Flashback... August 2023

This is typical Ayrton Senna. On the grid for the 1988 French Grand Prix, Ayrton discusses the front-left pressure with McLaren tyre technician Chris Robson. Senna’s engineer, Steve Nichols, looks over their shoulders. According to Nichols, Ayrton would go into the minutest detail, talking about, for example, the effect of camber change under braking, on turn-in, mid-corner and on the exit of Turn 1. The same for Turn 2. Then Turn 3. An hour and a half later they’d reach the end of the lap.

Senna’s search for perfection was particularly crucial this weekend, not least because Alain Prost had been fastest in qualifying and denied his McLaren team-mate a record-breaking run of seven pole positions. It was their first season together. Bad blood between the two had not yet come into play, but Ayrton was very keen to close down Alain’s lead in the F1 championship.

Senna had been fastest in the 30-minute warm-up on race morning and needed to ensure he could maintain that pace during 80 laps. It was not going to be easy because the Paul Ricard track surface was more abrasive than most and a mid-race tyre change might be necessary for the first time in six grands prix. (This was when tyres were designed to last, and drivers could race hard from start to finish. A novel concept by today’s standards.)

As it happened, the pitstops came close to determining the outcome as Prost lost his lead when briefly delayed. But that did not take into account Alain showing uncharacteristic aggression that weekend by actually looking super-quick rather than catching you by surprise with his usual deceptive smoothness. Apart from sliding his McLaren and using the kerbs with abandon, Prost pulled off the overtake of the race when he seized an opportunity to trap Senna behind a backmarker and dive down the inside when Ayrton least expected it. To be fair to Senna, he was grappling with an inconsistent gearshift. But his troubles could have been much worse – and painfully personal.

As the pair ran flat-out, a trip across one particular kerb had dislodged a skid-block on Prost’s leading MP4/4. It went through the floor of Ayrton’s car and punched its way into the cockpit. Senna had felt a ‘bang’ somewhere beneath his backside – but pressed on because everything seemed OK. It was only when his mechanics subsequently examined the skid-block’s spearing trajectory that everyone realised how close Ayrton had come to an unexpected parts tweak that would have made his eyes water.