Last night Alain Prost was the guest of C to you on France 5. Generally quite discreet in the media, the last French Formula 1 world champion is everywhere these days. It is in fact at the heart of a documentary which will soon be broadcast on Canal Plus. Faced with Anne-Elisabeth Lemoine and her columnists, he therefore looked back on his career and his relationship with Ayrton Senna.
The duel between Prost and Senna is one of the greatest confrontations in the history of sport modern. At nearly 300 km/h, they were constantly on a ridge line trying to win the Grail. The death of Ayrton Senna sometime time after Alain Prost's retirement never allowed them to benefit from their friendship.
Alain Prost talks about Ayrton Senna's childhood
Yesterday we felt the chroniclers of C to you totally captivated by the story of the adventures of Alain Prost. Especially when he broached the subject of Ayrton Senna. The Brazilian driver who was voted the greatest driver of all time is indeed a true racing legend. This personality, however, only had one obsession in mind all along. This is what Alain Prost said last night.
“Since I was little, Ayrton Senna had only one goal: to beat me. He was obsessed with it. As he was still quite mystical, it was completely exacerbated. Afterwards when we are together like in 1988, things go very well. It was a year where I lost, but I always had a smile. I have more points than him, but he has one more victory. It's after that it deteriorates a little ».
A peaceful relationship once the career is over
Ayrton Senna only lived for motor racing. But even more, he only lived for his rivalry with Alain Prost. Once the Frenchman decided to retire, relations calmed down. Philippe Vandel, present on the set, also told the anecdote during which Ayrton Senna, on the day of his death, at the end of a reconnaissance tour, said into the microphone “Alain, we miss you”. The symbolism behind this sentence is absolutely terrible when we know that he will die a few hours later.
Alain Prost also explained how things had evolved between them over the years after watching archive footage.“It was a fantastic year, people forget that. It got worse later in 89 where it was a little extra sporty. The relationship with Ayrton was fantastic, especially when I stopped in 1993, our relationships have become completely incredibleand the character himself has completely changed.” The documentary can be found from December 8 on Canal Plus.
