In Defence of Senna

Sir,

Following the 1989 Japanese Grand Prix, Alain Prost boasted that he had deliberately cut off Ayrton Senna and thereby caused their shunt at the chicane, “I was sure I was going to win or have an accident”. That is, Prost would rather collide with Senna than be passed by him; “I said before the race that if this happens I would not open the door.” It is this state-of-mind that also explains their collision the next year at the first corner of the Japanese Grand Prix.

But now we have DJT flailing away against Senna whom he claims “finally admitted he had taken the Frenchman out of the race” at Suzuka in 1990. For the supposed evidence he quotes Senna saying, “I did the right thing when we crashed at the first corner… What Senna, in his imperfect English, obviously meant was that he was in the right, and goes on to explain why. Anyone without bias who views a videotape of the incident would have to agree with him.

Charles Levy,

Mass, USA.