5 iconic sporting pairs who are always discussed together

Alain Prost – Ayrton Senna

Senna (L) and Prost were teammates at McLaren, a partnership that intensified their rivalry

Prost and Senna, with seven Formula One World Championship titles among them, shared one of the sport’s most iconic rivalries – but started out as teammates. In 1988, Senna was signed to McLaren – with their experienced driver Prost already a two-time drivers’ champion with the English constructors.

That team started out competitively. In his debut year at McLaren, Senna was adamant that he should prove himself better than Prost, and at the 1988 Monaco Grand Prix, raced out of his skin to gain a significant lead over Alain Prost.

But that race ended in Senna crashing out – and the Brazilian was so incensed by that crash that he did not even bother stopping over with the team, but went directly back to his apartment.

That crash put a dent in Senna’s ego, he later went on to say, and brought a new vigour into his racing. The teammates won 15 of the year’s 16 races between them, but their tense relationship remained – and was further strained when the two collided at the Japanese Grand Prix the following year.

But in later years, their relationship – strained, and yet tensely and closely competitive, warmed to an extent that the two would call one another over the phone frequently.

Senna would have safety concerns about racing going into the Grand Prix at Imola of 1994, and the night before the race, called his friend – Alain Prost, to discuss those concerns at a meeting the following day, immediately in the aftermath of the crash of Roland Ratzenberger.

The following day would tragically be Senna’s last, as he crashed at the exact same corner.

But in the end, Prost would be a pallbearer at Senna’s funeral only weeks later, marking a tragic end to what would have been a beautiful friendship.