Italian media have uncovered a sensational story that nearly saw Ayrton Senna, a titan of Formula 1, donning the iconic red of Ferrari in 1991. It’s the kind of revelation that sends shockwaves through the F1 community, reminiscent of the current buzz surrounding seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton’s unexpected transfer to Maranello for the 2025 season, stepping into the shoes left by a reluctant Carlos Sainz.
Sainz, with an open mind about donning the Ferrari red again in the future, shared, “Yes, I won’t be driving for Ferrari in 2025, but who knows what will happen in the future. I still have ten years of my career ahead of me.”
The bombshell Senna story traces back to an agreement reached in 1990 between Senna, then a driver for McLaren, and Cesare Fiorio, the Ferrari team boss at the time. Fiorio, now aged 84, reminisced, “We had agreed on everything. But Fusaro opposed it.” The opposition came from Piero Fusaro, Ferrari’s president before Luca di Montezemolo took over in 1991. The refusal, as Fiorio suggested, might have been either to not upset Alain Prost or to assert Fusaro’s dominance.
Fiorio disclosed, “Perhaps it was to avoid antagonising (Alain Prost), or perhaps because he wanted to make me understand that he (Fusaro) was in charge. Only he, I and the Ferrari board knew about that negotiation. Someone told Prost.”
In what would have been a groundbreaking move, Senna was poised to earn $30 million with Ferrari in 1991, setting a record at the time. However, Fusaro disputes Fiorio’s narrative, arguing that Prost circumvented him by appealing directly to the influential Agnelli family, leading to an irreversible decision. “This happened, and there was no going back on that decision,” Fusaro stated.
The controversy around Senna and Ferrari didn’t end there. After Prost was dismissed from Ferrari in 1991 for unfavorably comparing the team’s Formula 1 car to a “truck,” the team once again pursued Senna for the 1995 season. Jean Todt, the team boss at the time, recalled, “I offered him to move to Ferrari in 1995. He insisted on 1994 but we had Berger and Alesi under contract already. Then we know what happened,” a somber nod to Senna’s tragic death in 1994.
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