Four-time Formula 1 world champion Alain Prost has posted a one-word tribute to his former rival and friend Ayrton Senna. Alongside the word, “remembering,” he shared a photo of the two on the 31st anniversary of his tragic passing, just days ahead of the 2025 Miami Grand Prix.
The rivalry between the two drivers is often seen as being one of the fiercest the sport has known. Senna joined the French driver at McLaren in 1988, and the pairing became so dominant they won 15 out of the 16 Grand Prix races of the season.
The following season, the competition between the two became even more intense, with it coming to a head at the 1989 San Marino Grand Prix when Senna passed Prost in a move that Senna believed was against a pact they’d agreed on ahead of the race. This lit a fire between the drivers – a fire that would burn until Prost retired following his success with Williams in 1993. Things simmered at this point, but the next year saw Senna’s untimely death.
“Sometimes I admit I was frightened by him; he was prepared to do anything,” Prost said on their relationship.
Ayrton Senna, McLaren MP4-8 Ford
Photo by: Motorsport Images
In 1993, their relationship dramatically changed.
“I won the 1993 championship with a podium in Adelaide but Ayrton, who won the race, raised my arm and wanted to share the top step with me,” Prost recalled in an interview with La Repubblica. “That moment changed our relationship and today I can say our story was wonderful.
“There was a before and an after: Senna first saw me as the driver to beat. There are facts that confirm this. Then, when I retired, there was a completely different attitude. He no longer had the same motivation. Without me, he lost his goals a little.”
In March earlier this year, Prost admitted that he’d considered closing his social media after daily messages related to his rivalry with Senna – many of which were hostile.
“I get messages every day, really every day without exception – from time to time there’s a hateful one, that can happen,” he said.
“My biggest fan base on social media is from Brazil, of all places, so I’m forced to think of him. Indirectly, I’ve been living around this story for 30 years, and it will probably stay that way for the rest of my life.”
Last year, a mural of Senna was revealed at the Miami Grand Prix. Brazilian artist Eduardo Kobra revealed his tribute to Senna and it now stands at the Miami International Autodrome.
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