1988 F1 Season

On Saturday morning, Prost walked into Senna's driver room. No cameras. No engineers. Just the two men. "Ayrton," Prost said, leaning against the doorframe. "We are going to crash into each other. It's inevitable. But it doesn't have to be here."

The race was a downpour. Senna danced on the knife-edge, spraying rooster tails of water, lapping everyone up to third place. He was a ghost in the rain. Then, with ten laps to go, he caught the back of the Williams of Nigel Mansell. Mansell, fighting for his career, didn't yield. Senna tried a daring move around the outside of the swimming pool chicane. The rear tires kissed the wet white line. The McLaren pirouetted into the barrier. 1988 f1 season

The first true spark of their "venomous" rivalry occurred at the Portuguese Grand Prix, where Senna aggressively squeezed Prost toward the pit wall at 180 mph. On Saturday morning, Prost walked into Senna's driver room

The car took 15 pole positions, often qualifying seconds ahead of the nearest non-McLaren rival. Senna vs. Prost : The Intra-Team War Just the two men

attempted to lap the backmarker Jean-Louis Schlesser at the Rettifilo chicane, the two collided. The McLaren was beached on the curb, its engine stalled.