A Star Named Ayrton Senna Page #3

Now that's an act of trust or faith

or whatever you want to call it.

He explored his ultimate capabilities

more than any driver seemed to have.

The thing with him is

he was such a good driver...

that he used to adapt to the car when

he couldn't make the car go quicker.

He could make a wheelbarrow quicker.

He could make anything go quicker...

because he'd change the car,

but if he didn't get it to his liking...

then he'd adapt to the car.

How often do you have a car

that's perfect?

In a perfect car,

Alain Prost was unbeatable.

He was really good when the car suited

him, but it only happened a few times.

I was doing all the tests. He wouldn't

test in winter, I did the testing for him.

I don't think he was the best driver

in setting up a car...

but when it came to driving, mentally...

getting the pole and being quick

in one lap, he really was the best.

So I don't think I learned very much,

because...

it's a bit easier to learn about the car

and how you can improve the car...

than about the mental aspect, because

you can't change it just like that.

The demands of Formula-1 racing

are absurd.

A driver has an average heartbeat

of 180 per minute. It's madness.

And peaks of 220 and 230 beats

per minute.

And although they drive an open car,

the heat is terrible.

So the demands on the driver

are very different from other sports.

It's very stressful.

There were hardships, of course.

We'd work out at one in the afternoon,

the hottest time of the day.

Because what counted in Formula 1

was that the competition was fierce.

And the tougher it was,

the better for him. Why?

Because he was better prepared

than the others, the other drivers.

In those days, they didn't work on their

bodies, or feelings or on their mind.

That's why he became invincible.

I remember when we started with

meditation, he couldn't stop thinking.

He found it incredibly difficult

to do that.

But he got so involved

in the process of meditating...

that sometimes he'd reach

deep levels of meditation.

Levels that very few people

were able to attain.

It helped him to improve the lap times...

it helped him break records

and brought him many victories.

Because his concentration level

was at a maximum...

through meditation

and by controlling his breathing.

Monaco was a special place

for Senna.

He shot to fame by nearly winning it

in his debut season.

He'd go on to take victory

in the principality a record 6 times.

But in his first McLaren outing,

Prost thought he had him.

In Monaco, the weekend was not

very good for him.

On Thursday I was ahead of him...

and Saturday I was ahead of him

the whole day.

Until the last qualifying lap.

Where he just went real quick

and he took the pole for a little bit.

I couldn't imagine he'd come back like

that, since he wasn't doing that well.

Later he said in the press conference...

that he went outside the car.

And he looked at the car and saw

how it was behaving on the track.

He then realized what he was

doing wrong and what was wrong.

He came back into the car

and drove the perfect lap.

For me it was very difficult to hear.

But, in fact, it looked like everyone

needed a guy like that.

He was different.

I was too boring and he was different.

Once you're in it, you're in it

and you gotta go to the end.

Because you commit yourself to such

a level where there's no compromise.

You give everything you have.

Absolutely everything.

And sometimes you find even more.

Because it requires more if you want

to be ahead and win.

The uncanny will to win that he had

I've never seen in another sportsman.

I certainly haven't been connected

to anybody...

that had that feral determination to win.

It was just like Alain Prost said:

Ayrton is willing to risk

that little bit more than anyone else.

For him coming in second,

was like the first place for losers.

He hated that.

There was nothing for him but winning.

Losing for him was already bad...

but losing against me

was the worst thing that could happen.

His whole motivation

was to beat me.

I remember

we went to the Bercy Carting event.

He was there watching Alain Prost

driving a cart on the big screen.

He never took his eyes off that. And

he watched Alain Prost driving a cart.

He knew that to be world champion he

had to beat Alain, who was number 1.

I remember one race, Ayrton always

used to try so hard in qualifying...

that before he took off his overalls,

he'd sit in a corner of the truck...

to get his adrenaline levels

back down.

Alain and I looked at the times, and

Alain couldn't believe he was so quick.

Where is he beating me? Not here,

I'm quick here. How is he beating me?

And I said:
Look at Ayrton. He was

sitting there, he looked up and winked.

And I thought

he just felt so satisfied.

'I have beaten Alain,

and he knows I'm quicker. '

For him that was the stage

in his career where he thought:

Now I can begin to think

about becoming world champion.

When Ayrton came along, his approach

was in many ways similar.

It was cerebral,

meaning he used his head at all times.

But he did so with more dash and

determination than you saw in Alain.

Alain had plenty of determination,

but never exposed it.

Ayrton was all about drive and courage.

'Let's go for it, leave the rest to me. '

Formula-1 drivers, all sportsmen, are

very competitive. They're there to win.

And you had two very different

people in:
Alain Prost, the Professor...

who was quiet, very quiet.

Always spoke very quietly indeed.

Very, very smooth, very experienced...

up against Senna from South America

with a very different temperament.

So it couldn't have been better

from a commentator's point of view.

The fight that we were fighting

so hard...

was putting the performance of the car

and the team on a very high level.

If you talk about the briefings, we were

spending 3, 4, 5 hours in the briefing.

It was for two reasons:

First to improve the car and the team.

The second reason was to be sure

that we could not forget something...

that could suit us,

or suit me better than Ayrton.

Or Ayrton would want something

that suited him better.

At the end,

it became a psychological game.

There was no way I would leave

the briefing before Ayrton.

And Ayrton couldn't leave

before me anyway.

So we'd go out together.

I waited for four and a half hours

outside the motor home...

while they were having this minute

discussion about this or that.

And then the door opened

and Alain Prost came out.

He came down the steps and I said:

Alain, in God's name, what do you talk

about in there for 4.5 hours?

And he said:
Oh, Murray,

about this and that.

But I don't like to be

the first to leave.

The intense nature of the battle

between the McLaren teammates...

led to a deterioration

in their personal relationship.

Other drivers

weren't at the same level...

so Senna and Prost focused on one

another both in and out of the car.

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