Just days before his death, Ayrton Senna revealed shocking details to ex-Ferrari chairman about his Williams stint

Luca di Montezemolo has revealed details of his final conversations with Ayrton Senna, just days before the Brazilian driver died. The 78-year-old recounted how the former Formula 1 champion opened up about his stint at Williams Racing.

The former Scuderia Ferrari chairman, who spoke to the media during the premiere of his life documentary - ‘Luca: Seeing Red’, revealed how the three-time champion spoke about his unhappiness with his time at Williams and was considering a switch to Ferrari, three days before his unfortunate accident in Imola.

"Senna came to my house three days before he died at Imola. He wasn't happy with his position at Williams," he said as per a post shared by an F1 news account on X.

Ayrton Senna had only joined the Williams Racing outfit upon the commencement of the 1994 season. The former McLaren driver, who opted to join the Grove-based outfit, had largely been quickest on the grid through the three qualifying sessions he partook in throughout the campaign. However, Senna witnessed his three races that year end in DNFs largely due to the reliability surrounding the FW16 challenger designed by Adrian Newey.

Ayrton Senna’s passing at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix in Imola marked the start of a seismic change in relations to safety in Formula 1. The Brazilian driver sadly passed after suffering a freak accident on lap seven following a high-speed crash at the Tamburello left-handed bend at the iconic circuit.

Alain Prost on his relationship with Ayrton Senna

Earlier, Alain Prost recounted his relationship with Ayrton Senna. The former French driver detailed how close the pair became in the final months leading up to his death.

Prost, who witnessed his career largely marked by the rivalry with the Brazilian during their stint at McLaren, would stress how Senna often called him weekly during the final six months in the lead-up to the incident in Imola. Sharing his thoughts in an interview with RAC Motori (via Motorsport Week), the four-time world champion stated:

“He called me at least once or twice a week. Sometimes for nothing, sometimes for advice. It lasted six months until Imola. We became friends, we became close. It’s a new period that I would never have imagined before. I have an incredible memory of it.”

Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost were teammates for two years [1988 and 1989], during their years at McLaren. During both seasons, the pair witnessed the championship fight reach its climax with incidents deciding the championships in both campaigns at the Suzuka circuit in Japan.

The rivalry between the pair continued to boil over, and despite Prost completing a switch to Scuderia Ferrari, he and Ayrton Senna would have the championship decided through a controversial move by the Brazilian, who took out his French counterpart on the opening lap of the Mie Prefecture race to clinch the world title.