01/05/2020
NEWS STORY
On a day we remember the passing of three-time world champion, Ayrton Senna who was killed on 1 May 1994 in the San Marino Grand Prix, his former manager has revealed that history might have been somewhat different had the Brazilian been less loyal to Honda.
Speaking in the Beyond the Grid podcast, Julian Jakobi reveals that for 1992 Williams had agreed a deal with Senna, who at the time was driving for McLaren-Honda.
Though the deal was done, he opted to remain with the Woking outfit out of loyalty to the Japanese manufacturer, eventually joining Williams in 1994.
"Ayrton wanted to go to Williams, but he was loyal to Honda," says Jakobi. "His basic instinct was to go to Williams earlier, but he was loyal particularly to Mr Kawamoto, who was the president of Honda.
"He was very close to him, because Honda had basically brought themselves and Ayrton to McLaren in 1988, and they'd won three championships together.
However, admits Jakobi, "even in late '91, when he won the third championship, he didn't feel instinctively that the Honda was what it was, and he was worried about the future".
Expecting the deal to be signed over the course of the Spa weekend in 1991, following a late-night telephone conversation with Kawamoto, Senna opted to remain with McLaren.
"I remember going to Spa with two contracts for Ayrton, one for McLaren and one for Williams.
Ayrton knew, I think, that he should have gone to Williams," says Jakobi. "We had both contracts ready to sign. And we thought on Sunday morning that he was going to sign with Williams. But then he'd spoken to Kawamoto overnight in Japan, and he came in on a Sunday morning and said: 'I'm going to stay another year'. So he stayed at McLaren for '92."
Of course, 1992 saw Nigel Mansell claim the title with Williams, but had Senna agreed the history books would have looked quite different.
"He could have already gone for '92, and Nigel probably wouldn't have been there," says Jakobi. "for that's the year he won the championship.
"But then when Ayrton backed out, Mansell stayed," he continues. "So Kawamoto persuaded him to stay and that Honda would remain committed.
"It was a really difficult decision. And in the end it was down to him. All we could do was present both alternatives. In the end, he chose loyalty."
His loyalty was not rewarded however, for at the end of 1992 Honda pulled out of F1, leaving McLaren to rely on Cosworth power for 1993, the season which witnessed a number of Senna's finest performances, not least that at Donington. However, Jakobi reveals that the Brazilian came close to following Alain Prost's example in 1992 and sitting out the '93 season.
"Honda decided to pull out, and they told Ayrton I think three months before they told Ron Dennis, and he was devastated," reveals Jakobi. "Then we had to find another drive for '93. How close did he come to not driving in 1993? The answer is pretty close."