F1 fans call Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost’s 1989 crash at Japanese Grand Prix the “ultimate grudge match”

Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost’s rivalry is counted among the most intense even today. Such was the inter-team competition between the two McLaren drivers that, despite coming from the same team, the McLaren duo clashed with each other at the 1989 Japanese Grand Prix, killing all chances of at least one of them taking the number 1 slot on the podium.
One has not seen a rivalry as serious as that of Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost. The tension between them to win at any cost reached an all-time high when they crashed at the Suzuka Circuit in 1989. Prost retired after the crash, and Senna won, only to be disqualified later along with a hefty fine of $100,000 and a six-month ban. Things turned even worse when Senna blamed Prost for the incident.
As Formula 1 shared a post to revisit the moment ahead of the upcoming Japanese Grand Prix on April 6, F1 fans were quick to react to the epic moment. Giving a reminder to the current F1 teams, an X user wrote, “F1 teams need to keep this in mind: unhealthy rivalry on the track can cost you everything.” Another reacted, “An iconic moment that changed the season. Suzuka 1989 – unforgettable.” An X user called it “the greatest rivalry in all sports combined.” A comment also read: “Senna vs Prost, the ultimate F1 grudge match.” Some also wrote while remembering Senna, “Miss this legend!”


As if this was not enough, their rivalry continued when Prost moved to Ferrari, and the two once again got involved in a similar crash at Suzuka a year later. Senna rammed his car into Prost ahead of him at the 1990 Japanese Grand Prix.
Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost were almost unbeatable when they raced for McLaren together and went on to win 15 out of 16 Grand Prix as a team.
Senna and Prost had reconciled years after Prost’s retirement in 1993. Prost had once told Canal+ channel, “In the six months before his death, we spoke regularly on the phone, sometimes two or three times a week. He was not the same anymore, he even begged me to come back.”
Also read: Here’s how fans at Suzuka make the Japanese Grand Prix the most special race of the year
Senna died during the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix at the Imola Circuit in Italy when his car crashed into a barrier. Several films and shows have been made about his life, and all of them revisit his rivalry with Prost.