This post tackles F1 Legends/ World Champions from the year 1985 to 1990. You’ll see from the list that the next few years were some of the most competitive years in Formula One history—with two drivers dominating in the circuit.
1985 to 1986 Formula One World Champion
Name: Alain Prost (Alain Marie Pascal Prost), OBE, Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur
Nationality: French
Team: McLaren
Career Highlights:
Championship Wins: 4
Race Wins: 51
Races: 202, with 199 starts
Podium Finishes: 106
Pole Positions: 33
Fastest Laps Set: 41
Brief Bio:
Born: February 24, 1955
Alain Prost is one of the most popular F1 drivers in the circuit. And rightfully so, after all, there are only two drivers who has won more F1 championships than Prost: Schumacher and Fangio. For 14 years, from 1987 to 2001, Prost kept the record for having the most Grand Prix victories. Prost had 51 Grand Prix wins under his belt. But during the 2001 Belgian Grand Prix, Schumacher managed to snatch this title away from the Frenchman.
In 1999, Prost was awarded the “World Sports Awards of the Century”, an award that was given only to the best athletes of this century, including Graf, Lewis, Ali, and Pele.
Prost started out pretty young. He started karting at the tender age of 14. In a few years’ time, he managed to win the European and French Formula Three championships.
At the age of 25, Prost joined the McLaren F1 team, where he experienced his first race victory at his home Grand Prix that year. A year later, he started driving for Renault.
Prost is well-known not just for his achievements but also due to his long-standing and exciting public rivalries with other F1 legends like Nigel Mansell and especially with the late and great Ayrton Senna.
Prost took a sabbatical in 1992, but returned in 1993 where he continued his on-track rivalry with Ayrton Senna. During the 1993 Australian Grand Prix, Prost’s last Grand Prix, Senna actually pulled Prost to the top of the podium for a friendly hug.
And when Senna was killed during the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, Prost was actually a pallbearer at the Brazilian driver’s funeral.
After F1, Prost went on to work as a TV pundit for TF1 and as a Renault PR guy. In 1997, he also founded Prost Grand Prix, an F1 racing team that lasted five seasons. Last I heard of Prost, he was participating in bike races (bike=bicycles not motor bikes), and pwning them!
1987 Formula One World Champion
Name: Nelson Piquet (Nelson Piquet Souto Maior)
Nationality: Brazilian
Team: Williams
(Click HERE to Read More about Nelson Piquet)
1988 Formula One World Champion
Name: Ayrton Senna (Ayrton Senna de Silva)
Nationality: Brazilian
Team: McLaren
Career Highlights:
Championship Wins: 3
Race Wins: 41
Podium Finishes: 80
Pole Positions: 65
Fastest Laps Set: 19
Brief Bio:
Born: March 21, 1960
Died: May 1, 1994
Ayrton Senna is arguably the most famous Formula One racer to have ever lived. There is no denying his talent, having won three Formula One World Driver’s Championships in ten years. His popularity extends years after he was laid to rest in Brazil in 1994.
Senna started his career in motorsports with karting. He later moved on to the British Formula 3 championships in 1983. The next year, he made his Formula One debut with Toleman Racing. This didn’t prove to be too fruitful at first. For in the next three seasons, Senna won just a total of six Grands Prix.
In 1988, Senna decided to join McLaren-Honda, where he and the Frenchman Alain Prost were able to win 15 out of the 16 Grands Prix that season. That year, Senna won the World Championship as well. The battle for “number one” between the teammates brought on a rivalry unlike any other. The extent of the rivalry between Prost and Senna was evident during the two championship-deciding Grands Prix collisions that happened in the 1989 and the 1990 Japanese Grand Prix.
Senna is now known as one of the greatest racers in Formula One history. He had astonishing speed and excellent control over his vehicle. From 1989 to 2006, Senna held the Formula One record for the most pole positions and was named the third most successful driver in F1 history based on race wins. He currently holds the record for the greatest number of victories at the Monaco Grand Prix.
While driving for Williams in 1994, Senna got into an accident on the third race of the season—the San Marino Grand Prix. Senna, who had not been able to finish the first two races that started the 1994 Formula One season decided that the Imola race would be his starting point in contending for the championship title. Who knew that this “starting point” would be the end of Senna as well?
For the final time, Senna held on to the pole position. His 65th pole. But while this should have been a good omen for the driver, Senna wasn’t feeling all too well that day.
Two things were bothering him. One: Roland Ratzenberger, an Austrian F1 driver, was killed during a practice run in Imola the day before. And two days before, Senna’s protégé Rubens Barrichello was injured in a serious accident that prevented him from participating in the race.
That morning, Senna spent the day meeting up with fellow Formula One drivers, urging them to form a Drivers’ Safety Group, “Grand Prix Drivers’ Association”, where he volunteered to be the leader.
Right before the start of the Grand Prix, there was a massive accident at the start line. The safety car ran a few laps with the drivers following without overtaking. During the restart lap, Senna drove furiously at high-speed, and just when he entered the Tamburello corner on his next lap, his car skidded off the tracks in high speed–hitting the concrete wall at approximately 135 mph.
Sid Watkins and his medical team extracted Senna from the car. The Brazilian champion was airlifted to Bologna hospital, where he was declared dead.
Reports and speculations indicate that it’s possible that what killed Senna was a right front wheel that dislodged itself from the car and hit the front area of his helmet at the right side. The force of the wheel hitting his head must have forced Senna’s head back against his car’s headrest, causing deadly fractures to the skull. There was also a piece of upright connected to the wheel that had partially punctured his helmet, creating a huge mark on his forehead. Reports also indicate that there was a piece of the upright assembly that had gone through the visor of his helmet, hitting him just on top of his right eye. Any one of these possible injuries could have killed him.
Amazingly enough, when the track officials decided to look through the wreckage of his car for evidences, what they found was a furled Austrian flag. Apparently, the good-hearted Brazilian racer was planning on winning the race and raising the Austrian flag to honor Roland Ratzenberger who had died the day before.
1989 Formula One World Champion
Name: Alain Prost (Alain Marie Pascal Prost)
Nationality: French
Team: McLaren
Another win for the highly-competitive Frenchman!
(Scroll Up read more about Prost)
1990 Formula One World Champion
Name: Ayrton Senna (Ayrton Senna da Silva)
Nationality: Brazilian
Team: McLaren
Senna Tidbit:
Senna’s death was a national tragedy. Even the Brazilian government felt the loss of the people’s idol, and even declared national mourning that lasted for three days. The day of his funeral, approximately three million people lined the streets to say their “goodbyes” to the great Brazilian racer. Some of the most famous motor racing figures also attended his funeral. Damon Hill, Senna’s rival Alain Prost, and former F1 World Champion Emerson Fittipaldi were pallbearers. Bernie Ecclestone, the Formula One Management president, wasn’t allowed to attend the event.
FIA president Max Mosley, however, opted not to attend Senna’s funeral. Instead, he made his way to Salzburg Austria to attend Ratzenberger’s funeral. Ten years later, Mosley explained his decision by saying: “I went to his funeral because everyone went to Senna’s. I thought it was important that somebody went to his.”
Sources: A Whole Lot of Wikipedia
Useful site!
