Senna To Ferrari in 1991...
Discussion
Gaz. said:
I still don't think it would have changed Ayrton's fate. The Williams of 1992-1993 was on another planet compared to the Mclaren & Ferrari and he'd have still driven for them at the earliest opportunity.
Yep. interesting point about Senna wanting Steve Nichols on the design team. The MP4/4 was really a Steve Nichols design with input from Gordon Murray.
Mobile PH playing up again.Would be interesting what other specific things were discussed. At the time it was considered Senna was stalling McLaren so he could earn more money.
Williams too wanted Senna but their next choice was Alesi. In the mean time Mansell would announce his 'retirement' when the reality was that nobody else wanted him.
Alesi ended up signing for Ferrari and Williams then turned to Mansell, and the rest is history.
Williams too wanted Senna but their next choice was Alesi. In the mean time Mansell would announce his 'retirement' when the reality was that nobody else wanted him.
Alesi ended up signing for Ferrari and Williams then turned to Mansell, and the rest is history.
Gaz. said:
I thought Mansell approached Williams rather than being turfed out to make way for Alesi? I don't remember the 80's too well but I don't remember Williams being able to dictate the driver market on the back their 88/89/90 seasons?
Yep, that's why Mansell 'retired'.Williams were like Ferrari, waiting on Senna and Alesi was hot property at the time.
Interesting that the design of the '91 McLaren MP4/6 converged somewhat with the Ferrari 641 w.r.t. the move to V12 power (and later semi-auto gearbox) and the Ferrari-esqe sidepod design. Almost like McLaren tried to build a Ferrari despite beating them in the previous years championships.
dr_gn said:
Interesting that the design of the '91 McLaren MP4/6 converged somewhat with the Ferrari 641 w.r.t. the move to V12 power (and later semi-auto gearbox) and the Ferrari-esqe sidepod design. Almost like McLaren tried to build a Ferrari despite beating them in the previous years championships.
They were able to beat them mainly due to grunt, in the twisty s the Ferrari was all over themGaz. said:
I thought Mansell approached Williams rather than being turfed out to make way for Alesi? I don't remember the 80's too well but I don't remember Williams being able to dictate the driver market on the back their 88/89/90 seasons?
Sad thing is the 89-90 williams was the best car on the grid, held back by journeyman drivers, imagine what senna could have done with them...markcoznottz said:
Sad thing is the 89-90 williams was the best car on the grid, held back by journeyman drivers, imagine what senna could have done with them...
When Mansell tested the 1990 Williams with softer settings he was IIRC from his autobiography was over a second quicker than Boutsen...Senna also tested an Indycar in 1992, but it is widely believed it was only to put pressure on the F1 people to keep him there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5pwFSjO5bs
http://www.auto123.com/en/racing-news/penske-engin...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5pwFSjO5bs
http://www.auto123.com/en/racing-news/penske-engin...
Montezuma also claimed to have been talking to Senna in '94, just days before he was killed.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/113706
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/113706
LdM said:
"He wanted to come to Ferrari and I wanted him in the team," said di Montezemolo.
"When he was in Italy for the San Marino Grand Prix, we met at my home in Bologna on Wednesday 27 April.
"He told me he really appreciated the stand we had taken against the excessive use of electronic aids for driving, which didn't allow a driver's skill to shine through.
"We spoke for a long time and he made it clear to me that he wanted to end his career at Ferrari, having come close to joining us a few years earlier.
"We agreed to meet again so as to look at how we could overcome his contractual obligations at the time.
"We were both in agreement that Ferrari would be the ideal place for him to further his career, which to date had been brilliant, even unique."
"When he was in Italy for the San Marino Grand Prix, we met at my home in Bologna on Wednesday 27 April.
"He told me he really appreciated the stand we had taken against the excessive use of electronic aids for driving, which didn't allow a driver's skill to shine through.
"We spoke for a long time and he made it clear to me that he wanted to end his career at Ferrari, having come close to joining us a few years earlier.
"We agreed to meet again so as to look at how we could overcome his contractual obligations at the time.
"We were both in agreement that Ferrari would be the ideal place for him to further his career, which to date had been brilliant, even unique."
garycat said:
Senna also tested an Indycar in 1992, but it is widely believed it was only to put pressure on the F1 people to keep him there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5pwFSjO5bs
http://www.auto123.com/en/racing-news/penske-engin...
Again it was because he was stalling on a contract with McLaren. He ended up getting paid $1m a race which Ron was very reluctant to do because McLaren had lost Honda and ended up having to pay for Ford engines for half a season.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5pwFSjO5bs
http://www.auto123.com/en/racing-news/penske-engin...
Although impressed Senna knew Indycars were a couple of seasons behind F1 and that F1 remained the pinnacle.
Still, Indycars is still another of those what ifs...
The main reason Ferrari wanted driver aids banned, according to Patrick Head (his is the only view i've come across so please correct me) was that their driver aids were crap.
Not that I advocate the technology but generally teams who do protest its usually because they have a weaker car.
Not that I advocate the technology but generally teams who do protest its usually because they have a weaker car.
entropy said:
Again it was because he was stalling on a contract with McLaren. He ended up getting paid $1m a race which Ron was very reluctant to do because McLaren had lost Honda and ended up having to pay for Ford engines for half a season.
That was discussed on the Ted Kravitz Notebook program last night. The £1m a race story was just to get sponsors to keep bringing in the money to pay for customer engines and the development of the very complex car. I expect the actual contact between Senna and McLaren was quite different.thegreenhell said:
Montezuma also claimed to have been talking to Senna in '94, just days before he was killed.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/113706
Typical arrogance from Montezuma: Ferrari weren't doing particularly well in 92 and 93, that I recall ?http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/113706
LdM said:
"He wanted to come to Ferrari and I wanted him in the team," said di Montezemolo.
"When he was in Italy for the San Marino Grand Prix, we met at my home in Bologna on Wednesday 27 April.
"He told me he really appreciated the stand we had taken against the excessive use of electronic aids for driving, which didn't allow a driver's skill to shine through.
"We spoke for a long time and he made it clear to me that he wanted to end his career at Ferrari, having come close to joining us a few years earlier.
"We agreed to meet again so as to look at how we could overcome his contractual obligations at the time.
"We were both in agreement that Ferrari would be the ideal place for him to further his career, which to date had been brilliant, even unique."
"When he was in Italy for the San Marino Grand Prix, we met at my home in Bologna on Wednesday 27 April.
"He told me he really appreciated the stand we had taken against the excessive use of electronic aids for driving, which didn't allow a driver's skill to shine through.
"We spoke for a long time and he made it clear to me that he wanted to end his career at Ferrari, having come close to joining us a few years earlier.
"We agreed to meet again so as to look at how we could overcome his contractual obligations at the time.
"We were both in agreement that Ferrari would be the ideal place for him to further his career, which to date had been brilliant, even unique."
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