32nd, The Senna-Prost Saga: Inside the Intense Battle and Senna's Triumph at Suzuka '88
He’d come this close, nothing would stop him now. Was this destiny? Perhaps, if you believe in such things. For the rest of us, it was a performance of sheer guts and determination from the most driven man we’d yet seen in Formula 1. He just refused to lose.
But that first title so nearly slipped from Senna’s grasp when he stalled from his pole position. The slope at Suzuka’s startline saved him, Ayrton just managing to bump start his Honda as McLaren team-mate Alain Prost disappeared into the lead. Now the comeback began.
As Senna charged, Prost found himself distracted – not the first time in ’88 – by the ‘minnow’ that was Ivan Capelli in his Leyton House. The turquoise March even led briefly, before the Italian’s brilliance was curtailed by electrical failure. But now Prost had Senna on his tail.