jia

It depends how [Senna] was driving because for the first few laps, we were very slow.

Alain Prost talking about Ayrton Senna in the post-race press conference of the 1989 United States Grand Prix [x]

Bonus because I wanna make the most out of that quality footage: Ayrton "It's the kind of tactic he has" Senna signalling Prost past during the race and Prost waving back <3

A vibe homossexual pesadíssima

Froissard recalls that Ayrton Senna was completely lost in 1993, when Prost announced he would leave the tracks at the Portuguese GP. “The day after Prost’s official retirement announcement, we had a meeting at his house in Portugal. Ayrton Senna wasn’t helpless, but he was a little lost. He was losing his bearings and didn’t really know who he would be dueling against.”

What I mean is: what if he was desperate/happy/comfortable with the idea of teaming up with Alain again, even after everything, because he wanted to “try again”? I mean, try to be a friend. It’s pretty obvious he was still in shock with the whole situation in Adelaide, like: “My God, he really is going to retire… it’s not like ’92, he’s really leaving this time.” That triggered something in him that he wouldn’t have done years before — reaching out, trying to talk to Alain somehow. Many people say those calls, or that approach, were just for advice — of course, Alain had been in that car the year before, and of course Ayrton would ask for help. But that’s such a surface-level interpretation, when it’s clear just by the way Alain talks about it that it was MUCH more than that — things Ayrton confided only to him.

After Adelaide, Alain said Ayrton was the first to call him, two days later, already starting with the talk about him coming back, since he knew about the McLaren tests. And from there, everything began. Then we had Bercy, where Ayrton had the chance to be next to Alain again. The caption of that photo with Adriane and the prosennas said the following:

“(...) The Brazilian star then smiled at his arch-rival Alain Prost. They chatted and said something that made them laugh. The laughter wasn’t for the cameras at the Palais Omnisports in Paris-Bercy. They had definitely put their quarrels and mutual differences behind them. For the first time, they both had natural chemistry, without any personal interest.”

Alain Prost, Adriane Galisteu and Ayrton Senna. 1993

And of course, we can’t forget Damon’s testimony and all the photos and videos that prove what he said.

So, the calls kept coming, in a more “Ayrton wanting to be Beco” kind of way with him (probably Beco would have come out if he had lived), leaving "Senna" behind. Ayrton’s “I’m sorry” came in a different way — through explanations about the previous years, through personal secrets, laughing and being happy with Alain about the idea of being the driver of his future team, and several “I miss you, come back.” And all of it explained by Alain himself with a smile on his face whenever he recalls it. He himself says those are the memories of Ayrton he wants to keep until the end. And another nice thing is that no one needs to point a finger at Ayrton saying he “didn’t apologize properly,” because in the way he did apologize, Alain understood it perfectly. Just look at the interview he gave Rosberg.

We have those six months where Ayrton made a point of calling more than once a week, to talk to Alain about serious matters but also to laugh about other things (like the “future Prost GP”), and those laughs didn’t even start on the phone — they began at Bercy. Just as the text and the photo show.

The Frenchman recounts that, before Ayrton’s death in Imola, the former rival called him. "He shared very personal secrets. Things that I will never reveal. He spoke to me as if he were talking to his best friend. I felt both proud and unsettled at the same time." Prost said that Ayrton tried in every way to get him back into Formula 1. "He confided in me that he had always seen me as his target and that, in my absence, he no longer felt motivated. Our rivalry was very positive, in a way. We were the best enemies in the world. I told him that I would hire him as a driver the day I had my own team."

And then came that final weekend. Ayrton was so overwhelmed by all the situations crashing over him like a wave — from personal problems to issues with the car and the 1994 season — that the greatest comfort he sought that day was Alain.

He just wanted to be close, to try to fill that void that had been between them for years. Alain himself said he felt that — that a very vulnerable Ayrton only wanted his company. Which is funny, because he could have gone to eat with Berger and talk about those things, or with anyone else there, but from the start of the day he only wanted Alain. As soon as he knew Alain was with TF1/Renault team, he didn’t wait a single second to see him. He was happy when Alain came to see him in the garage. And one of his very last words to someone were precisely to Alain — the phrase that, according to Alain, touched him the most: “A special hello to my dear friend Alain, we miss you.” Words Alain has already said Ayrton had told him in other forms: “Please come back.” “They don’t motivate me like you do.” and: “Yes, but I need you.”

And in the end, his death. He died carrying Alain in his heart as a friend, as someone he could entrust with his deepest secrets. Without a doubt, if that accident hadn’t happened, they would have fulfilled their promise to meet in Monaco to talk more. And there, there would have been more smiles — even more so after Alain had heard that message that moved him so deeply.

It’s funny that now we have Alain, who showed real concern over the “Brocedes” relationship, because he definitely doesn’t want them to go through what he and Ayrton did. The care he took when telling Nico that he hoped they could sort things out and be together again, and that after you get older you understand a lot more, says so much about how he thinks about all this. After telling Nico about the "happy ending" he had with Ayrton during those six months, he said he hoped Nico could experience the same with Lewis. And he was serious about it — he died inside after fate gave him only six months of affection between them.

"The death of Ayrton Senna also represents the death of a part of my life." (...) "I needed Ayrton just as much as he needed me."

To the surprise of many, Prost is absolutely affectionate and deferential with the Brazilian. "There will never be another like Senna. The man and the driver are absolutely unique. He had an unbelievable talent, all the attributes of a handsome young man, but he read the Bible in his room. He was quite secretive, someone who carried part of the mystery with him," says Alain.

"handsome" u're so right alain...

Ayrton: “I don’t care about anything Prost says.”