1988 F1 Season ((new)) [ 8K ]

On Saturday morning, Prost walked into Senna's driver room. No cameras. No engineers. Just the two men. "Ayrton," Prost said, leaning against the doorframe. "We are going to crash into each other. It's inevitable. But it doesn't have to be here."

After the race, Senna didn't speak to the press. He sat in the garage, still in his firesuit, staring at the wrecked MP4/4. Prost walked by, sipping water. "Unlucky, Ayrton," he said softly. It was not a comfort. It was a reminder.

"I mean survival," Prost said. "We are in the same car. If we take each other out, the title goes to…" he gestured vaguely, "…Gerhard Berger. Or God forbid, a Williams." 1988 f1 season

On lap 28, approaching the same chicane, Senna did not brake. He dove down the inside, a lunge from half a car length back. Prost, seeing the move, did something uncharacteristic: he flinched. He turned in late. Senna slid past, his right front wheel barely missing Prost's left rear. It was the overtake of the decade.

"Rules are rules," Prost said to the cameras. On Saturday morning, Prost walked into Senna's driver room

Senna looked up from his racing gloves. "If you mean the championship, Alain, I don't need your charity."

The race was chaos. Senna led from the start, but his engine began misfiring on lap 35. Prost closed in. Lap 42, the Lesmo corners: Prost pulled alongside. For two corners, they ran side-by-side, wheels almost touching, carbon fiber whispering against carbon fiber. Then Prost backed off. Not because he was afraid. Because he had done the math. If they crashed, he would lose the title, too. Senna held on to win with a dying engine, coasting over the line as smoke poured from the rear. Just the two men

What happened next is the stuff of myth. Senna drove like a man possessed. Lap after lap, he broke the track record. He unlapped himself. He unlapped himself again. By lap 27, he was in second place, directly behind Prost.