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"I'm not going to celebrate like some people that it's 20 years on," says Alain Prost of the anniversary of Ayrton Senna's death at Imola on 1 May 1994. "I can answer these questions about him, no problem - he was an exceptional guy - but I just don't see it the same way as the other guys do."
To understand why, you have to appreciate the background of their shared history: Prost and Senna fought out what was arguably Formula 1's greatest rivalry. After becoming team-mates at McLaren in 1988, the first spark flew when Senna aggressively shoved Prost towards the pitwall at Estoril during the Portuguese GP, later prompting the Frenchman to state: "Sometimes I admit I was frightened by him; he was prepared to do anything."
"I don't keep any bad souvenirs in my mind about him. I keep the last six months [of his life] in mind. That's when I knew Ayrton more than ever before. He was completely different, I understood who he was" Alain Prost
Apart from several media spats that occurred before Senna was crowned world champion in 1988, the true ignition point for their bitter conflict was Imola '89. Senna passed Prost on the approach to Tosa at the restart after Gerhard Berger's fiery crash, breaking what Prost saw as an agreement not to pass each other there. But Senna was adamant he had the move completed before the corner, so in his mind that didn't count. Whether it was gamesmanship on Senna's part or twisting logic in his own favour, Prost was furious and their enmity would run and run.
