13 replies to this topic

[MichiganF1]

Michael Andretti has said Senna was one of his few boosters and even called a press conference to denounce his firing. Just wondering if MA is suffering from selective memory.

[911]

Although I don't have specific quotes, I do remember Senna being supportive of Michael. Remember in Surfer's Paradise, 1994? Senna was one of the first to congratulate Andretti on his win.

911

[kenny]

I remember him saying something like

If he was in a Williams right now, he would be doing very well...
etc..

and yeah, Senna was one of the first to congrats him, when MA got back to the states

[312 PB]

if my goal
was to have slow teammate
i would be mad
when he left too

[Williams]

I think that Senna just had a lot of respect for the fact that Michael was a successful CART (rather "IndyCar") racer, for the fact that Michael was his father's son, and the fact that Michael had the cojones to give the big leagues a try, albeit a not very effective one. A lot of people concluded that Michael was just a complete wanker after his F1 venture failed, but even the best have their failures, and Senna may have recognized that.

[wati]

Senna said he couldn't understand why didn't MA come to live in Europe. This way, he could test more.

Wattie

[aportinga]

Now I have bashed MA in prior posts - out of frustration that he didn't stick around F1 long enough. However I understand that Senna genuinely felt sorry that MA was given the short end of the stick.

Even so if you look at the season...McLaren just getting the Ford engine at the 11th hour as well as signing Senna very late, it does make sense that the team would focus 100% of their effort on Senna so as to provide him with a decent challenge to Prost in the Williams. Senna knew this and understood the reality of the situation. I think he felt however that RD should have inspired MA to stick it out for one more season.

It was just a bad situation all around for MA. Senna knew it and was the only guy to express this publicly.

Senna was good about that when it came to some teamates. Others well....

[senninha]

Originally posted by 312 PB
if my goal
was to have slow teammate
i would be mad
when he left too

Is THAT driver wich offered to drive for free on same team than Alain Prost (4x WDC) at the same year (93)?

Some posts are ridiculous when only try to down some driver ...

[312 PB]

i'm not gonna get into it with you

[Dudley]

I remember him saying something like

If he was in a Williams right now, he would be doing very well...

If Ricardo Rosset was in the 1993 Williams he would have been doing very well

[Spunout]

"Is THAT driver wich offered to drive for free on same team than Alain Prost (4x WDC) at the same year (93)?"

Yes but he wanted to Williams only because McLaren wasn´t good enough to fight for WDC. Williams was superior and naturally he wanted to be in a best car even if it would have meant being a teammate of Prost.

[MattPete]

Originally posted by aportinga
Now I have bashed MA in prior posts - out of frustration that he didn't stick around F1 long enough. However I understand that Senna genuinely felt sorry that MA was given the short end of the stick.

That's my recollection, too.

For those of you who were around then, you might remember that Hakkinen had the role of McLaren tester locked up. I'm not sure what their logic was behind this, but that meant that Senna and Andretti often had no experience with the new mods until shortly before the first practice session. That might not seem like a big deal with today's cars, but back then, they were on the bleeding ege of introducing computer controls. I remember one race in which both Andretti and Senna had freakish accidents at the same corner during a practice session. As it turns out, there was a bug in the software and the active suspension was having a bit of a hiccup at that part of the track.

Although the lack of practice was only a minor inconvenience for Senna, it was a big deal for someone like Andretti who was new to the circuit.

Let's also not forget that Andretti originally signed for McLaren-Honda. McLaren lost the Honda engines and spent most of the winter testing potential replacements (Lamborghini, Ford). McLaren were rather late in chosing an engine, and considering that the engine is a vital structural member, this couldn't have been good for the final chasis charachteristics.

Either way you sllice it, it wasn't a good year for Senna or Andretti. Senna was experienced enough (and powerful enough) to be able to slough off these annoyances. But for a rookie, it was devastating.

In the end, Senna was pretty unhappy that Andrettii was fired. Senna was never a fan of the political aspects of F1 (which is one of the reasons he tested the Penske), and I'm sure it left him pretty angry to see those politics destroy a promising young man's career.

[wati]

Originally posted by MattPete

Let's also not forget that Andretti originally signed for McLaren-Honda. McLaren lost the Honda engines and spent most of the winter testing potential replacements (Lamborghini, Ford). McLaren were rather late in chosing an engine, and considering that the engine is a vital structural member, this couldn't have been good for the final chasis charachteristics.

Didn't know McLaren tested lambo engines. Where? When? Any pictures available?

Wattie

[MattPete]

Originally posted by wati


Didn't know McLaren tested lambo engines. Where? When? Any pictures available?

Wattie

This article mentions it as occuring in the autumn of 1993, but I swear I remember them testing a white McLaren-Lamborghini in On Track before Andretti made his debute:

http://www.grandprix.../eng-lambo.html