F1 | Todt: “We offered Senna a contract as a Ferrari driver for 1995”

Ayrton Senna in Ferrari. A market deal that, decades later, continues to be at the center of the media spotlight. Returning to discuss the Brazilian ace, who passed away following the terrible accident that saw him involved at the Tamburello curve on 1 May 1994, was Jean Todt interviewed by beIN Sports. At the beginning of his professional experience at Maranello, where he was head of Gestion Sportiva from 1993 to 2007, the Frenchman proposed a contract to the Brazilian for 1995, not wanting to break the existing contracts of Jean Alesi and Gerhard Berger for 1994.

The paths of Senna and Ferrari therefore did not cross even on that occasion, with the Cavallino team subsequently choosing Michael Schumacher to open a new technical and sporting project.

"A few weeks after my arrival at Ferrari I met Ayrton Senna during the Monza weekend, in the hotel on Lake Como where we were staying – declared Todt – I proposed to him to come in 1995, but he was pushing for 1994. We already had two drivers under contract, Jean Alesi and Gerhard Berger, so we couldn't satisfy his request, and when Ayrton asked me why I explained the situation. He didn't want to give up, saying that contracts don't count in Formula 1, but I told him that for me they must be respected. We offered him a contract for 1995, but we know what happened then".

Todt, continuing with his discussion, added the reasons that pushed Ferrari to want to focus on a top driver: "I wanted a top driver, when I arrived at Ferrari those responsible for the chassis said that you couldn't win because of the engine, for others the problem was the chassis, for others the responsibility was the drivers. So I said to myself, there is a variable that we can remove: if we take the best driver in the world, or at least a driver who is already world champion, we can eliminate an excuse. If we had Senna, no one would have been able to point the finger at the driver, which is why we later got Michael".