The French TV Canal+ is set to release a documentary in 6 parts on Alain Prost's life starting December 8th. The film offers an intimate look on his life, his Formula 1 career, and, of course, his rivalry with Ayrton Senna. Prost also opens up about his family, particularly his brother, whose serious illness unexpectedly led him to discover karting by pure chance. I hope the documentary will be later translated in english/portuguese and available on other platforms. You can already catch a preview through this interview : Prost talks also about certain misconceptions, especially those stemming from his portrayal in the 2010 film Senna. Interestingly, his most devoted fans today are not in France but in Brazil, where he maintains a respectful relationship with Senna’s family.
Actually he was asked about the Netflix show, he said he hasn't watched it but knows the script, and it seems that he didn't like what he read
I finally saw the Prost docuseries last week. It's pretty good. I'd watch it to balance out the Senna documentary. The truth is probably in-betweent the two.
I don't get the hate for Prost. Everyone who raced together with him said he just didn't show you his cards because he was also more intelligent than other drivers. The situation with Senna was the fault of both of them, their egos were too big. Maybe that wasn't characteristic of Prosts intelligence, but it was his decision as he felt Senna was pushing him aside. In the Senna documentary he hinted that they were already beginning to talk again and that Sennas anger now concentrated on Schumacher. Had Senna lived they would have shook hands at some point because it isn't an unforgivable crime for a race driver to be too aggressive pursuing the win, just dangerous.
A lot of it has to do with the way Senna has been canonized as Saint Ayrton since his tragic death, especially since the release of the documentary in 2010. The (really crappy) Netflix miniseries was even worse, in that regard. Prost is always portrayed as the villain, but as you wrote, both drivers are at fault in this rivalry. Prost is described in the documentary as "political", but Senna was just as political as Prost. And Senna was the most self-entitled driver ever. When he lost a race, he saw it as an injustice against him, as if he had a God given right to drive the best car and win every race. (The fact that he kept on mentioning God in his interviews was also really grating.) Reading this, you might think that I didn't like Senna, but on the contrary, I liked him a lot and I was devastated when he died. But I don't particularly appreciate the blind devotion of Senna fans who can't see the flaws behind the man's exceptional talent and charisma. Also, over the years, I've come to appreciate a lot more what Prost achieved in his career and how impressive his record is.
Movies often only tell half the story and the Senna movie made a great deal of how Prost used Ballestre to scheme against Senna but not enough how Senna used McLaren so that eventually all of McLaren was turned against Prost, a driver who had given them 3 titles. It's complicated but if his own team and his teammate had no loyalty to him of course he felt it was his right to make sure Senna did not pass him in the decisive race and then run to his friend Ballestre to lobby for Sennas disqualification. Not nice, but who cares if it is against former friends who already betrayed you? To this day the arguments of both sides seem to evolve around what started it but that also could have been simultaneous. Fact is he said his own team was only behind Senna and that Ayrton was "driving too hard". An accusation that many drivers made against Senna, of course Sennas skill made it look justified but at the same time it was impossible to have an equal driver in the same team with Senna. Prost looked less skilled in that crash but his strategy was sound. During the whole season he had said how he did not like the way Senna overtook or defended positions, and that the next time he would not yield and rather go out in a crash with him. I think in that final race he had calculated everything in advance and knew that Senna would eventually try to force his luck and since it would secure his title, he gladly accepted the invitation. What ruined his plan was only that Senna continued the race and won a heroic victory only to be get a disqualification for some technicality. This feels unjust, but I think what people overlook is how Prost was already in the defensive. If he had allowed Senna to get away with these maneuvres every time he would have won no more championships, and of course he was angry how Senna had "stolen" his status as McLaren. Prost felt he just defended his territory, and in a way he did, plus he was smart enough to leave at the right moment. Prost just felt he had merely been forced into those dirty trickeries, while Senna was more like Schumacher in that they left you no other choice and that those two would have been the more interesting duo. Who knows what drama was waiting down the road if there had been two prodigies at the same time, and how many times they would have collided. And I think Senna was the faster driver but maybe he was really driving "too hard" and a too reckless. To this day I wonder wether his ambition to show he was better than Schumacher (when the Williams clearly still had issues) was not pushing it too much. Had he just accepted that they needed a few more races he could have won the title back in the next year.
