It was then that the friendship really began to develop. There is a myth that Berger taught Senna to laugh and Senna taught Berger to race, but the truth is a little more complex than that. As Berger admits: “Ayrton had a big advantage in that he already had a lot of race experience as he had started racing at four, whereas I was 21. He worked hard but I didn’t see him working harder than other top drivers – he just had a special talent for concentration. He was fully concentrated the whole time – he recognised his weak points and worked on them until they had been corrected. He really did have an unbelievable understanding of the whole show – the politics, the fights on the circuit, analysing technical data and driving lines. He understood the whole game.”
Senna’s mastery of Formula One was never in question. But he didn’t have the same strengths in all areas of his life. As Berger admits, the Brazilian was never worldly-wise. “As Ayrton had started racing so young, he never did anything else, whereas I had a lot of experience of real life and had already been through the discos and nightlife era. I had to bring something to the friendship that he hadn’t experienced and that was it. But it isn’t true I taught him to have fun – there is no one better than a Brazilian to know what to do in a disco – they are born to it. He just had to be led there and then he would get on with it.”
Because Berger has never spoken about Senna and the friendship they shared, he has allowed the many myths that have evolved over the years to go unanswered.
He says now: “In life, and above all in the world of motor racing, everyone plays a role. Senna played the role of the 200 per cent committed racing driver and I played the role of funny boy, but the truth was we were both committed to racing and we both had fun in our private lives. It was clear to both of us that we had a racing career ahead of us, and we had to concentrate on that.”
In 1990 Berger left Ferrari and became Senna’s team-mate at McLaren Honda when Alain Prost left to take his place at Ferrari. Senna had had an unhappy time with Prost and Berger proved to be a breath of fresh air, creating arguably the friendliest set-up between team-mates in the history of Formula One.
It marked the start of three years of happiness for both men. It was also the first real test of their relationship, as Senna was clearly the faster driver in identical cars. In the previous two years he had vanquished Alain Prost, often qualifying over a second faster. Suddenly he had a team-mate who was pushing him hard and qualifying within two-10ths of a second most of the time.
Berger remembers: “If you put all the qualifying times together then maybe I was closest to Ayrton. I saw his talent and experience, and I knew I couldn’t regularly beat him so I just did my best, and got as close as possible. But I didn’t fight him or let silliness destroy a good friendship. Maybe I did it differently from Alain.
“Obviously Ayrton was the dominant factor at McLaren – he was world champion, the best driver in the world, he had an unbelievable personality, and everyone was behind him, supporting him. But he never made me feel less because of that. Except at critical moments like when he was going for the world championship, I always had the feeling that the team was as happy if I won as if Ayrton won. Maybe that was because of the way I approached the situation.”
Berger has his own clear-cut ideas about why the Senna-Prost relationship was so full of conflict. “If you have someone like Ayrton or Schumacher as your team-mate then there are different ways you can handle it. At that time Ayrton was clearly the best and everyone knew that. Alain was in the same car and knew he didn’t have a chance of beating Ayrton in speed terms, so he realised quite quickly that pace couldn’t compensate. At that point he had the chance to say ‘okay, I’ll find my own level and work at that, and get the team working with me as well’. But he refused to accept the situation so it all became political – he found fault with everything, and didn’t hesitate to allocate blame. It caused a lot of aggravation and that was a problem for Ayrton, as he knew he was the best and that Alain was simply finding fault. It was clear there was going to be a big explosion.”
Not that everything was always smooth between Senna and Berger. Berger soon realised that his team-mate would use any method possible to maintain his advantage and would be completely ruthless in achieving his ambitions. He learnt this to his cost when he brought his Ferrari race engineer, Giorgio Ascanelli, with him to McLaren.
Ascanelli is regarded as a brilliant engineer, a technical genius who can grasp and solve a problem before the driver has even had time to step out of his car. Berger agrees: “Giorgio was my race engineer at Ferrari and he was the best. But I underestimated his importance – all I had to do was say three words to him when I came back to the pits and he would know exactly what I needed to go quicker. When I went to McLaren it all became more difficult – they didn’t understand as well, so I knew I had to get Giorgio to switch teams too. I finally managed to persuade him to move to McLaren and then Ron Dennis told me he was going to be working with Ayrton.
“That just summed up Ayrton. He realised that I was about to gain an advantage and corrected it before it had a chance to happen. It was my fault – I simply didn’t fight hard enough. Giorgio and Ayrton started working together and although they had a few problems initially, they soon became an unbeatable combination.”
Early in 1992 the Honda board of directors decided to pull out of Formula One. Soichiro Honda told Ayrton Senna before McLaren team principal Ron Dennis. And Senna told Berger. They both decided it was time they made their exits, as it was clear a down period would begin at McLaren without the Honda engine. As Berger says: “We agreed it was time to jump ship but we had different objectives. For me money was very important but Ayrton wanted to increase his success, so he was looking for the best technical option. At the time it was clearly Williams. Technical prowess wasn’t my motivating factor – I wanted to go back to Ferrari because I enjoyed being with the team and although it was bad technically at the time, that was a challenge to me as I knew that sooner or later it would come good again. I decided I would go back for the right amount of money and I got it so I went back. Ayrton and I spoke about it and I said ‘okay, I’ll go there and have a look, maybe I can move a few things, get things going and in a year or two you can come too’. In the meantime he aimed for Williams. Unfortunately his negotiations with Frank stumbled and so he had to stay at McLaren for another year. If he had joined me at Ferrari, I have no doubt that he would have enjoyed the same level of success as Michael Schumacher has had.”
Senna had already initiated a long dialogue with Frank Williams in order to secure a drive with the team. The only problem was his hated rival Prost had got there first. Berger says: “Ayrton told me he was going to drive for Williams – that he had fixed everything with Frank and the deal was going ahead. Then everything turned around and he said he was never going to work for Williams. Two months later he was back on the trail again. He said he had to try and drive for Williams because it was the only car that would allow him to win everything in the future. During this time there were continuous negotiations and it was clear that Ayrton was going to end up at Williams sooner or later. Ron tried everything to hold onto him but he didn’t have the right technical package, he only had money and Ayrton wanted world championships so it was clear that he was going to go eventually.”
Senna had a traumatic time with Ron Dennis over his departure. Berger says the Brazilian’s relationship with Dennis was ruptured: “Those kind of negotiations always destroy a little of the relationship and especially with Ron, who is very protective of his team. He always believes he has the best and can never accept otherwise, but everyone loved Ayrton as he did such a lot for the team, and after the negotiations were completed, the relationship with Ron was quietly put back in place.”
Before that Senna had no choice but to stay put and sign a provisional agreement with Ron Dennis for 1993. It led to a famous incident on a short helicopter trip when Berger tossed Senna’s briefcase out of the door mid-flight. He confirms that
this unlikely story is actually true: “Just after he had re-signed for McLaren we were staying at the Villa d’Este on Lake Como for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza in 1992,” says Berger. “That morning, just before we boarded the helicopter, Ayrton told me he had just agreed another year with McLaren. So when we were airborne I decided to throw his briefcase out of the helicopter – it was all part of the game at the time.”
The seven years Berger and Senna were friends has provided the Austrian with a collection of incredible memories that means he will inevitably one day write his own book about his time with his Formula One team-mate. But that is not for now – as he says, not enough time has passed yet.
At times Berger frightened Senna off the track. In 1992 Senna said: “He’s dangerous sometimes because you never know to what level he will play games. From that point of view he’s a difficult man, but on the other hand he has a good character and we have got along very well all those years.”
Berger has many special memories of Senna the driver. And surprisingly says his best performances came in his three races for Williams. “The most impressive times he put in were with Williams,” he says. “At the time it wasn’t really a car for putting on pole position but that didn’t bother Ayrton – he did it anyway. He was very special in qualifying.
“I remember one qualifying session with him at Imola when we were both driving for McLaren. I was quickest, then he was quickest, so I went quicker and then he went out again and went even quicker – we just drove against each other. Then we started to look at each other before the other one went out and after a while he undid his seatbelt, came over to me and said ‘hey, it’s becoming dangerous now’ and I said ‘yeah, let’s go and do another round’. He was able to rise to every challenge that was presented to him.”
Berger sees lots of similarities between Senna and Schumacher: “Ayrton and Michael are very similar in the way they approach things. When I talk to Michael he reminds me a lot of Ayrton, the way he analyses things and the wide view he has of everything. I don’t see anyone else in Formula One at the moment who is similar to Michael,” he says. “I had a very sensitive feeling for the technical side, for what had to be changed on the car, but these guys have a much better understanding of what to focus on. They don’t try and fix 10 things at the same time, they pick two and fix them 100 per cent, and that’s what really makes the difference. You can go for all 10 problems and fix them all one by one and go faster, but what really makes the difference is identifying the two or three problems that, when fixed, will really make you go quicker. Michael will recognise that difference – just as Ayrton used to. The car can be understeering, jumping, or whatever, but they immediately know which is the one factor that needs to be changed to make it go two-10ths of a second quicker. Most drivers don’t have that talent.”
Berger’s last memory of Ayrton is of him turning around to smile at him on the grid as the drivers’ names were called out and the San Marino crowd cheered. “It was the smile of a friend who was pleased to see the people’s support and love for me. That is the last thing I remember of him,” he says.
“After the accident some people were saying there was no problem, he was out of the car, and others were saying there was a big problem, but at the time I didn’t realise how bad it was. I had to stop the race after six or seven laps and come into the pits. Another driver – I don’t remember who – came up to me and told me Ayrton was in a bad way, that he was in hospital in Bologna and very critical. Then immediately after that, suddenly there was a mechanic flying through the air in front of me – the result of another accident – this time in the Lotus pits when Michele Alboreto lost a rear wheel during his pitstop. I was just sitting thinking ‘shit, what is happening now?’
“Sid Watkins was at the hospital with Ayrton and he told me it was very, very, very critical and basically there was no chance of him pulling through. Then they let me into his room and that was the last time I saw him. I spent a few minutes with him and then that was that. In this life you are a little prepared for death – in fact during my career a lot of my team-mates and friends have died – Michele Alboreto, Elio de Angelis, Manfred Winkelhock, Jo Gartner. But of all of them, Ayrton was my closest friend and although it wasn’t entirely unexpected, it really hurt.”
After he had said his final goodbyes to the man who had shared his life, Berger flew straight home to Austria and shut himself away in his house. “I didn’t talk to anyone for two days. I watched the telephone filling up with messages but I didn’t feel like talking to anyone about it as nothing could change things. I just wanted to spend some time alone before flying to Brazil for the funeral.” He and Johnny Herbert were the only two Formula One drivers to go to both Senna’s and Ratzenberger’s funerals.
Berger has had plenty of time to mull over the cause of that tragic accident, and come to his own conclusions. “For me it wasn’t an accident due to a lack of concentration, or a driver error, which you simply can’t have on a dry circuit at this corner. I don’t know what it was but for me it was a technical problem. Everyone has questioned Ayrton’s concentration and whether he was distracted by Roland Ratzenberger’s death the day before, but Ayrton was the master of concentration and once he was at the start he would have put away everything and concentrated on the race ahead. A professional racing driver can concentrate even in difficult times because he knows if he doesn’t it could cost him his life.”
Berger believes Senna was the best of the best: “Ayrton was a very special person. He had a very special way of presenting himself, of making his show, but he also had a big heart and looked after people around him. He loved Brazil – he was full-on Brazilian and very Latin. From time to time in the world you have someone really special, Enzo Ferrari was someone very special, but not just from the world of motor racing, it could be a president or a leader, or just an ordinary person with special qualities. For me Ayrton was one of these special people. In terms of performance Schumacher is as good as Ayrton, but from a human aspect Ayrton was one in a million. He was indeed a great and very special man. I miss him as a colleague but most of all as a very great friend, and he will never be forgotten.”
CHAPTER 21
1993: The Split with McLaren
A year of pleasure and complication
As 1992 ended and 1993 began, Ayrton Senna had plenty of time to relax, rest and review his life. At the end of 1992 he became a free agent and was out of contract with McLaren, which meant he had no sponsor commitments for the team and, more importantly, no testing to do. Senna hated testing – he thought it largely a waste of time. He also believed that endless grinding around the track dulled his driving edge. He preferred to leave it to others. In fact he often found test sessions were just thinly-disguised promotional events for McLaren sponsors, with him roped in.
Not being tied to a team meant that for almost four months he was able to indulge himself in the pursuit of pleasure and for the first few weeks of 1993, following the Christmas holiday period, he had few cares in the world. Only as January closed did a cloud descend over him, as he wondered if he had overplayed his hand with Ron Dennis.
When he returned to Brazil from Australia he had initially been depressed. He was badly disappointed that he had been beaten to the Williams drive by Alain Prost, and realised he should have made a different, more strategic decision at the end of 1990 when his contract with McLaren expired.
That winter his mood swung between giving up for 1993 – avoiding another frustrating year with no chance of winning or challenging Prost – and beating him with an inferior car. He doubted the wisdom of handing Prost the world championship without a fight. But no one would have been surprised if he had taken a year’s sabbatical, as Prost had done in 1992 before joining Williams. At the 1992 Silverstone race, when he realised that Prost had outfoxed him, he said: “I’d rather have a year off, like Prost this year.” In fact that is what most people expected him to do. All except him. In his heart of hearts, he knew he never cou
ld.
Being out of contract is a double-edged sword. It gives maximum flexibility, but the money is neither flowing nor guaranteed. However, that winter Senna refused to let concerns over money mar his time off. He decided to put it out of his mind and focus on his farm at Tatui.
The rebuilding and development of the farm was completely finished by early 1993. The work had taken several years, having started when Senna first took it over in 1989-1990. The end result was a total transformation – from a pretty mundane farm to something quite spectacular.
When the builders eventually left, it was clear that Tatui had been turned into a proper small estate in the old style. Although the original farming continued, the principal object of the estate was as a pleasure palace for Senna and his family.
The work to create this rural paradise had included some major projects, among them the joining of two lakes to create one huge water feature. Senna said: “There were originally two lakes, one higher than the other. We decided to join them to make one big lake of over a kilometre in length. The water is natural spring water, it is completely clean.” Once the work was complete, he then had the new lake stocked with over 100,000 fish so the family could enjoy some superb fishing.
Work on the main house took almost three-and-a-half years to complete. The main object was to ensure that the living rooms and 10 bedrooms all faced the lake so there were waterside views from all the main windows. As a finishing touch Senna added a boathouse and moved hundreds of trees around. He said: “Everything is facing the lake so there is always a view of the water. There is a tennis court right in front, and a boathouse on the left. We have tried to preserve the original trees so that the atmosphere and the environment remain as untouched as possible.” The house also had a magnificent swimming pool in front of the lake, and a world-class go-kart track down one side.
The Life of Senna Page 34