Mar 02, 2008
The F1 championship in1991 could be considered as forward motion to the Senna-Prost battle. Ayrton Senna with his McLaren Honda came was prepared, confident and raring to go. The first race at Phoenix in the US was witness to Senna nicking the win. At Interlagos in Brazil, Senna claimed home ground and made the most of a good start by simply winning it! Senna would take hold of this race making no mistakes, including a pit stop to ensure the stability of his tyres to the end reaching 16 seconds ahead of Prost. A great start indeed for the revered race car driver! The Brazilians, for whom football was a religion, transformed into F1 addicts for their man, Senna. Ricardo Patrese, an immensely gifted driver finished second with Prost coming in fourth. However, Senna had got out of the blocks faster. Confidence is a sportsman’s best friend, and Senna had this to thank for his next race in Imola where his nerves were tested to the hilt. Gerard Berger finished second. By now, Senna was smoking hot. Monaco, with its yachts, caviar and high society was the perfect setting for Senna to flex his muscles and he thumped the rest of the pack with a big win. With four wins in four races, Senna could be forgiven if he thought racing was easy. But the beauty of sport is that it’s a great leveler. Nelson Piquet zoomed to his first win of the season with Senna leaving the race incomplete. Stefano Modena, a forgotten racer finished second. Ricardo Patrese was rewarded for his persistence with a win at Mexixo City. This was proving to be a decent season for the Italian. Nigel Mansell, seemingly out of depth in this season so far, decided to turn it on and roared to his first win ahead of Prost and Senna. Again, that old friend, confidence infused energy into the old man and his car, and they won by 42 seconds against a pack that seemed to drift into the distance! Mansell rounded of the hat-trick at the fastest track of the calendar, Hockenheim, Germany. Senna came out of hibernation with a win next at Hungary after a stiff battle with a rampaging Mansell. If Senna thought he had problems to fight with Williams and Ferrari for the last five races, this race was just one he would manage to win. Senna wanted this title bad, and it showed on the podium during the celebrations. Belgium went by without any hitches for Senna who by now had all but got his hands on the trophy. Mansell found his form again and drove his way to win next at Monza. Ricardo Patrese reminded everyone of his talent by edging past Senna at the post. Jean Alesi finished third. He had a satisfying season. Mansell won an uneventful race at Cataluniya. Prost, who by his standards had a mediocre season, finished second. Gerard Burger took the Japanese Grand Prix. Senna celebrated his season win with a win at Adelaide. He had established himself as a ‘winner’ with this championship triumph. Oh, and as for the Senna-Prost battle, Prost came nowhere near; Senna had 7 wins and was clearly ahead of the pack. There were bad moments too—Martin Donnelly suffered a huge accident at Jerez that put him in a wheel chair for life. Because only half points were awarded in Australia, by the end of the season, Senna was the world champion with 96 points while Mansell finished second with 72. Patrese finished third with 53 while Berger, fourth with 43. The promising Prost and Piquet finished fifth and sixth.