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The Prost–Senna rivalry, or Senna–Prost rivalry, was a Formula One rivalry between French racing driver Alain Prost and Brazilian racing driver Ayrton Senna.Widely regarded as one of the fiercest rivalries in Formula One history, [a] Prost and Senna together won seven of nine Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles between 1985 and 1993, including two whilst teammates at McLaren ...
At the start, Prost took the lead but Senna attempted to take the inside line into the first corner. The two drivers made contact, sending both off the track and into instant retirement. The crash meant that Senna had clinched the Drivers' Championship for a second time, as with one race left in the season, Prost could not overtake his points ...
During the podium celebrations, Senna invited Prost up to the top step, much to the surprise of the Frenchman. The move marked the first easing of tensions in the rivalry between the two men. Senna himself would later call the race 'the end of an era'. As was tradition in Adelaide, a rock concert was held inside the circuit following the race.
Polesitter Alain Prost has stated that Ayrton Senna forced him off the track on the first lap, taking a lead he would not relinquish. Meanwhile, Prost had a run-in with Elio de Angelis , causing de Angelis to lose two laps in the pits repairing his car and relegating Prost to fifteenth by the end of the race.
The Prost/Senna war began to build up speed after the Frenchman said that McLaren had a pre-race agreement that whoever led into the first turn should stay there, which was ironically suggested by Senna. [2] In Prost's view, Senna had broken this agreement by passing him partway round the first lap after the restart.
As in 1988, the McLaren team had been dominant throughout 1989.Going into this race, Prost had a 16-point lead in the Drivers' Championship over Senna, 76 to 60. The Brazilian had won six races to the Frenchman's four, including the previous race in Spain, but had only finished in the points on one other occasion, while Prost had only finished out of the points once all season.
Senna began to catch Prost as the track got wetter and on lap 21, as the rain intensified, Senna passed Prost on the approach to the Spoon curve. At the end of the lap, Senna was two seconds in front and the two both pitted for wets. Senna pulled away rapidly in the wet conditions, building over a 30-second lead by lap 27.
Senna moved violently over on Prost and forced him towards the pit wall at over 280 km/h (174 mph). The Frenchman nonetheless maintained his will to pass the Brazilian, not lifting off the throttle, and passed Senna into the first corner. Prost was not impressed with Senna's tactics and the pair exchanged words in the McLaren camp after the race.