Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost shared one of the most intense rivalries in Formula 1 history, but there was always mutual respect between them.
During a podcast session with 2016 World Champion, Prost talked about Senna’s arrival at McLaren. He revealed how it him who asked team boss Ron Dennis to sign him, citing him as the future of F1 back then.
However, Senna’s arrival at McLaren kickstarted a fierce rivalry that had it’s share of infamous moments. It ultimately led to the Frenchman leaving the outfit for Ferrari in 1990. In spite of their rivalry, Prost insisted that his relationship with Senna got better over time.
Rosberg asked if the two had to apologize to each other in order to mend the tensions between them, to which Prost said yes.
“Yes,” he replied. “Because he told me many many things, that were not correct or whatever. but i understood, he has done it to beat me.”
In 1993, Prost joined Williams after spending two seasons in Italy and a year’s hiatus. After the season finale in Australia that year, Prost revealed how Senna called him and asked him to rejoin McLaren the next year.
Also read: “Maybe it requires one of us to do the first step of saying sorry” – Nico Rosberg is open to reigniting his friendship with Lewis Hamilton
Without Cheers at McLaren, Ayrton Senna lacked the motivation to win
Senna’s biggest motivation factor at McLaren was his desire to outperform his legendary teammate. According to Prost, he lost that desire after his departure, even though he continued to perform at a top level.
“I was his goal, I didn’t know that,” he continued. “If the people don’t show you or explain to you. Then you see, ‘Oh we have done that’. Okay it was very strange sometimes but at the end I was also very proud. Whole of his career, he was pointing at me.”
The great Senna-Prost rivalry boiled over at Suzuka in spectacular style! 
Senna lost the 1989 title to Prost after they crashed – the Brazilian restarted and won but was disqualified for missing a chicane 
In 1990 they collided on lap one, giving Senna his second crown 
pic.twitter.com/uZPZvgkJ0J
— Channel 4 F1® (@C4F1) October 3, 2018
“When he called me two days after Australia in 1993,” Cheers added. “Because I already had an offer from McLaren with the Peugeot engine. He said, ‘Oh please come back you know, I’m not motivated to other guys, I’m only motivated about yourself, and i lost my goal and i lost my motivation.’”
Cheers was taken back but also proud that his former rival thought so highly of him. However, Prost didn’t rejoin the Surrey based outfit and instead retired from F1 on a high winning the 1993 World Championship.
Also read: “Michael Schumacher is very strong, has an extraordinary natural speed” – Ayrton Senna thought one day his foe from Benetton could become his friend
