1988 Formula 1 Season
Ayrton Senna Crashed Out of the Monaco Grand Prix Lead
After only two Grands Prix it was clear that the 1988 Formula 1 World Championship battle would be fought out by just two drivers. The McLaren’s of Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna were so quick that no other team seemed capable of winning. Prost had won the opening race in Brazil, with Senna taking victory at Imola. The next round was the famous old race around the streets of Monte Carlo.
Senna’s Mistake Hands Prost Monaco Victory
Senna was in irresistible form during qualifying in Monaco. He finished the day almost one and a half seconds quicker than Prost in second. When the race started Senna assumed the lead, but Prost slipped behind the Ferrari of Gerhard Berger. It took the Frenchman over 50 laps to find a way past the red car, by which time Senna was long gone.
Despite having no chance of catching Senna in the time that remained, Prost upped his pace, lapping around two seconds quicker. Senna, needlessly, responded to Prost’s improved lap times. It was a costly mistake on the Brazilian’s part. At the corner before Monaco’s famous tunnel his McLaren slid off line, into the barriers and out of the race.
Senna was so distraught that he didn’t bother returning to the pits, and instead went straight to his apartment in the principality. A delighted Prost took victory, with Berger second and Michele Alboreto third in the other Ferrari. Senna is quoted in Christopher Hilton’s 1991 biography, “Ayrton Senna, The Hard Edge of Genius”, published by Corgi, speaking about his Monaco accident;
“The mistake I made changed me psychologically and mentally. I changed a lot inside. It gave me the strength and power to fight in critical moments… It brought me closer to God than I have ever been.”
Prost Beats Senna in Mexican Grand Prix
Senna responded to his Monaco Grand Prix disappointment in the best way he knew how, by taking pole in Mexico. A frightening accident occurred in qualifying when Phillipe Alliot’s Larrousse crashed hard into the pit wall. The Frenchman survived relatively unhurt.
At the start of the race Prost made a better start from second on the grid and passed Senna. The Frenchman was still ahead at the end of the race, with Senna in second. Behind the dominant McLaren’s came the Ferrari of Berger in third and the similar car of Alboreto in fourth. From Mexico the Formula 1 teams and drivers made their way to Montreal for the Canadian Grand Prix at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
1988 Formula 1 season review continues here.
Nigel Mansell, 1988 Williams F1
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