The great duels: Senna vs Prost

The two were as different as the Sun and the Moon, but they had a common passion – victory. Their great rivalry on the track brought great fame to Formula 1 all over the world.

It all started in June 1984, when the Monaco Grand Prix was held. Ayrton Senna, who was then in his debut season, threw down the gauntlet to the Frenchman Alain Prost, already established as a pilot.
The dry qualifying was won by Prost, and Senna with his Tolemann (one of the slowest cars in those years) was only 13th. However, no one expected what was about to happen on Sunday.
Under the pouring rain in Monaco, the 24-year-old Brazilian impressed the whole world with his incredible riding.
Senna overtook the cars in front of him one after the other to reach the second position. On lap 32, after a signal from Prost, who was the driver of the column, the race was stopped because of the increasing rain.
This led to serious displeasure with Senna, who even managed to pass Prost before the red flag flew, but according to the rules, the results of the previous lap completed, in which Prost was first and Senna second, were respected.
This is how it all began…
In Portugal in 1985, again in the rain, Senna won his first victory, and Prost, who took his first title at the end of the year, failed to oppose him. Prost took another title in 1986, 1987 was for Nelson Piquet and in 1988 Ron Dennis teamed up with Senna and Prost in the dominant McLaren Honda car.

1988 season

In their first season as teammates at McLaren Honda, Senna and Prost swept the competition, winning 15 of all 16 starts.
Only at Monza, when Prost suffered engine failure and Senna hit a car behind, did Ferrari win.
The battle between the two teammates started from the first race, in which Senna won the pole position, but was disqualified on Sunday because he had to illegally use the reserve car.
The two have alternated wins, pulling away from everyone else and with two rounds to go in the season, Senna needed success in Japan to become world champion for the first time in his career.
The race was special because Honda were looking to seal their title in front of their home crowd with a double win.
Senna was on the pole, but a clutch problem prevented him from getting off to a good start and he fell behind at the bottom of the column, while Prost shoot forward. Gradually, however, the Brazilian overtook his rivals one by one, and when it rained on the track, Senna caught up and overtook his great rival Prost with a brilliant maneuver on the start-finish straight.
Ayrton took his eighth win of the season together with the first chapter of the great rivalry.

1989 season

Alain Prost had a hard time surviving his loss in 1988, so he was infinitely motivated for a revenge in the new season.
The McLaren Honda team was once again with the fastest car, but this year was not as dominant as the last year. Senna and Prost won 10 of 16 races and the title was again decided in Japan at the Suzuka circuit.
With two races to go, Senna had six wins to Prost’s four. The Frenchman had the points advantage due to the Brazilian’s many unfinished races.
A win for Prost in Japan makes him a champion, the exact opposite of what happened a year ago here.
Senna lost the start again despite being in pole position, but gradually caught up and with 7 laps to go he was in a position to attack Prost and the first place.
At the last chicane before the start-finish straight, Ayrton made his attack, but Alain closed the door and the two collided, leaving the track with their engines out. This is one of the most scandalous moments in the history of Formula 1.
Prost left his car furious, but with one thing in mind – if Senna doesn’t finish, Prost wins the title ahead of schedule. However, Senna was helped by the track marshals, who pushed him onto the track, starting his engine. The Brazilian won the race but is subsequently disqualified.
According to FIA president Jean-Marie Balestre, Senna missed the chicane, making his lap incomplete, and that’s what led to the penalty. This was strange because other pilots commit the same offense but without penalty.
After this technical decision, Prost became the champion by leveling the result in the head-to-head duel with his biggest rival.
However, Ayrton was furious and accused Balestre, who is French like his rival, of a conspiracy against him and the FIA working for Prost.
The scandal between Senna and Prost became gigantic as the two stopped all communication between them, and at the end of the season, Alain left the team, going to Ferrari.

1990 season

After two seasons as teammates, one world title each, and numerous scandals, Alain Prost decided to try his luck at the fast-growing Italian Ferrari team, which has not won a title for more than 10 years.
Although many doubted Prost’s chances with Ferrari and accused him of leaving McLaren for fear of losing the head-to-head duel with Senna, the Frenchman disproved them all, and with two rounds to go, again in Japan, the two pilots decided the title for the third consecutive year at Suzuka.
Senna was back on the pole, but he remained very unhappy because the first position was on the dirt side of the track, which actually gave an advantage for the first corner to the second-position starter, namely Prost.
Before the start, Ayrton went to the president of the FIA, Jean-Marie Balestre, with a request to change the positions and that the advantage would be logical for the starter from the first position. Balestre refused.
This further angered Senna, who made the decision to deliberately crash into Prost at the first corner if he lost his position.
That’s exactly what happened – seconds after the start, Prost took the first position, but entering the corner, Senna hit the rear of the Ferrari, causing both cars to crash out and a new world title for Senna.
Despite the protests of Ferrari and Prost, there was no penalty for Senna this time and the Brazilian won his second set title.

1991 season

The Formula 1 world was looking forward to the 1991 season, Prost’s answer, and Chapter 4 of the famous battle between the two pilots.
Unfortunately for the fans, however, Ferrari was far from McLaren this year. Prost did not win a single race and was dogged by technical problems throughout the season. These things infuriated the Frenchman to the point of comparing a Ferrari car to a truck.
Senna won his easiest and final third title with a huge lead over second-placed Nigel Mansell in the Williams.

1992 season

Despite receiving a surprising offer from McLaren boss Ron Dennis to return to the team and become teammates with Senna again, Prost refused and decided to take a year off from the sport.
McLaren Honda was no longer at the level of previous years and Ayrton was only fourth in the drivers behind Nigel Mansell and Riccardo Patrese in the new dominant car – that of Williams Renault.

1993 season

Prost returned to the sport for one final season and one final title, this time with the Williams team.
Senna and McLaren looked competitive again. The Brazilian had taken the podium in five of the first six races, moving him almost the same points with his legendary rival.
The dominant Williams car, driven by Alain Prost, left Senna no chance in the second half of the season and the Frenchman won his 4th and final world title. After the end of the season, Prost announced that he was retiring from the sport for good, ending one of the greatest rivalries in Formula 1 history.

In 1994, in place of Prost, Frank Williams hired Senna, with whom to continue the dominance of the team. Senna only competed in three races for Williams…

Author: Alexander Kolarov

The 7 most contested seasons in Formula 1 history

The 7 most contested seasons in Formula 1 history

The 2021 season with the incredible battle between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton until the last lap in the last race filled us with great emotions and undoubtedly went down in the history of Formula 1 as one of the most contested seasons of all time.

Let’s remember and talk about 7 more of the most contested seasons back over the years:

1976

The movie Rush tells the real story of the incredible battle between James Hunt and Niki Lauda for the world title. The year was marked by Lauda’s crash at the Nürburgring, in which the Austrian nearly died and suffered some severe burns. In addition, the season is known for the numerous protests, disqualifications and canceled decisions.

Because of the burns Lauda missed two races, but he returned at Monza and finished fourth. Jackie Stewart described Lauda’s comeback as “the greatest comeback in the history of motorsport”.
With a round to go Niki had a three-point lead over Hunt, but horrific weather conditions and the heavy rain in Japan forced the Austrian racer to withdraw from the race. Hunt finished third and the points he took were enough for him to win his first and last world title.

1984

This is the only season in the history of Formula 1 where the title was decided by just half a point. That’s because in the historic Monaco Grand Prix, where the young Brazilian racer Ayrton Senna’s star was rising, just half of the points were awarded. The race was stopped prematurely on the 26th lap, due to heavy rain and a signal from Prost to the stewards. At this time the French racer was the leader and kept his victory, but instead of 9 points, he took only 4.5 points. During the year, McLaren drivers Lauda and Prost rushed into a mad battle, leaving the other racers far behind.
The last race took place in Portugal, where the difference between the two was only 3.5 points in favor of Lauda. Prost won, but Lauda finished second, taking the title by just half a point. This happened despite the fact that Lauda had only 5 wins on the season, while Prost had 7, including the last two races.

1986

Three points separate the top three after another phenomenal season in the history of our favorite sport.
Prost, Mansell and Piquet, and Senna, too, at one point in the season, wage a fierce battle for the championship in 1986.
Before the last race in Australia, Britain’s Nigel Mansell has a comfortable 7-point lead over Prost and Piquet. The fifth place will guarantee him his first career title. Everything goes according to plan, but in the middle of the race, the British driver has a flat tire and leaves the race.
The leader turns out to be his teammate Pickett, which would have crowned him the champion if he had made it to the final. The Williams team, however, are worried about his tire blowing out as well, so they call him for an extra stop, which allows Alain Prost to take the first position.
The Frenchman maintained his lead until the end of the race and, surprisingly for himself, grabbed his second world title. He does so with an asset of 72 points, while Mansell remains with 70 and Pickett with 69.

1988

This is one of the classics in the history of the sport – the 1988 season. McLaren Honda gathers in one team the two-time champion Alain Prost, as well as the rising superstar Ayrton Senna. The two totally dominate the season winning 15 of the 16 races, missing out only the victory in Italy when they did not finish.
Behind the scenes, however, there is an interpersonal conflict between them over who should be the team’s lead driver. Prost is angry at the aggressive style of Senna, who in Portugal attacked him so risky that he almost cost a brutal crash on the track.
The last three races are incredible: Senna wins three pole positions, but in two of the cases Prost manages to overtake him and win. This is also the case in the last Australian Grand Prix, in which Prost wins. However, he needs 5 points for the title, but Senna does not miss the second place, with which he wins his first world title.
In fact, Prost has more points from all races, but at the time the asset is formed by the driver’s 11 best results – so the Frenchman collects 87 points, while Senna has 90.

1994

One of the saddest years in the history of Formula 1 is 1994. On May 1, the world plunges into grief because of the death of the hero of an entire generation – Ayrton Senna. The Brazilian had just moved to the then-dominant Williams team with his fourth title in mind, but fate had something else in store for him.
However, this season becomes one of the most contested and will be remembered for Michael Schumacher’s first world title.
The German was having a great battle with Williams’ Damon Hill. One race before the end of the championship the Briton drops behind by just one point.
The race is in Australia and the predictions are that Williams has the faster car and Schumacher needs to outdo his Benetton to maintain his fragile lead at the top.
On lap 35 the two contenders are very close to each other and when Schumacher feels that he is losing the first position he causes a deliberate collision. The two drop out of the race, and Schumacher wins his first Formula 1 title with an asset of 92 points, just one more than Hill. It is one of the most scandalous moments in motorsport history, casting a shadow over Michael Schumacher’s sportsmanship.

2007

This is the only season in history where three drivers are separated by just one point. Ron Dennis wants to make a star team again, like the one he made with Senna and Prost. He brings together two-time world champion Fernando Alonso and rising British superstar Lewis Hamilton in the McLaren team.
Sparks began to fly between the two early on, eventually leading to Alonso’s departure at the end of the season.
During the year, the drivers of McLaren, as well as those of Ferrari – Raikkonen, and Massa, exchange victories as at one time of the season all four were in the battle for the title.
After all, with two races to go, rookie Hamilton has a lead of 12 points over Alonso and 17 over Raikkonen. A win in China makes him a champion, but the Brit makes one of the strangest mistakes in history when he crashes on his way to the pits.
A double victory for Ferrari at the last start in Brazil and another failure for Hamilton gives Kimi Raikkonen the title with Ferrari, the last for the Scuderia to date.
The Finn finishes with 110 points and Hamilton and Alonso with 109 each.
The season is also remembered for the great spying scandal between McLaren, Ferrari, and Renault, which eventually leads to McLaren being disqualified and stripped of all team points for the year.

2008

This is something that is unlikely to happen again anytime soon. The 2008 title is decided in the last turn of the final race in Brazil.
The season again goes evenly between Ferrari and McLaren, this time the contenders for the title are Massa and Hamilton.
A race before the end, the Briton has accumulated a solid lead of 7 points. A place in the top 5 will guarantee him the world title.
After a lot of rain, emotions, and dramas and a few turns before the end, Felipe Massa looks like a champion in front of his home crowd after crossing the start-finish line as the winner.
Lewis is sixth at the time, but a slip of the Toyota of Timo Glock a turn before the end allows Hamilton to reach a coveted fifth place, winning his first title in the most dramatic way possible. This is a season finale that will be remembered forever.

13 years later, another would-be multiple champion wins his first title after last-lap drama. This time on the losing side is none other than Lewis Hamilton.

Author: Alexander Kolarov

Max Verstappen with number 33 is the new 34th F1 world champion

The new world number 1

A victory like no other! As they say nowadays: there are a few things you don’t discuss over a family dinner, one of them being the last lap of the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

That final crucial lap made Max Verstappen the new F1 World Champion, after a particularly controversial season with Lewis Hamilton. The Dutchman snatched defeat from the Briton, thwarting his attempts to take his 8th consecutive title, beating the greatest of them all F1 champions – Michael Schumacher.

As of now the German legend Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton hold the record for the most World Drivers’ Championships, both having won the title on seven occasions.

Funny how after winning the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, with his distinctive number 33, which Max has raced with for years, he became the first Dutch driver to win the Formula One World Championship and the 34th Formula One World Drivers’ Champion.

After winning the championship, Verstappen actually formally stated that he would switch his car number to #1. Max currently races with number 33 on his car, but he gave a pretty good reason behind the decision swapping.

“How many times do you get the opportunity to swap? Number one is the best number out there, so for me, it was very straightforward to pick the number one, and hopefully, number 33 doesn’t come back next year!’’ confirmed the F1 champion.

After all, the F1 driver is right: this is an opportunity of a lifetime. You don’t know – this may be the only time Verstappen can have number one in his life.

The last time we saw such a distinctive change was in 2014 when Sebastian Vettel chose to have this number after his 4th consecutive championship win in 2013. And the new F1 champion – Max Verstappen has mentioned a few times before that he has no doubt in his mind about switching his numbers for 2022.

Even though, Max Verstappen and the #33 share an unbreakable bond. Not only this is the number used on his cockpit but also in merchandise and brands to tag the new F1 champion. MV33 is highly popular on social media for all the posts, comments, and tags related to the Flying Dutchman.

But what actually is the story behind Max choosing #33: “My favorite number is 3 but it was already taken by Daniel Ricciardo, so I just added another 3 behind it; it’s double luck. Since I was a young kid, I was racing around with this number. So, I thought it is nice to keep that in F1 as well”

The lucky number proved to be quite significant for Verstappen as it helped him in the development of his career. He witnessed numerous career peaks with the number.

Whether his new number, as a current F1 champion, will bring him the same professional success, remains to be seen in the new season, which starts very, very soon!

Formula 1 Stats: Drivers with most F1’s World Championship wins

We are cognizant that each one driver and teams are high-level F1 professionals, but what is it that separates the true champions from the mediocre ones? The F1 World Championship wins, of course.

Clearly, there are many contested F1 championships: 1994, 1999, 2007, 2008, and this years’ rival between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen for the F1 World Championship winner. It has been a long while since we’ve had such dramatic F1 races that are actually decided within the last few laps. And now everybody is wondering: can we go back to the Red Bull era and are we through with the hegemony of the first-ever black F1 world champion sir Lewis Hamilton.

Sir Lewis Hamilton and Sir Jackie Stewart
23-26 May 2019. Monte Carlo, Principality of Monaco. 2019 Monaco

Over decades within the sport, teams like Ferrari, McLaren, and Williams have broken Formula 1 records with consistently quick cars and the fastest drivers. In fact, there are certain drivers that constantly break personal Formula 1 records, either with having most F1 world championship wins or for instance most pole positions within the stats.

And although many believe that in recent years 60% of the drivers on the F1 grid would be champions if they drove a Mercedes car. We all know that F1 world champions like Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher are a different breed and possess something magical.

Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton top many F1 tables – and somehow it is inconceivable to form a comparison between the two.

As of the 2021 season, F1 world champions Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher are tied with seven titles apiece. Although the surprise that Lewis didn’t quit early in the season is huge because many thought he shouldn’t have trampled on Schumi’s record.

The German also known as the Red Baron was dominant at the turn of the century, winning five titles on the bounce from 2000 with Scuderia Ferrari. And these were only a humble addition to his double world championships with Benetton in the ’90s. A record truly unshakable. But the dominance of Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes in the hybrid era has turned the motorsport world upside down.

The Brit replaced Schumacher at Mercedes following his retirement at the end of 2012. Since then, Hamilton has only failed to win the championship twice: in his first season at Mercedes in 2013 and in 2016, when he lost out to teammate Nico Rosberg. Those six titles, alongside his first championship win in his second season with McLaren, make him the foremost successful driver in history. Complementing his name to that of Schumacher as the two of the F1 world champions.

1952 Italian Grand Prix. Monza, Italy. 7th September 1952. Alberto Ascari (Ferrari 500), 1st position, leads Giuseppe Farina (Ferrari 500), 4th position, action. World Copyright: LAT Photographic. Ref: 52 – 48 – 5A.

Juan Manuel Fangio’s record of five titles in the 1950s has stood the test of time. The first great driver of the Formula 1 era’s record stood until 2003 when Schumacher won his sixth title. The great Alain Prost has four titles. As well as Sebastian Vettel, whose absolute domination with Red Bull in the early 2010s, brought his 4 titles in the battle of the greatest F1 world champions.

If you are striving for more interesting F1 info and stats, get 70 Years of Formula 1 Encyclopedia, where you can find numerous pages about F1 history, teams, drivers, everything.