beginning of the race Prost was able to keep up with the pace as the Frenchman had started on a softer compound tyre. However, he couldn't keep up and at the end of the race Prost declared that he had doubts about the Honda V10 engine he had in comparison with Ayrton. Prost did get out of the last corner faster each time, but Ayrton always managed to stay ahead of the Frenchman on the straight. By being stuck behind Ayrton for a long time Prost smoked his tyres.

In the end he got the pits and the team gave him a new set of soft tyres. Prost had indicated by radio that he wanted to switch to the hard tyre. Prost then came in again to have the right tyres fitted. His race was lost. Ayrton won the race by fifteen seconds ahead of Ricardo Patrese's Williams and half a minute ahead of Michele Alboreto's Tyrrell. Prost finished fifth in almost one minute.

After the Grand Prix, Ron Dennis apologised. The British team boss was of the opinion that McLaren had made a mistake and ruined Prost's race. Prost made the statement that he doubted whether he was in the right place at McLaren. The Frenchman insinuated that Senna would be given 'priority' by McLaren and Honda. All in all, Ayrton had a great day as his friend Emerson Fittipaldi won his first Indianapolis 500. During the interview after the race, Ayrton joked when asked why he had started so well at the Mexican Grand Prix: "The answer is simple, I was prepared for three restarts". With his victory, Ayrton took a big lead in the championship. His 27 points were seven more than his direct competitor, but assuming that the title fight of 1988 would repeat itself, the score would be 3-0 in terms of the number of victories.