Murray Walker - who it was said never had a bad word to say about anybody - did say in his autobiography that he never forgave Senna for this incident

I hate that the “no longer go for a gap” quote is celebrated as a racing philosophy instead of the pathetic excuse for an egregious intentional crash it was

I watched this stuff play out live back in 89 & 90. It was riveting. I was a Williams fan at the time and couldn't care less if the McLarens and Ferraris took themselves out. When Senna got back to the McLaren garage after the crash at Suzuka in 1990, the Honda mechanics were not overjoyed to greet him. They felt he had dishonoured Honda with the deliberate crash. He truly was a Dr. Jerkyl & Mr. Hyde personality.

Suzuka '90 is one of the pivotal points that people have questioned Senna's moral compass. Like you've mentioned, he cared a lot about the safety and well being of other divers, but to see him as the ruthless, win at all cost no matter what driver makes people beliving that he is contradicting himself, just because he was DQ'ed 12 months prior. Like you've also mentioned he also called Prost "coward" for putting a hard NO on him at Williams for 1993, but journalists again put his moral compass under question as he did a similar thing very early into his own F1 career. Back in the 1986 off-season Elio de Angelis left Lotus after 6 teams donning the black and gold and gave Colin Chapman's final F1 win before his passing in late 1982. Derreck Warwick was considered as a replacement, but Senna kiboshed the idea as "Lotus doesn't have the resources to maintain two cars equally challenging for the win" and stuff. Instead Johnny Dumfires was choses, but he and Satoru Nakajima (who replaced him at the behest of Honda, who were supplying engines for Lotus) were nowhere near close to Senna, who was the undisputed leader in a team that was slowly beginning its decline, which would lead to their demise after 1994. Schumacher was disqualified "for less" is something that most people disagree. Remember that 3 years ago at Adelaide he collided with Damon Hill under very sus circumstances. The Michael was out, but Hill limped on to the pits when it was discovered that the suspension was kaput, meaning that Damon couldn't get the vital 1 point he needed and Schumacher won by default. Of course Williams tried to lodge a protest, but given the situation surrounding the investigation of Senna's death (since by the Italian law any death at sporting event is looked as it was a crime scene) it was thrown out. And back to Jerez, Martin Brundle (by then Walker's commenting partner on ITV) has said this: “That didn’t work Michael, You’ve hit the wrong part of him, my friend”. What Brundle was implying, was that The Michael was targeting one key part of the Williams - the suspension, which like Adeliade would've in theory given him the title by default (unless he was caught, which he would've had IMO) if Villeneuve's suspension was damaged beyond repair. But as we all know, Villeneuve limped on to finish 3rd (despite of allegations that Williams and McLaren had colluded), won the title and Schumacher got excluded for his troubles. This is by no means a way to diminish the accomplishements of Senna and Schumacher, but they've had that darker side in which they were ruthless and were going to do whatever it takes to accomplish their goals.

Imho, Senna should've been disqualified from the season like Schumacher was in 97, this was a very big impact, luckily they both remained upright.

Imagine if Twitter witnessed this as it was happening. Imagine the controversy.

There's a long interview with Prost in the official F1 channel where he talks about those incidents. While talking about winter before 1994 where they got close, he said Senna had told him some things as a secret, and Prost said he wouldn't ever reveal. These things might be confessions, reasons for some things he'd done, or just about his personal life. After this interview where Prost litterally admits Senna as a part of his story with 0 regrets, I no longer feel the need to hate Senna because of his bad actions despite it being reasonable, just because they were finally in peace with each other. Prost himself doesn't hate Senna, he just hates the way Senna's fanboys portray his documentary's happenings as a hate crime made by Prost against Senna ( such as a villain), but this movie doesn't have the *rest* of the story, where neither of them are the villain, they just ended up as good friends, but both Senna and Prost's fanbases are still fighting to this very day about who's to blame for what. At least it's not worse than what # TeamLH is nowadays.... what a dumb mess.

Nigel Mansell also had a couple of altercations with Ayrton both on track (famously grabbed by the collar of his overalls at spa in '87) and in the drivers briefing (pre Barcelona '91. He's also gone on record as saying Senna was so good that he didn't need to be a bellend. Then there's the incident on the podium in Hungary' 92, where Senna was in highly charitable mood

I know the crusade of Senna for security in F1. I knew this episode from 1990s Suzuka. But for some reason I never put 2 and 2 together and wondered "why this polar opposite reaction to everything he's fighting for ??”. This will be a headscratcher for me for quite a long time, thankfully hair is gone since more than a decade. Great video as always, thank you.

Have you ever thought of doing a video on the Senna/Piquet feud, which seems to have its roots in their families being on opposite sides of the turbulent politics of Brazil in the earlier era. Bruno and Nelson Jr. however are friendly.

A very interesting note to the whole Prost/Senna saga is originally Ron Dennis wanted Nelson Piquet for 1988 (Piquet's Williams contract was ending in 1987 and was looking elsewhere) and not Senna. Alain Prost lobbied Senna to Dennis as he felt Senna was the future and a better choice for McLaren, even though Prost was friends with Piquet. So Prost was quite instrumental in getting Senna into McLaren.

I don't hate on Senna, but I don't hold back on slamming him either. He was one of the most gifted and hardworking drivers ever born, but he was also a spoiled brat in a lot of ways, and this was the biggest, most spectacular example of that. I also stand by my contention that a lot of the fandom remains bamboozled by his charisma, by his ability to convince you that, "something very important for the world was going" around him. That's the key difference between Senna and Schumacher imho.

Senna movie, they show a clip of him talking to Roland B... (not going to spell that) about starting on the left side of the grid. This is about the one hour mark (on Netflix) Not sure what year it actually is, but it is framed like it was at Suzuka. Looks like it is actually Hockenheim which IF it is 1990 changes things a bit. I feel this contributes to this story a lot.

“This isn’t hating or slamming” Senna: “hold my beer”

Gosh you're young, Aidan... Really good video. This was the definitive rivalry of the sport, and it was a shocking heel turn by Ayrton. I think he never really got back his reputation afterward. I know we've all seen the Senna documentary but I'd recommend reading the book Senna versus Prost, by Malcolm Folley. It really delves into how the rivalry between the two built up over the years, and of course while sadly only Prost could be interviewed I felt he was fair and even handed in the recollections.

Great Series and content Aidan. I am sure you wish to have watched all these races live as we oldsters did.

The last F1 podium without a European driver, and a real feel-good story for Moreno. Some people went home happy at least. And finally we can compare Senna's actions with some of Schumacher's more belligerent actions. If you did this in the early-era online discussions of the late 90s and early 00s, you were torn to shreds.

Ayrton Sena's dedication, passion and skill are something to be remembered..... his attitude is definitely a Brazilian trait to not be proud of, still one of my favorites!!!

Great video. Always look forward to your vids on the 80s and early 90s

While I deeply admired the talent that Senna had I equally despised his mentality, it's one thing not to care whether you survive but using that as a threat towards others is a whole other matter. The most irksome thing is that he didn't need to be this way, he had the talent to be the best without needing to be a loose cannon all the time

Brazilian and Senna fan here. I go with Top Gear Special on that one: Senna could be the most caring person anywhere else but when driving for the win he was absolutely ruthless! Not 100% sure but from memory I seem to remember that even on his early F1 days he was already considered to be reckless and knew people called him reckless and hated being called reckless - I think I read this on his biography. (Won't mention his accident with Brundle in F3 I think cause I didn't know that till I saw on Top Gear and though it clearly shows Senna was always like that my perception of him as a racing driver was from what I've seen on F1 only). As for the 1990 incident yes it was a direct consequence of the 1989 accident and Senna's perceived 'everyone against me' mentality. Also I seem to remember Piquet sort of defending Senna on the 1990 pre-racing debriefing mentioning the 1989 accident and as said on the video they were less than friends so Piquet had no reason to say what he said - and after hearing this Senna stormed off. Anyway all that was said on this video is pretty much my take on this. Just one quick 'trivia' regarding the Schumacher penalty years later: I remember reading (or seeing an interview?) where Schumacher said he did what he did because he learned it from Prost/Senna in 1989/90 and if they could win a championship by crashing into the opponent why wouldn't he? And I believe this is why the rules were changed and he got penalized. Sure doing it twice in a row didn't help but saying what he said was the last straw...

" Schumacher got tossed out for less " fucking right . The Senna worshippers in the F1 fanbase who shit on Schumacher are the most hypocritical people .

your channel is my antidote to all of the abysmal f1 channels that have cropped up recently. thanks!

A) That Jim Beam segment was the signature driving style of James Hunt. And he's celebrated for this. B) Senna didn't lift but Prost DID close the gap. C) The year before, the cutting the chicane decision was political. People cut chicanes all the time and it's OK if they don't gain advantage. Which Senna did not. D) It can be successfully argued that Prost did the EXACT same thing in that final chicane collision as Senna did the year after. In fact, what Prost did was pretty much what Schumacher did to Vlilleneuve.

Prost absolutely deserved it. the 1990 title of course (and the 1988 one as well)

Senna definitely had a moral code and a sense of racing ethics, though I think he was the only one who could reconcile those with his actual behaviour on track in his head. He must have lived with a severe cognitive dissonance problem, which may explain all his outbursts and extreme emotional displays.

Hello Aidan: This was very, very interesting. You do this sort of thing really well. Thank you.

I watched 1989 Suzuka live on ITV as a 10 year-old French boy obviously wanting Prost to win (my 2nd or 3rd GP, maybe?). I remember feeling that Senna was disgusting at the time. Didn't watch Adelaide or F1 until 1993 again as a result. Eventually I learned about this 1990 crash and felt it was bad, but not too much about it: it was just in my mind that Senna did things so, and that was "normal", in a way. Eventually, when online video appeared, I could finally watch for myself, with all the knowledge I had acquired as an adult, after watching Ratzenberger, Barrichello, Senna himself, Hakkinen, Schumacher (99) crash very badly, or the stories of these guys having died from receiving a F1 tyre upon their head (Imola 94 and also Melbourne in 1999 or 2000, I believe?) From then, in my mind, Senna had gone from "pretty questionable yet fantastic driver" to "absolute madman & bastard, despite being a fantastic driver", thinking how much he had endangered people on a whim that day. I both can and cannot fathom his personality cult.

i was about 2 and 3 months, i dont remember this and all i know is what i have been told and videos i have watched on the incident, its good to get a full insight into it all in one video

As always, your videos are so great!

8 days old? We'll forgive you then for not remembering. 😅 Had there been a Red Flag & a restart, Senna would've been in the same mindset, but Prost would have tried to suck him in & brake at the last moment, so that Senna went flying off from too much speed, allowing Prost to turn in late, & drive off to win the race giggling all the way. I would have laughed my arse off.

I don’t know how people can defend senna in the 1989 and 1990 incidents. People who defend senna there really have no clue what racing is.

1989: Prost took out Senna deliberately 1990: Senna took out Prost deliberately

Man appreciated that Hunt accent... It was close Aidan!

Honestly, I've never been able to understand the cult of personality surrounding Senna. No matter how charitable and considerate he was at times, he turned into a ruthless sociopath when the red mist descended and he would do absolutely ANYTHING to win. Admittedly, all racing drivers have to be somewhat ruthless, but Senna (and Schumacher) took that ruthlessness to a whole new level and I can't possibly ignore that personally. That's why Jim Clark will always be my racing hero. He was ruthless, too, at times, but he was always a good sport.

Great video Aidan! It's videos like this why I subbed to you years ago. I also have to say how admirable it is that you basically had your whole channel destroyed from that copyright claim and you just kept on and now you have a library of videos again. You make great content and you're also very admirable in keeping on. Keep it up man! Love what you do!

Thank you for clearly stating all the truthful facts about this event. I'd already appreciated one of your other videos on the magnesium Honda from 68, this one here got me subbed to your channel. Very impressive work you do!

Well done Aidan on what is a very tribal subject. It’s interesting that this brings out such contrasting opinions even after all this time.

I like them both. The differing personalities is what F1 needs more of today.

I'd argue that the favoritism was towards Senna since he wasn't DQ'd like Schumacher. And since there was another race to run after Japan, a race ban wouldn't really be illogical considering that he put another driver at risk in such a blatant way.

I remember very clearly watching the race live on TV the tension was beyond measure, I feel privileged to has seen all the Prost/Senna races on telly as well as at the circuits.

Well, Senna also "believed" that gawd bestowed upon him the right to win every race he entered, so I'm pretty sure the FIA didn't agree to the switching of the pole spot.

Good James Hunt impression 💯

Unless he’d gotten a better start the second time after a restart, absolutely YES, Senna would have run Prost off the road again. The man was determined not to let Prost and Balestre get another one over him……… as he saw it.

Senna had a massive habit of it as well, Nannini in 1990, Mansell in Adelaide in 1992. As a kid, i was a Benetton Fan and saw this as Senna way out of line, as has been said Schumacher got pinched for less. It also shows that probably until the 1997 Schumacher decision F1 was the wild west in relation to this stuff.

Wish I could give an extra like for that hunt impression 😂

Good stuff, thanks. One of those events that has probably more theories and stories regarding it than what actually happened. And of course, as you said, the story went on in 1991 when Senna gave some more thoughts on it in the press conference after winning the title.

"Would Senna have done it again if the race had been restarted?" Absolutely. It would have been interesting to see how the FIA would have responded to it.

One of the best videos you have done.

Can you imagine if Social Media had existed back then? With the way people reacted to the Verstappen vs Hamilton battle last year with the public pressure actually forcing F1 to change rules and people in charge over what people thought they had seen. If it had been around in that time I doubt people like Bealstre or even maybe Prost would've remained in the sport, if all the Senna "fans" had made their voices heard as loud as they could it could've changed F1 entirely.

Michael Schumacher being excluded from the championship was always a bit of a hollow gesture, as he was excluded from second place, and nobody cares about second place. Would the FIA have disqualified Schumacher if it meant stripping him of the title? I don’t know that they would have. The constructors title is where all the money is, but the fans really only care about the driver’s championship. Stripping McLaren of their constructors points and giving them a huge fine in 2007 was a big hit to the team, but their two star drivers still kept their points and were contenders for the championship. If they really wanted to send a message to teams, they would have penalized the drivers too.

Ive watched many of your videos and a subject i think you should do a video on is the mystery death of henri toivonen although its a tricky subject ive been researching it for over 20 years been the crash site 4 times and although im no expert i can if interested ?

pretty solid hunt impression

Of course the Frenchman would loose on Oct 21st... Its Trafalgar Day after all!

I was waiting for it to happen. True story.

Imagine if this happened now, social media and media and fans on social media would make a flame war unlike anything seen before.

One thing worth noting is that the collisions between Prost and Senna both in 1989 and 1990 were quite unprecedented. Not even the duel between Villeneuve and Pironi, the two Ferrari drivers who had a falling out in 1982 similar to Senna and Prost, had been this bad. So indeed, the first time a driver was comprehensively punished (albeit to no material effect) was Schumacher after he tried to take Villeneuve Jr. out at Jerez. As for comparing the two Prost/Senna collisions, I don't see much of a difference. The 1990 collision looks far worse, but it really wasn't. In all likelihood Senna was speculating that Prost would take a more conservative line as in order to avoid this kind of coming together. And Senna simply realized that he could take greater risks. Quick note on the 1989 Suzuka/season recap. If Senna's win at Suzuka in 1989 had been confirmed, his bid for the championship would have stayed alive! The GP at Adelaide would have been a show down based on the following arithmetic: Senna 1st (69+9=78 pts), Prost 2nd (76+6-4=78pts) > Senna and Prost both end the season 78 pts, but Senna would have had 8 wins over Prost's 4.

The excitement that Senna created when racing is totally missed in any forensic analysis over 30 years later. Whether he was the 'best' or not is subjective. Imagine dissecting the 2021 release or non release of the safety car in the final race in 2051 giving the title to Verstappen, it's just numbers and facts without the emotions of how you felt. Can't put a number on what a driver made you feel at the time...

Aiden, you were 8 days old when Senna took out Prost. I was 11 days old when Dale Sr. died...

You are simply fantastic!

This incident in particular is the very reason why I dislike Senna. He was an incredibly talented driver. But had this attitude that the track was his and everyone else had to get out of his way. He was more than fine with putting others in danger just so he could win.

"I'm disappointed in you." Ron Dennis to Senna.

Read the title of this video in murray walkers voice in my head

10:35 Senna hit the side. His front left wheel and Prost's rear right were the contact point.

Ah yes, everyone’s favourite deliberate punt before silverstone 21.. peak irony

Takes me back to being 18. I can remember being up in the middle of the night here in America , And trying not to yell at the TV and wake up my parents.

0:38 EIGHT DAYS OLD??? Now I understand some of your viewpoints better. Hard to believe that there were almost no comparisons of Senna/Prost to MSC/VIL in '97. Thanks for making it, in a clear and concise manner.

Glad Moreno made an appearance in this video at some point

I was 29, and I remember that race, like it was yesterday. I couldn't stand Senna.

I remember watching the incident on TV, I was 35 at the time 😁 Not only did Senna put his and Prost's life at risk but also the entire pursuing pack of cars and drivers not to mention marshalls and even spectators. Senna may have claimed a close affinity to God but he certainly did not have an intimate relationship with the laws of physics that day. He should have received a life ban for his actions. His genius was flawed and indirectly led to the acceptance of the tendency of the "uncompromising" tactics displayed by other drivers since, e.g. M Schumacher for one.

One of the most objective opinion of the many that I have heard on this incident. And I also think that the move Senna did would be outrageous on these days and maybe even a few years later , as the Shumacher-Villenueve incident.

Great video, i would be very interested to find out why there where these 2 sides to Senna, but i suspect we never will find out

Sorry but being a ginormous bad sport is ridiculous and EXTREMELY shallow for an athlete at the worlds highest level. Senna and Schumacher have this in common and they both have championships that were won from shameful tactics. Imagine how insane this would be if it happened nowadays. The driver would be kicked out of the sport for purposely crashing into someone to clinch a title

I have heard it said that Atilla the Hun was a nice quiet bloke too!

Senna was a great driver who had a problem with sportsmanlike conduct.

A wise chad once said, Senna… was pissed…

While Senna might have called Prost a coward for not wanting him on the same team, it helps to remember that Senna did something similar. In 1986, Senna was at Lotus and vetoed Derek Warwick's choice to be in the other car. He said it was because the team couldn't provide equal cars to both drivers, and he was contractually the lead driver. This is why at the last minute, Johnny Dumfries was hired and soon proved to be absolutely no challenge to Senna. Warwick would never have a shot at a winning F1 car again. The rest of his career was in with a Brabham team that had seen better days, the perennial midfielders Arrows, finally at a Lotus only a distant memory from its glory days, and a return to Arrows as Footwork. Derek Warwick is considered one of the best F1 drivers to have never won a race

As an American, I have to say that Dale Earnhardt Sr taking out Terry Labonte at Bristol in both the 1995 & 1999 night races is right up there with this as the most egregious attempt to take out a fellow competitor in racing history. Dale Sr was known for driving "like a SOB" according to fellow NASCAR drivers and the list of his takeouts is too many to name. However the 2 incidents at Bristol I listed above are the most infamous & well known in his career so much so that they are included in his highlights package on NASCAR's KZfaq page. Unlike Senna though, Dale Sr didn't give a damn about safety in NASCAR so much so that when the HANS device was introduced to the sport in 2001, he called it "that damned noose" thinking he would choke during a crash if wore it. A few weeks after he made those comments, he was killed on the last lap of the Daytona 500.

I love the James Hunt impression.

The champions photo in Adelaide 1990 had all the previous and current champions ( Hunt, Stewart, Hulme, piquet, Fangio, Senna and Brabham) without Prost. Prost said if there was 1% chance, he would say ok . . . But it wasn’t 1% . . .he hit my wing. The rear wing. . He didn’t hit my right wheel or the side of the car. . .he just push me from behind.

9 out of 10 for the JH impression Aiden, next time cig in mouth and beer in hand and its a 10

The James Hunt impression is quite good!

I like how people praise senna, but forget that he was like that always. He was driving to win and nothing else

Oh....and Balestre used to make the rules up as he went along. So he favoured Prost and Ferrari and Renault. Getting Max Mosley elected as FIA President was a breath of fresh air from the alleged corruption of Balestre

I remember this race.. better than I remember yesterday's Italian GP.. cuz (I'm an old fart now) ✌😎🏁

Great Hunt impersonation sir.

Senna is the most blatant example of a driver switching personalities when he puts the helmet on.

Hi! Great vid! Interesting question! So I think Senna would do it if he had a oppportunity to make it 'look' like a collision! Thanks for reading!

I never raced at anything close to the level of F1, but I did race, and what I found was that there is a definite cognitive dissonance in drivers, particularly those capable of winning: they believe that safely is paramount, and they believe that winning is paramount. Those two, often mutually exclusive ideas exist simultaneously in the heads of guys like Senna and Prost. Senna could not think of his actions at the Japanese GP as his responsibility because that would run counter to his absolute commitment to safety, but he also couldn't not take what he probably saw as his only path to victory. It's Insanity, but it's a kind of Insanity that motorsports demands, encourages, and breeds. You can see examples in every discipline, though few as egregious as this, throughout the history of motorsport right up to today.

your intro could also be used for the dan ticktum Ricky collard incident at sliverstone in 2015

Senna summed up his actions perfectly during his interview with Sir Jackie Stewart. He would go for a gap no matter what the consequences. In interviews with Jackie he often spoke about his interview with Senna and his complete astonishment at what Senna had said. I believe stewarts actually words were “Kid (senna) you’ve got problems”. Coming from someone who is as hugely respected as Sir Jackie I think that says it all

Prost started it when they were teammates at McLaren claiming that McLaren was sabotaging him by giving senna superior equipment when in reality at the time, Senna was just clear of him. Senna just ended it, and emphatically. That’s racing.

In Senna's mind, Senna could do no wrong. It's what made him insanely successful, but let's be honest: On track, he was a bully. The weird thing is how he also was fighting for more safety in the sport. Schumacher was similar in that regard.

21st of October 1990, I was 4 years and 8 days old that day :)

Good one, the comments section is going to just blow up. Cant wait to come back and read them tomorrow. 🤣

Greatest rivalry in sports history.

On the topic of the video, Prost was just the colateral damage in what Senna thought was a crusade against him by Balestre. Yes, Schumacher was disqualified for less, but he wasn't disqualified for the 1994 accident ... Of course this was a result of a desire by the FIA to handle matters in a very different way once Mosley took over. As to why Schumacher wasn't disqualified in 1994, it is another completely different debate, but I think everybody had had enough during 1994 and everyone was just happy the season was over. Therefore, the way in which Schumacher was treated was different. The season was over, and it was better not to keep stirring the pot.

Murray Walker was at his best in that crazy start. Even in the film Senna mainly features Murray's commentary for that moment.

I was an active F1 fan since 1975 and I know that one can only be as good as He was if when you wear your helmet you just forget about all that surrounds you and your only focus is on winning no matter the cost! I saw Senna on the Kart world championship, i saw him on his 1st victory, both in Estoril. As soon as he put the helmet on for the race he was a man possessed.

Blatant attempt to take anyone out? Matt Kenseth at Martinsville: Hold my beer!!! 🤣🤣