[windowlicker]

Japanese GP at the Suzuka curcuit in Shiroko in 1990.

This was one of if not the most outrageous moves seen in motorsports, when Ayrton Senna took out his World Championship rival at the first corner of the race.

Prost took the 1989 Championship with a collision with Senna at the same track a year earlier when they had both been McLaren team-mates. Prost left to join Ferrari and there was a large degree of animosity between the two. Senna felt cheated of the 1989 crown and Prost considered Senna a bully.

Going into the penultimate round Senna was on 78 points after winning six races and Prost was on 69 points with five wins including the race prior to Japan, the Spanish GP where Senna had retired.

At Japan Senna took pole with a 1m36.996s, Prost next to him with 1m37.228s.

The problems began on race morning when the stewards stated that the pole position car would start on the dirty side of the track and the second placed car on the cleaner, racing line. Senna was not happy. In morning practice Prost's Ferrari was quickest and appeared to be quicker than Senna's McLaren in race trim. Ayrton was feeling the pressure.

The lights turned green and Prost was away and into the lead followed by Senna. Prost turned into the first corner and Senna kept coming, there was heavy contact between the McLaren and Ferrari. The impact wrecked the McLaren's left front suspension and breaking off the Ferrari's rear wing. Both cars spun across the track and deep into the sand trap.

Senna had appeared not to break for the corner at all, aiming for a gap that at best was fleeting, some would argue non-existent.
Both drivers climbed from their cars and Alain ran back hoping the race would be restarted. It wasn't and Ayrton Senna had his second F1 Championship.

Prost felt he had been taken out of the race, "If everyone wants to drive in this way then the sport is finished. Motor racing is sport, not war."

Senna saw things differently, "He took a chance going into the first corner when he couldn't afford to. He knew that I was going to come down the inside and he closed the door."

Most comentators felt that Senna had taken Prost out, I can only remember one person, the ex-driver and team-mate of Prost, John Watson who somehow felt it was Alain's fault. Watson was to look a bit a fool a Year later.

After winning his third F1 title in 1991 and gifting the Japanese GP to his team-mate Gerhard Berger, Ayrton spoke of events the year before, "I said to myself, "OK...if tomorrow Prost beats me off the line, at the first corner I will go for it, and he better not turn in because he is not going to make it."

In pulling this move on Alain Prost and in front of a field of fully fueled F1 cars Ayrton endangered not only Prost's life, but every other following driver, track worker and spectator.

Ayrton Senna could never settle for second best....

[windowlicker]

...and this is the contact between Senna and Prost in 1989, when team-mates at McLaren that started a lot of the issues between the two best drivers of the time.

Prost led his team-mate until Senna made a move at the chicane on lap 45 and Prost moved over, he had stated prior to the race that he would not leave the door open to Senna as he had done in the past.

Both cars locked together travelling down the escape road, Prost getting out and walking away, Championship won. But Ayrton was push-started by the marshalls and roared back to the pits for a new nose-cone. He took the lead from Alessandro Nannini's Benetton and went over the finishing line first, only to be immediately disqualified for short cutting the track.

[The Dark]

"The problem with Ayrton is he thinks he cannot die" - prophetic words from Prost.

I actually think most of the issues began at Estoril in 88 when Senna basically tried to intimidate Prost by forcing him up against the pit wall as Prost overtook. It really kicked off at Imola in 89 when they made an agreement that whoever led into Tosa (the hairpin after the Tamburello *where Senna would die & Villeneuve * Ratzenbergers fatality corners) would not be challenged by the other.

The initial start saw Senna lead and remain clear, but after the red flag caused by Berger's fiery crash (documented earlier in this thread) the restart saw Prost take the lead.... until Tosa when Senna dived past.

Senna saw it as "not the start". Prost was duped. And that led to Suzuka where Prost knowing that his time with McLaren was coming to an end simply didn't care what happened as long as he put down the marker that the intimidation wasn't working.

A quote from former champ Keke Rosberg - Of course Alain closed the door, and you knew he didn't do that often, because he did it SO badly!

Senna should have been banned for the 1990 incident, a lot of the bullshit driving you see in all formula's now is because they let him get away with it. In case anyone wants to know how "it" could have ended, google & view the Hitoshi Ogawa crash from Suzuka in 1992 - scarily similar except he got airborne and the impact is horrific, as is the damage. I often wonder how people would have viewed Senna had he died in this crash rather than at Imola.

[1988]

Cheers for the pics of my previous request

Can i be cheeky and ask for a couple more...

- Sam schmidt IRl crash (unsure of yr)

- Zampedri indy 500 1996

[windowlicker]

Originally Posted by The Dark ↗

"The problem with Ayrton is he thinks he cannot die" - prophetic words from Prost.

I actually think most of the issues began at Estoril in 88 when Senna basically tried to intimidate Prost by forcing him up against the pit wall as Prost overtook. It really kicked off at Imola in 89 when they made an agreement that whoever led into Tosa (the hairpin after the Tamburello *where Senna would die & Villeneuve * Ratzenbergers fatality corners) would not be challenged by the other.

Good stuff.

[windowlicker]

Alessandro Zampedri was seriously injured in the 1996 Indy 500 suffering severe foot and leg injuries in a collision on the last lap of the race. Alessandro was in fourth and was collected in a crash with Roberto Guerrero and Eliseo Salazar. Zampedri's car (red) became airborne and contacted hard with fence at the start of the main straight. He was classified in 4th place his best result at the brickyard.

Zampedri took part in Indy 1997 then retuned to Europe winning the Porsche Supercup in 2005.

[windowlicker]

Originally Posted by 1988 ↗

Cheers for the pics of my previous request

Can i be cheeky and ask for a couple more...

- Sam schmidt IRl crash (unsure of yr)

- Zampedri indy 500 1996

Sam Schmidt made his first IRL start in 1997 taking part in three consecutive Indianapolis 500's, and taking his first victory from pole position at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 1999, and finishing fifth in the championship. While testing for the 2000 season, Schmidt crashed at the Walt Disney World Speedway on January 6th 2000. The accident caused multiple injuries leaving Sam a quadriplegic, but he battled back and is now a team owner.

As this was a testing session I haven't found any images for it....anyone got any?

[1988]

Would i be right in saying Schmidt also got injured in the final race of the season before?

[windowlicker]

Originally Posted by The Dark ↗

I actually think most of the issues began at Estoril in 88 when Senna basically tried to intimidate Prost by forcing him up against the pit wall as Prost overtook.

Senna squeezing Prost at Estoril 1988.

[windowlicker]

Originally Posted by 1988 ↗

Would i be right in saying Schmidt also got injured in the final race of the season before?

Sam had crashed out of the Mall com 500, the final round of the 1999 IRL Championship, if he was injured it was minor. Again difficult to find photos of incident.

The only crash I could find was the Jim Guthrie and Sam Schmidt Indy 500 1998 crash.