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<strong>Ayrton Senna Special:</strong> Part 31 - Problems at the team - A dip in the championship at an early stage (1989)

Ayrton Senna Special: Part 31 - Problems at the team - A dip in the championship at an early stage (1989)

Published on 23 Apr 2019 20:00
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By: Fergal Walsh

With a seven-point lead and three victories so far in the season, Ayrton travelled to the new street circuit of Phoenix. Phoenix hosted the United States Grand Prix in 1989 after the contract with Detroit was dissolved. After Mexico and the United States, Canada would be the third race in the series of American races.

United States (The beginning of the Honda problems)

Although the deal of the Grand Prix in Phoenix came about late, on January 13th, 1989, it was logistically no problem to fit in the race. Phoenix would serve as a stopover in 1989 for the Mexican and Canadian Grands Prix. Before 1990, Phoenix would get the opening race. On a circuit that was quite debatable, since there were already problems on the Thursday before the Grand Prix, the organization was still able to show a decent circuit to the world. The problems with the manhole covers and the broken asphalt were corrected very quickly and wouldn't cause any problems for the Formula 1 cars.

Ayrton showed once again that he was the qualifying king. With a lead of 1.409 seconds he grabbed pole position ahead of teammate Alain Prost. Prost drove his own car to a total loss in practice and had to take a seat in Ayrton's spare car. At the start Ayrton took the lead and steadily drove away from Prost. Until the 33rd lap there was no problem and the Brazilian seemed to be on his way to his fourth victory in succession. After setting the fastest lap in the race Ayrton suddenly lost power.

He told Prost on the back straight that he could pass. On the same lap Ayrton visited the pits, but the chance for victory was lost. The mechanics changed the electronic injection system of the MP4-5 and sent Ayrton back on the track. Ayrton wanted to know what was wrong with the car and after two more pit stops in which the black box, the battery and the spark plugs were replaced, Ayrton stopped on the 44th lap. In the meantime, he had done the fastest lap two times.

It was the first time that the Brazilian would fail due to a technical problem. It was also Honda's first mechanical outing since the Japanese manufacturer introduced its V10. After the race Ayrton stayed at the track for hours longer. He wanted to find out in detail what the problem was with the Honda engineers. "I had a great race until the engine suddenly stopped," he said.

Canada (More Honda problems)

With his first defeat in qualifying (Ayrton was 0.076 seconds slower than Prost), the race started in Montreal under varying conditions. It rained in the morning, then it was dry. On a half dry and half wet track everyone decided to start on rain tyres. Prost bagged his first pole position since the 1988 Portuguese Grand Prix. The Frenchman didn't enjoy the lead for long as he dropped out on the second lap with wheel suspension problems. Ayrton took over the lead of the race and within two laps already had a gap of almost six seconds on Riccardo Patrese.

After Ayrton made a pit stop for slicks it suddenly started to rain again. Patrese, now the leader of the race, decided not to go pit. This gave the Italian free air as Ayrton had to change to rain tyres again. After 26 laps of the race Ricardo Patrese was the leader, Derek Warwick was in second place in his Arrows and Nicola Larini was in third place in his Osella. Patrese entered the pits on the 34th lap, giving Derek Warwick the lead in the race. It was the first time that an Arrows in leading position came across the start finish line. The only other time there was an Arrows in the lead was during the Grand Prix at Long Beach when Patrese started from pole position.

In the meantime, the rain was pouring out of the sky and Warwick defended a six-second lead over Ayrton. Within two laps the Brazilian was on the tail of Warwick and passed by. Ayrton then drove a 'winning' race until his Honda engine died for the second race in a row. The Brazilian got out and saw the victory go to his friend Thierry Boutsen. It was the ideal opportunity to repair the damage he had suffered in Phoenix.

France (third consecutive failure)

Alain Prost announced prior to the French Grand Prix that he would leave the McLaren team. Prost said at a press conference that he was no longer enjoying himself at the British stable. The relationship with Ayrton was far from optimal and Prost felt that Senna was getting preferential treatment. Ron Dennis, who was also present at the press conference, agreed with Prost between the lines.

"It is indeed true that after the opening weekend in Brazil we had an inexplicable engine problem. One engine is quite different from another. It's a big problem for us because we feel that both engines are the same", Dennis explained. Of course Dennis wasn't absolutely right. The engines that dropped out in the United States and Canada were Senna's engines. Both engines were new at the time. McLaren had Honda's guarantee that there would be a new one for every broken one. Prost reacted with the words: "There will never be anything between McLaren and me". The Frenchman did not discuss the speculation about Honda and teammate Senna.

Once again Prost achieved a pole position at his home race. For the second year in succession and the second time this season the Frenchman was faster than Ayrton. The difference, 0.025 seconds, was again negligible. After the first start Ayrton took the lead. The race was interrupted by the spectacular crash of Mauricio Gugelmin.

At the restart, Ayrton couldn't get away and after 250 meters he parked his McLaren with a broken differential. Prost won the race by 44 seconds ahead of Nigel Mansell. With Prost's victory, he led the championship by eleven points ahead of Senna. The Frenchman was also only one victory away from the three Ayrton had. At the end of the race, the French winner gave an interview to Murray Walker: "I am still motivated to win races and the championship. I just have to like it, today it was fun and now that I have decided to leave McLaren I feel less pressure. I don't have any problems with the team, I only have problems with a few people. I am very happy with the team because they are like a family to me."

Great Britain

Finally Ayrton could break through the pole position streak of Prost. In qualifying for the British Grand Prix he was just over a tenth faster than Prost. Prost had announced before the weekend that he would go to Ferrari. At the start Prost was just a bit faster away but Ayrton was able to cover the inside and was the first to enter Copse Corner.

The McLarens were first and second and this lasted until the twelfth lap when Ayrton spun out of nowhere. "That's really the most abnormal mistake", James Hunt described. "This scares me awake because I didn't see this coming at all. We always thought Ayrton was immune to errors and pressure, but here the opposite has been proven."

Hunt then told his own thoughts about the battle between Senna and Prost: "I see that there is no dirt or oil on the track. It's Senna's own fault. This is a surprise. Senna has thrown it all away. This should give a fantastic mental boost to Alain Prost who was on the verge of breaking at the beginning of the season by the mental pinholes that Senna handed out to him. Now the whole thing is turning the other way." Hunt was right. Prost was unbeatable at Silverstone and finished 19 seconds ahead of Nigel Mansell. Ayrton made a statement via McLaren: "From the start of the race I had problems shifting to third gear. I already had four or five laps before my spin in the same corner for a moment."

The gap in the championship was now twenty points. Prost's third victory, which put him on an equal footing with Ayrton's number of victories, also confessed that the Brazilian no longer had an extra bonus in his hands.