The well-deserved engagement of George Russell by Mercedes as a partner of Lewis Hamilton in the most dominant team in Formula 1 inevitably evokes historical comparisons with similar situations when a world champion welcomed a young gun into a large team.
Looking back on F1 history, Alain Prost, who welcomed Ayrton Senna to McLaren in 1988, has interesting parallels and lessons that the two Mercedes drivers will consider over the next year.
Senna was at Lotus in 1987 when McLaren and Williams dominated F1 in almost the Merc style of today; Teams that everyone wanted to drive for back then, serial winners.
At McLaren, Prost was the lead driver with Stefan Johansson in the other car.
At the end of this season they were beaten by Williams, whose Nelson Piquet and Nigel Mansell took first and second places in the championship and also won the ’87 F1 constructors’ title.
Senna was third in the Lotus, Prost fourth and Johansson sixth.
At that point, Ron Dennis realized he needed to strengthen his driver line-up for ’88 and decided that Johansson wasn’t ready for the job.
The team boss asked Prost who would be the best driver for the seat. Without hesitation, Prost said without hesitation: “Senna.” And the rest, as they say, is history.
29-year-old Senna came to Woking after winning six times for Lotus, while 33-year-old Prost was a 28-time Grand Prix winner and had two F1 world titles – 1985 and 1986 – on his résumé.
The “war” that followed spawned one of F1’s most celebrated and intriguing legends, transformed into the Senna film, and one of the most epic chapters in the history of the sport.
Perhaps the benchmark for conflicts at the highest level in our sport.
In order for the dust to clear, Prost had to move away from a booming McLaren team that just wasn’t big enough for two such big characters. Ron made his choice.
Finally, when the dust, smoke and tears had subsided, Senna had staged a real coup d’etat at McLaren, with Prost abdicating at the end of 1989 and taking this year’s F1 title to Ferrari. A few years earlier, he recommended leaving the Brazilian for the Woking driver’s throne.
The record after two years as a McLaren teammate: Senna won 14 and in 1988 the F1 title; Prost 11 wins and the F1 title in 1989.
Russell’s collaboration with Hamilton is a hot topic for discussion ahead of next season and is sure to make headlines if it all becomes a reality at the opening race of the 2022 F1 World Championship season.
How will Prince George measure up against King Lewis? Will it be tense or calm? Who will be devastated the most? Or will they live happily ever after? Who will run first? And how long does it take to do it? So much on the cards to unravel next season.
Either way, Hamilton and Russell will forge their own legacy with the Senna-Prost F1 history lesson to use to guide should times get tough. What’s more, it’s a partnership made for racing in F1 heaven.
The post Inside Line: From a world champion and a young gun first appeared on monter-une-startup.
