The Mclaren Honda Years

At last, Senna moved to Mclaren to finally have a chance of winning the World Drivers Championship. This moved brought about the most compelling combination of drivers and the engine manufacturer. When Senna moved to Mclaren so did Honda; therefore, creating the best combination of chassis and engine. Honda at the time had the best engine and who ever uses the Honda engines will surely be competitive. While the Honda supplied the best engine, the Mclaren team was good at building a world beater chassis, aerodynamics, and everything else that is included in the Formula 1 car. So the combination of the Honda and Mclaren resulted in a team that was invincible.

Mclaren got the best combination of engine and chassis, but also the drivers. Prost was already established himself in Mclaren as the team leader. Senna's skills were in the same calibre if not better than Prost. So the best drivers in Formula 1 in the same team, the battle for supremecy will wage on until one succumbs to the better driver.

The battle begins in 1988 season as the first Grand Prix in Brazil was well underway. At first Senna got the pole, but the car had problems so he had to use the spare car. The highlight of the race in Brazil was of course Senna scything his way up from the back of the grid to 2nd place. His great drive was in vain though because he was blacked flag for using the spare car. Nonetheless Senna showed how good he was by beating almost everybody except for Prost. Then at the San Marino GP he left Prost by a long shot. As the season progressed, the battle was intensified and the Mclaren drivers were getting pressured amongs themselves. The cars that they were both driving was invincible and this shows by the wins they were getting. The Mclaren team almost recorded a perfect record for the whole season. They dominated all the races except in Monza where Senna had a collision with Jean Louis.

Despite that predicament the team was able to pull an outstanding record of 15 of 16 races victory. This record still stands today, unbeaten and probably will stay that way for a very long time. Now in order to for Senna to win, he had to have more victories than Prost in order for him to clinch the title. So he did by beating Prost in Suzuka. This was an exciting race because Senna had to catch up to Prost in 14th place. Senna's immense concentration and consistent fast laps enabled him to catch up to Prost and overtake him before the end of the race

The domination of Mclaren Honda still continued in 1989, even though the turbo's had gone away. Mclaren still managed to create another car which dominated the entire field. The bond between Mclaren and Honda was strengthened and they continued to produce an outstanding results. It's hard to keep two great drivers in one team and this showed in the way Prost was accusing the Mclaren of favoring Senna. Thus, in the end of the season Prost will opt to move to another team.

The clash of the titans rage on in the 1989 season and both drivers were fighting all out in the track. Sometimes Prost beats Senna and sometimes Senna beats Prost, the decider of the championship was again held in Suzuka. There was a lot of controversy that went on after the collision of both Mclaren drivers. Senna was trying to overtake Prost before entering the chicane, but Prost shut the door on Senna. While Senna continued to race because of the help the marshalls, however; Prost went on to retire. Meanwhile, when Senna went to the pit to change his nose cone, he only loss the position to Alessandro Nanini. With stupendous drive by Senna, he caught up with Nanini and gracefully passed him in the corner where Senna and Prost had their altercation.

Yet despite of Senna's effort, he was disqualified after the race because he was cutting the corners in the chicane. That and other politics that came along, to deny Senna the glory he deserved. Balestre, a good friend of Prost was the president of the FIA, so in favor for Prost. Balestre launched an attack to Senna to completely render Senna's achievement in 1989 useless. Senna continued to race despite this hardship, he had to endure this season.

Now for 1990, after the departure of Prost to go to the Ferrari. Gerhard Berger was there to replace him. Although Berger was no threat against Senna, they both got along just fine. As usual the combination of Mclaren Honda was a strong package. Senna went on to win a lot of races in 1990 and he was closing in on a 2nd world title. Only his nemesis Prost can detract the title from him and he came quite close doing it in a Ferrari. Down to the wire again in Suzuka where the two collided last year. In 1990 same the same thing happen, but it was Senna that did the ramming. He exacted his revenge by plowing on Prost's Ferrari. Senna took the World Drivers Championship in 1990.

In 1991 there arose a challenger for Mclaren Honda, and it was the Williams Renault. Renault was supplying the engines for the Williams and they both produce such an outstanding results. Senna was not intimidated by this and he went on to claim poles and win races early on to leverage his chances on winning the title again. As the season progressed the Williams car were getting faster and faster. The Mclaren Honda team was having a hard team dealing with the supreme power of the Williams Renault. It was up to Senna to stop this rampaging force.

Nigel Mansell was driving for Williams in 1991, so he was the one that led the team to win races in 1991. Nigel was so close to winning the title in 1991 that Senna was desperately trying to keep up to Mansell car's blistering pace when they were racing for the title. One of the highlights of the season was when Senna won in Brazil GP. He was exhausted and injured after the race, yet he still won the race. His car's gearbox was stuck and he had to drive the car like that for the whole entire race. He won but with his arm was severly injured. This conveys to you that Senna's determination and persistence to win a race was burning in himself . The decisive race was again in Suzuka where Senna had won most of his championship from. Senna took the championship again because Mansell made an error in which he tried desperately to overtake Senna but he ovedid it and he slid off the gravel.
Senna now joins the elite 3 time world championship club and he still have a lot of races in him. But From 1992 to 1993, Williams dominated the race and Mclaren was on the declining point. Also Honda pulled out of the Formula 1 after 1992, so that left Mclaren searching for an engine the can match the Renault. Mclaren did choose the lower spec Ford engine in 1993. Senna was not in the mood to race after failing in 1992. And his nemesis Prost was in the seat of the best car in the grid, this was a sign for Senna that he didn't have a hope of winning the title in 1993.

Although Senna drove for Mclaren in 1993, it was a race by race basis. He didn't fully commit to the whole season in the beginning of the season, but as time goes by he saw the car was improving bit by bit, so he commited to finish the whole season. Senna won 5 races in a car which was nowhere near the Williams performance, this showed his ability to trancend the cars limitation. After Prost claimed his 4th title, he decided that it was finally time to quit. Senna saw this opportunity and quickly decided that he will race for Williams in 1994.

After 6 season of driving for Mclaren, Senna went on to Williams to better his chances of winning another title. Senna had the most success with the Mclaren team and after his departure, the team will miss him badly.