F1

When would Senna have retired?

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 17 total)
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  • #132910
    Lucas Wilson
    Participant

    As we all know, Senna died an immature death at Imola in 1994 ., Given he had survived the accident, when do you think he would’ve retired, and with what team?

    #229313
    David-A
    Participant

    Probably after 1995, with Williams at 36, after two epic championship battles with Michael Schumacher.

    #229314
    matt90
    Participant

    I think you mean premature.

    Maybe only 2 or 3 years later, depending how desperate he was to try and match Prost’s win- and Fangio’s championship-totals, and how much he wanted to put Schumacher in his place..

    #229315
    the_sigman
    Participant

    1996 as champion.

    #229316
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    I think he would have gone on until 1998 when Williams were uncompetitive. He more than likely would have won at least one title with them at that point anyway and surpassed Prost’s tally of race wins.

    #229317
    Kingshark
    Participant

    Williams had a habit of firing drivers after they won a WDC for them. They did it to Mansell and the same to Hill, hence why I predict 1996, after he won his 4th and final championship.

    I also don’t think Senna would’ve beaten Schumi in either ’94 or ’95.

    #229318
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    @kingshark I thought Mansell left Williams by choice because he didn’t want Prost as team-mate after their time at Ferrari, and that Hill was fired because he wanted a higher salary than the team were willing to pay.
    But I do agree that Senna would’ve had a tough time challenging for the ’94 and ’95 titles.

    #229319
    Aish Heydrich
    Participant

    @kingshark: Williams don’t fire drivers after they win WDC, what an odd thing to say. When the drivers get successful they demand more pay and Williams don’t do that. Same thing happened to Montoya and Ralf as well. Montoya wanted more money as he won a lot of races and Williams said no and hence he moved to McLaren. Lol. Fire after they win WDC.

    @matt90 Yeah he meant premature but that made me lol.

    #229320
    David-A
    Participant

    @full-throttle-f1 – I believe you have made a mistake saying “immature death”!

    #229321
    Simon
    Participant

    I started watching F1 on tv towards the end of ’95. Monza was my first race, i’ll never forget the Hill/Schumacher collision and Schumacher running over to confront Hill, how exciting for an 11 year old boy! Anyway I had no idea who Senna was and the tragedy the year previously, and i’ve always thought it would have been amazing to see him compete against Schumacher in his prime. I think Schumacher would have edged it in 94 with Senna getting used to the new team & car but I think Senna would have won 95 & 96 and retired satisfied with 5 world titles to Prosts 4.

    #229322
    Chicane85
    Participant

    i agree with s162000 on that comment, nice article, i was thinking of starting with this discussion

    #229323
    matt88
    Participant

    Rumours told that he would have wanted to drive a Ferrari sooner or later, and we Italians had strong admiration for Senna. Probably he’s been the most appreciated non-Ferrari driver of all times in Italy and, if I remember correctly, the ‘Avvocato’ Gianni Agnelli had a soft spot for him, so I’d like to picture how everything would have changed if he had moved to Ferrari in 1996 instead of Schumacher.
    Then, maybe 2-3 seasons trying to improve with his experience that dog of a car. Maybe he would have been able to win a championship earlier than Schumi. And then he would have retired, happy to have reached the tally of his former team-mate Alain Prost.

    #229324
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    @ Kingshark
    “I also don’t think Senna would’ve beaten Schumi in either ’94 or ’95.”

    Agreed KS- he would not have beaten him, he would have SMASHED him!! Schumi was good in 94 but I do think the team forgot the rules and still had the traction control in place- didn’t Shu & Hill go for the title in 94 or 95?? With all respect if Hill could (No- would have beat Schu if he didnt shunt him) IF Hill could beat Schumi, Ayrton would have it done n dusted!!

    Answer to the question: 1995- he would have been a 5 x WDC and had heaps to do in Brazil. Was keen on doing things for poor kids/people in his country- there was and still is heaps to do there. A lot of F1 fans saw Ayrton the driver- skilled , focused, the best, sometimes done some bad things- as a massive Senna fan I am not so stupid to say he did not cause 1989- he nor his fans are proud of that.

    But the man was the best I saw as a person who would make the world a better place after F1- we will never know but I had a beer for my old mates 53rd b/day 3 days ago! RIP !

    #229325
    matt90
    Participant

    The trouble is that even if he’d survived, he would have been 30 points behind Schumacher in a car which was fast, but very difficult to drive on the limit.

    #229326
    DavidS
    Participant

    The Ferrari theory is certainly an interesting one.
    It does imply that his Williams contract was for two years only.

    I think the 1994 Williams was just as good as the Benetton towards the end of the season, so he would’ve been challenging Schumacher in the championship.
    1995 however, the car was not on the same level as the Benetton throughout the season.

    My guess is that he would’ve had an ordinary 1995, and been looking for a drive at Ferrari, but they still would’ve gone with Schumacher because Senna would’ve been asking for crazy money, so Schumacher was cheaper and getting results.

    Continuing with Williams would be unlikely, because he would’ve demanded more money, and he would be frustrated with the car.

    I think he would’ve retired at the end of 1995.

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