Ayrton Senna and the Ferrari Connection Part 6 : 1992

In 1992, there was no real competition... Prost after a desastrous 91 campaign took a sabatical year, and Mansell and Williams Renault were almost unbeatable. Senna's contrat with McLaren was coming to an end after the last GP and he knew before anybody else (thanks to his close relationship with Honda) that Honda would announce during the season their withdrawal for F1.

Ayrton Senna was desparate to drive for Williams as it was the car to win. Even going to offer Frank Williams to drive for free in 1993. But there was a bit of a problem... There was Prost and there was Renault/Elf. Renault and Elf wanted Prost and the french driver didn't wanted to race against Senna in the same team again. Last but not least, Mansell who was world champion in 1992 with Williams didn't wanted to have Prost as team mate once again...

To make a long story short, Mansell had no choice but to retire from F1 to go racing in CART in the US and Prost signed with Williams Renault for 93 and 94 with a veto on Senna. Ayrton finally stayed one more year at McLaren before switching to Williams for 94. Prost clinshed his 4th championship title in 93 and retired at the end of the season... Because Senna would drive for Williams in 94.

So in this context, Senna talked to other team during 1992 to see what were his other option. Ferrari once again was a possibility. Sadly, as we saw in the 5th part of this article, Ferrari was all but in great shape at the time. 92 was their worst season ever with 1980.

Things were heating up at McLaren too, as Honda announced they would leave F1 at the end of the season. Gerhard Berger, best friend and Senna's teamate decided to come back to Ferrari where he had only good memories of his previous time with the reds (1987-1989) the idea was that maybe Senna would rejoin Berger there later : " In 1992 it was a little but like the first year (1990), I was stabilising myself a bit, but I still wasn't close enough to Ayrton. I think there was more potential in it, but due to certain circumstances I couldn't apply it right. But I had some circuits where I was always quite quick, and I won in Montreal and Adelaide".

Ayrton Senna and Gerhard Berger, best friends in life and teamates at McLaren between 1990 and 1992. Here at SPA Francorchamps Belgium 1992.

Ayrton Senna and Gerhard Berger, best friends in life and teamates at McLaren between 1990 and 1992. Here at SPA Francorchamps Belgium 1992.

"At one stage Ayrton came to me and said, 'Gerhard, Honda will be leaving.' This was even before Ron knew it – Ayrton was the first guy to know Honda was stopping, and after that Ron learned it. Ayrton said, 'I want to win, I will leave, I will go to Williams, I think it's time to move to the best car, and the best car now is Williams.' That was the time that Ferrari (with fellow countryman Niki Lauda back at Ferrari as consultant) approached me again, and for some reason I decided to go back to Ferrari. I have to say I got a very good financial offer, and I decided to go, knowing that Ford would most probably replace Honda".

"So Ayrton was sure to be in Williams, but I remember him telling me, 'I fixed everything with Frank and now he changed his mind again.' Things were going backwards and forwards, until he had to stay at McLaren. I knew he hadn't signed anything and was struggling. I said to him maybe I could try to sort things up at the Scuderia for you to rejoin me later. But his plan didn't worked out, and mine worked out."

Senna and Berger could have been teamates again at Ferrari for 94 or later maybe. Here at Spa Francorchamps in 93, having fun for Gerhard birthday in the Ferrari motorhome.

Senna and Berger could have been teamates again at Ferrari for 94 or later maybe. Here at Spa Francorchamps in 93, having fun for Gerhard birthday in the Ferrari motorhome.

"Of course, Ferrari wasn't great in 1993. I was very much hoping that John Barnard could solves our problems, but he couldn't. Meanwhile Ayrton won five races at McLaren – but I'm not so sure if the wins were more due to Ayrton than anything else".

Finally, one week before the race in Spa-Francorchamps 1992, Ayrton had a long meeting with Niki Lauda (who is the only driver that was champion with the 2 biggest teams of F1) to set up his move to Ferrari, but it didn’t go well : “Lauda was sorry to say that he couldn’t promise me a victorious car for 1993. He guaranteed that I’d be a god on the team, but he could only foresee me winning the championship in 1994.” So at the time, Senna gave up the idea of racing for the italian team. It worth noting that Lauda was at the time a consultant at Ferrari, hired by Luca Di Montezemolo (President of Ferrari and his ex Team Manager when Lauda won his first title with Ferrari in 1975).

Ayrton had a meeting with Lauda in 1992 and wanted to organise his departure from McLaren to Ferrari with him.

Ayrton had a meeting with Lauda in 1992 and wanted to organise his departure from McLaren to Ferrari with him.

At the next GP in Monza Italy, Mansell announced the end of his F1 career and Honda their withdrawal from F1. 1992 was truly a year to forget for Senna, even if he had 3 fantastic wins.

End of part 6. The story of Senna and Ferrari continue to it's final chapter in the 7th and final part : drivetribe.com/p/ayrton-senna-and-the-ferrari-connection-XTOYi3SRR5-xu-lDO-2G_A?iid=QMjH55whTP6nQEYEHnFIuw

Lauda and Berger... 1992-93 were difficult time for the Scuderia.

Lauda and Berger... 1992-93 were difficult time for the Scuderia.