How "devious" Senna thwarted a rising F1 talent's path to success
For Ayrton Senna’s third season in Formula 1, at Lotus, he was due to get a new team-mate. Derek Warwick, one of Britain’s top prospects at the time, had signed up after Renault's exit. But as this exclusive extract from his autobiography Never Look Back reveals, Senna didn’t want another super-competitive driver in the garage next door…
I headed towards 1986 firmly believing that I would be driving for Lotus as team-mate to Ayrton Senna. When I’d seen how badly my Renault prospects were sliding off the rails early in 1985, I’d worked very hard to pull off a move there.
I’d tested a Lotus-Renault 97T at Brands Hatch that season and it had gone very well. They wanted me and Renault were happy for our association to continue in this way, with Lotus now Renault’s spear-carrier for 1986 after the works team’s withdrawal. And with Elio de Angelis heading to Brabham, there was a seat available for me.
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