Editing Alain Prost (section)

====1989====
McLaren's domination continued throughout {{F1|1989}}, and with no meaningful outside competition, Prost and Senna's title fight turned inwards. Prost accused Senna of dangerous driving<ref name=":2" /> and dishonorable behavior.<ref name=":8">{{Cite web |last=Rubython |first=Tom |title=Atlas F1 Magazine: The Life of Senna: Six years of continual conflict |url=https://www.atlasf1.com/2004/apr14/rubython.html |access-date=2024-09-30 |website=www.atlasf1.com}}</ref><ref name=":82">{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=23 April 2018 |title=McLaren Racing – A 1–2 at San Marino |url=https://www.mclaren.com/racing/heritage/on-this-day-1-2-san-marino-2172059/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210302023439/https://www.mclaren.com/racing/heritage/on-this-day-1-2-san-marino-2172059/ |archive-date=2 March 2021 |access-date=12 February 2021 |website=www.mclaren.com |language=en}}</ref> After [[1989 San Marino Grand Prix|Imola]], the two drivers were no longer on speaking terms.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Arron |first=Simon |date=2021-11-24 |title=Racing's toxic rivals |url=https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/january-2022/70/racings-toxic-rivals/ |access-date=2024-10-02 |website=Motor Sport Magazine |language=en-GB}}</ref>

Prost also accused Senna of receiving unwarranted favoritism from McLaren-Honda. His suspicions were inflamed when Honda sent McLaren an engine crate marked "Special - For Ayrton."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Buxton |first=Will |date=2019-02-03 |title=BUXTON: The 2019 team mate battle I'm most excited about {{!}} Formula 1® |url=https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/buxton-the-2019-team-mate-battle-im-most-excited-about.2Ys3NYI5xuODTh9nATMEnt |access-date=2024-09-30 |website=Formula 1® - The Official F1® Website |language=en}}</ref> After Prost (who was in the last year of his contract with McLaren) threatened to join a rival team at the end of the season, Ron Dennis publicly backed Prost against Honda, "declar[ing] that the team had found consistent differences" between the engines that Honda assigned to Senna and Prost.<ref name=":212">{{cite news |title=Honda power casts doubts over Senna |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1300&dat=19890714&id=hclUAAAAIBAJ&pg=4917%2C2115752 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201201123447/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1300&dat=19890714&id=hclUAAAAIBAJ&sjid=aZEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4917%2C2115752 |archive-date=1 December 2020 |access-date=1 November 2020 |newspaper=The Age |page=27}}</ref> To accommodate Prost's concerns, Dennis attempted to allocate engines on a random basis, such as a coin flip or drawing numbers from a hat.<ref name=":162">{{Cite web |title=Ron Dennis on Senna - Part one: the early years |url=https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/features/2014/4/Ron-Dennis-on-Senna---Part-one-the-early-years.html |access-date=2024-09-30 |website=Formula 1® - The Official F1® Website |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Collantine |first=Keith |date=2009-01-10 |title=Ron Dennis on how the Hamilton-Alonso row compared to Senna and Prost |url=https://www.racefans.net/2009/01/10/ron-dennis-on-how-the-hamilton-alonso-row-compared-to-senna-and-prost/ |access-date=2024-09-30 |website=RaceFans |language=en-GB}}</ref> 

Matters came to a head at the [[1989 Italian Grand Prix|Italian Grand Prix]], where Prost burned his bridges with both McLaren and Honda. In advance of the Italian Grand Prix, he announced that he would drive for [[Scuderia Ferrari|Ferrari]] in 1990. Following his announcement, McLaren provided full support to Senna's title chase. Although Prost was the championship leader and would have been the natural candidate for priority, at Monza McLaren gave Prost one car and four or five mechanics, while Senna received two cars and 20 assistants.<ref name=":5" /> In addition, while the new Honda F1 leadership publicly stated that Prost was getting the same equipment as Senna, Prost publicly rejected Honda's reassurances. After Senna outqualified Prost by a mammoth +1.790 seconds, Prost once again complained about Honda to the press. Insulted, Honda threatened to withdraw its engines from Prost's car unless Prost apologized, which he did.<ref name=":19">{{Cite web |last=Milloy |first=David |date=2018-04-09 |title=Alain Prost: the Other Edge of Genius? |url=https://www.adrianflux.co.uk/influx/people/alain-prost/ |access-date=2024-09-30 |website=Influx Magazine |language=en-GB}}</ref> Ultimately, Prost won at Monza while Senna retired with an engine issue, giving Prost a commanding 20-point lead in the Drivers' Championship. Prost threw salt in the wound by dropping his winner's trophy into the crowd of cheering Ferrari fans, a major taboo at McLaren.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kumar |first=Tanya |date=4 July 2018 |title=F1: Top 5 Unusual F1 Podium Ceremonies, bet you never knew! |url=https://www.sportskeeda.com/f1/f1-top-5-unusual-f1-podium-ceremonies/5 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201201123507/https://www.sportskeeda.com/f1/f1-top-5-unusual-f1-podium-ceremonies/5 |archive-date=1 December 2020 |access-date=12 November 2020 |website=sportskeeda}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Six of the best – Unusual podium ceremonies |url=https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/features/2015/9/six-of-the-best---unusual-podium-ceremonies.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201108122207/https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/features/2015/9/six-of-the-best---unusual-podium-ceremonies.html |archive-date=8 November 2020 |access-date=12 November 2020 |website=formula1.com}}</ref> 

Following the tumult of the weekend, Senna opportunistically encouraged McLaren to fire Prost immediately, and Ferrari offered to accommodate the move by switching Prost with Ferrari's [[Gerhard Berger]] for the final four weeks of the season. Cooler heads prevailed, and McLaren allowed Prost to finish the season with the team in exchange for a public, written apology.<ref name=":18">{{cite web |date=January 1990 |title=Alain Prost Interview |url=https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/january-1990/57/alain-prost-2?v=7516fd43adaa |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230112191729/https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/january-1990/57/alain-prost-2?v=7516fd43adaa |archive-date=12 January 2023 |access-date=11 February 2021 |website=Motor Sport Magazine}}</ref> This concession eliminated the possibility that Prost would clinch the 1989 title in a Ferrari car.

Prost clinched his third Drivers' Championship at the [[1989 Japanese Grand Prix|Japanese Grand Prix]], the penultimate race of the season. Prost was 16 points ahead of Senna at the time, meaning that Senna needed to win the last two races. By contrast, Prost would automatically become the champion if Senna retired from either race, which was precisely what happened. Prost and Senna collided with seven laps to go, and Prost was widely blamed for causing the collision.<ref name=":5" /> (Prost was leading the race at the time and refused to leave a gap on the inside.<ref name=":18" /> Senna's normal practice was to line up his car for a crash and dare the other driver to back off,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-05-22 |title=How good actually was Ayrton Senna? Hint: Exceptionally |url=https://www.mclaren.com/racing/heritage/formula-1/drivers/ayrton-senna/how-good-actually-was-ayrton-senna-hint-exceptionally/ |access-date=2024-10-11 |website=www.mclaren.com |language=en-GB}}</ref> and as expected, Senna refused to yield and collided with Prost's car.<ref name=":18" />) Senna managed to restart his car and win the race, but the FIA (led by Prost's countryman [[Jean-Marie Balestre]], whom Senna disliked) disqualified him for missing the chicane, fined him US$100,000 for "dangerous driving," and handed him a suspended six-month ban.<ref>{{cite web |title=Grand Prix Results: Japanese GP, 1989 |url=http://www.grandprix.com/gpe/rr483.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060620101901/http://www.grandprix.com/gpe/rr483.html |archive-date=20 June 2006 |access-date=16 August 2006 |work=GrandPrix.com}}</ref>

Following the race, Prost admitted that "I know everybody thinks I did it on purpose,"<ref name=":5" /> but rationalized that "Senna came behind me, I didn't see him come and I couldn't do anything to avoid him. I am very sorry to have to finish[ed] the championship on such an incident."<ref>{{cite news |date=23 October 1989 |title=MOTOR SPORTS ROUNDUP : Senna Is Disqualified in Japan |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-10-23-sp-300-story.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201110172542/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-10-23-sp-300-story.html |archive-date=10 November 2020 |access-date=9 February 2021 |work=Los Angeles Times}}</ref> He later said that he knew Senna would attempt to pass him at the chicane, and while "I did not [crash] on purpose, I did not open the door."<ref>[[Senna (film)|''Senna'' (extended edition)]], at 0:54-0:55.</ref> McLaren, now fully behind Senna, unsuccessfully appealed the disqualification, which ''[[Sports Illustrated]]'' characterized as Ron Dennis "objecting to his [own] driver's winning the world title."<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Moses |first=Sam |date=1990-03-19 |title=Fireworks in Formula One |url=https://vault.si.com/vault/1990/03/19/fireworks-in-formula-one-amid-acrimony-ayrton-senna-won-the-us-grand-prix |access-date=2024-09-30 |magazine=Sports Illustrated}}</ref>