Ayrton Senna and the Ferrari Connection Part 5 : 1990

This is what we should have seen in 1991... A red Ferrari with the yellow helmet of Ayrton Senna gracing it... Sadly it wasn't mean to be.

This is what we should have seen in 1991... A red Ferrari with the yellow helmet of Ayrton Senna gracing it... Sadly it wasn't mean to be.

Summer of 1990, Senna had signed a pre-contract with Ferrari and Fiorio to drive for them while in the mean time, Prost and Ferrari just won 3 races in a row, Mexico, France and England.

Things looked perfect but "that's exactly when things went wrong" as recalls a bitter Cesare Fiorio some ten years later in an interview. "When I came to Ferrari in early 89, no one seemed to care about the Scuderia. It's your business, do wathever you want with it... But when victories came back and that the success was here again, thanks to our efforts, a lot of poeple tryed to make these wins their wins !"

"Within them, there was Ferrari chairman at the time, Piero Fusaro. He was a bureaucrat and was clearly suffering from being left on his own to lead Ferrari, while I was having a incredible time with the Scuderia".

Fusaro was a man of truth of the FIAT camp, but he was not into F1 at all nor in the sport in general. Ferrari was enjoying his best seaon in the sport since 1979 and : "one day he decided that the problems of the "gestione sportiva" were solved and that he didn"t needed me anymore !!!" says Fiorio. "He decided to open a war against me and his strategy to get rid of me was simple..." "While the victory in the championship was getting close with Prost, Fusaro went right to see Alain to tell him I was going to hire Ayrton as teamate for 1991!"

Because of this, the relationship between Alain Prost and Cesare Fiorio deteriorated quickly. Prost saw this as a betrayal as he left McLaren because it was "impossible to work with him (Senna)".

Piero Fusaro (in the center) with Enzo Ferrari (on his left) and Luca Di Montezemolo (on his right).

Piero Fusaro (in the center) with Enzo Ferrari (on his left) and Luca Di Montezemolo (on his right).

"I had planned to explain everything to Alain, but before I wanted to be sure that everything would be sure and deal sealed with Ayrton. By talking to Prost and selling my intentions, Fusaro knew exactly what he was doing. Either Alain would leave the team, either the venue of Senna would fail. In any case I would have to pay it with my place at Ferrari".

In fact it was even simple than that : "One day, Fusaro called me to tell me that negociation with Senna were over and that he would not come to Ferrari. It was the worst scenario, a total disaster. How could I say that to Ayrton ? It was a complete desavowal from my president. The only solution for me from that point was to leave Ferrari. To save the appearences in front of the press, we told them that having Prost and Senna in the same team was mission impossible and the our common sponsor with McLaren (Philipp Morris) was not happy to see Ferrari cut the grass under their feet".

All this for that result in the end. The last part of the 1990 season was a disaster for Ferrari, first with the Mansell-Prost incident at the start of the Portugese GP and then with the personnal "Vandetta" of Senna crashing into Prost at Suzuka.

Now, some 28 years after the Suzuka GP of 1990 and knowing this story, the controversial Senna crash into Prost at the first corner of the japanese Grand Prix takes another dimension. It's not difficult to imagine how furious and disgusted Ayrton was at the time. This is just another reason for it.

Rethink of the this crash now that you know all this story... Makes sence ?

Rethink of the this crash now that you know all this story... Makes sence ?

In an 2000 interview for french magazine Autojournal, Fiorio is still convinced that having Senna and Prost as teamates in Ferrari was possible : "Alain was a professional, three times world champion, it was not a new confrontation with Ayrton that could have frightened him. On the other hand, when I was in rally, I already went across this kind of situation. I always did my best to have the best drivers and always managed it right. Champions are maybe hard to manage, but champions gives you victories, idiots never".

After all these year, is there any animosity between him and Prost ? "No. Not at all. Two years later we understood that Fusaro had us up against each other. And when Alain bought back Ligier in the mid 90's, we worked together again and everything went fine".

"It really is painfull to think aboout that because it's really sad. Ferrari would have been really really tuff to beat in 1991. It would have been really hard for our opponents".

In a 2014 interview Fiorio did for the 20 years of Senna death, he said : "The truth is what it was in 1990. Of course I didn't do that on my own for my personal satisfaction. I did it for Ferrari. Since the day I arrived in Maranello, I did what I could to make Ferrari the best and the most powerful team. And back in the days, who else could achieve it than Ayrton and Alain ?They would probably have written the best pages of the Ferrari story".

EPILOGUE

In may 1991, right after the Monaco GP, Cesare Fiorio was fired from Ferrari by Fusaro for the bad results of the Scuderia in the first few GPs of the season. Neither Prost or Alesi did won a signle race that year. After the japanese GP, Prost was sacked from Ferrari by Fusaro because he reportedly said that "the car was driving like a truck". Fusaro was himself fired by FIAT for all his stupid decision. Luca Di Montezemolo was hired back at Ferrari as chairman and tried to no avail to bring back Prost for 1992. Ferrari entered the least succesfull period of it's history and didn't score a single win before 1994. That low point underwent until 1996 and the venue of Michael Schumacher.

Ayrton Senna on the other hand went on to win the 1990 and 1991 world title with McLaren Honda.

End of part 5. The story of Senna and Ferrari is not finished yet and continue on part 6 as other tentatives happened. Read it here : drivetribe.com/p/ayrton-senna-and-the-ferrari-connection-FORbcFk5S5uPnsqRvdtvIw?iid=MWKjptWQTD2fXHZsQWqHSw

Senna on the podium in Suzuka after he won his 3rd world championship in 1991.

Senna on the podium in Suzuka after he won his 3rd world championship in 1991.

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