Overtake, the art of overtaking

THU the second part.

British GP 1987

In a season dominated by Honda engines, the two Williams monopolized qualifying on Saturday, with Nelson Piquet ahead of local idol Nigel Mansell. The day after the start, however, they were mocked by Prost's McLaren, who attempted to impose the pace on the race. A useless attempt since after a few corners he is overtaken by Sir Frank's two cars, elusive both for the Frenchman and for Senna's Lotus, fourth. The Williams strategy was that neither driver would have to change tires during the race, however a tire pressure problem began to affect Mansell from 12^a returned, causing him to progressively detach himself from race leader Piquet. It's obvious for the mechanics to have to change strategy at this point, but it's a little less obvious to start again with a big disadvantage and win the race. And so on the thirty-seventh lap the Briton returns and replaces the set of tyres, restarting hastily: the disadvantage over his teammate is 29 seconds and the laps at the end are 28, which means recovering over a second per lap. Well, the "Lion of England", favored by the performance of the new tyres, began to set fast laps after fast laps, reaching its peak on lap 58, when it caught up with Piquet. He waits for another lap to find an opening to overtake, until he sees it: he joins Piquet on the straight Hangar and then with a textbook maneuver, first feint on the outside, then cut on the inside, inserting it into the curve Stowe leaving at a great pace. Today this overtaking is known as the "Silverstone Two Step" and greatly excited the British public who stood up on the steps waving their flags to the sky. In the end Mansell reaches the finish line exhausted and shortly after the checkered flag the car stops without petrol, leaving him "prey" to his compatriot fans who pick him up still inside the cockpit and take him to triumph after the magnificent performance.

Hungarian GP 1989

Once again we find Mansell making a spectacular comeback, perhaps even more difficult than the one just mentioned two years earlier. In the meantime, the Englishman moved to Ferrari and made his debut with an unexpected victory in the first Grand Prix of the season, in Brazil, but then a void for 8 races, with many difficulties and little satisfaction. The Hungarian weekend also promises to be difficult when at the end of qualifying the Ferrari number 27 is only twelfth, more than two seconds behind poleman Riccardo Patrese, who in the Williams had broken McLaren's supremacy. In the race, however, the Leone's spirit is practically uncontainable: he starts well and despite being in the middle of the group after the first hairpin he has already gained four positions, finding himself 8th. Patrese leads in front, followed by Senna and the other Ferrari driver Berger. On lap 16 Mansell, having gained another position, finds himself close to Boutsen and Caffi: he solves the "practice" with great ease on a narrow circuit like the Hungaroring and takes fifth, behind Prost's McLaren, scoring the fast lap so much so that the English commentators expressed themselves with the phrase: «He is absolutely Flying!». How can you blame them since he was going 2 seconds per lap faster than the leaders and there were still 55 laps to go until the end. Berger's entry into the pits and his subsequent retirement allowed him to gain fourth place while his gap from the Patrese – Senna – Prost trio dropped to 4 seconds. With a further push he is close to the leading group and does not hesitate to overtake Prost exiting turn 3. On lap 54 Patrese is forced to retire due to problems with the radiator of his Williams and the challenge is reduced to the Senna-Mansell duo , with the Ferrari driver hot on the heels of the world champion. And so we arrive at the 58th lap, where the Lion of England launches its winning attack: it is practically attached to the tail of the McLaren when, exiting turn 3, Senna finds himself having to lap the Onyx of the Swede Johansson. Mansell seems to replicate what he did shortly before to the detriment of the Brazilian's teammate, throwing himself to the outside and removing both the lapped rider and Senna, immediately closing the trajectory to leave no room for a reply. A reply that would never have come because Ferrari's pace is monstrous and in fact when the second place finisher, that is Senna, crosses the finish line, he arrives 25 seconds behind.

Japanese GP 1989

As in 1988, at the penultimate race of the world championship we find the two McLarens fighting for the title, only that Senna needs a victory to keep his championship hopes open, as the gap from teammate Prost is 16 points. On Saturday it was the Brazilian who prevailed by winning yet another pole position but on Sunday it was already clear from the start that things wouldn't go exactly smoothly. In fact, the traction does not favor him and the "Professor" has a better starting point, taking the lead and setting a high race pace. Senna seems to be in difficulty so much so that after a few laps his gap is 5 seconds, any hope of reopening the championship seems impossible. But then a slow recovery begins lap after lap until on lap 46 the two McLarens are one behind the other with the '88 world champion looking for a possible gap to gain the lead. And so we arrive at Casino Triangle, a right-left to be taken at low speed which is reached after very strong braking. And here the overtaking happens - a crime that still today causes discussion among Formula One fans and experts. Prost leaves a space to the left of him to set the ideal trajectory, the same space that Senna uses to enter and attempt to overtake after an exceptional braking. The Frenchman closes, the two cars come into contact and end up wide on the exit route, the race seems over. But while Alain calmly gets out of the car, Ayrton waves his arms out, signaling to the stewards to push his car along the emergency lane. So they do and he manages to restart and get back into the race, returning to the pits a lap later to replace the broken front wing, recover the deficit on Nannini and go on to win under a cheering crowd. Senna's joy was interrupted after the lap of honour, when he was informed of his disqualification for cutting the irregular track, as reported by the FIA. For him it was the greatest injustice he had ever suffered while Prost celebrated the title with a race to spare. For further information see the following article.

One might wonder if it was a real overtaking that Senna made enough to be listed here. Ignoring the controversial side of the story, yes, it certainly was and is still one of the most famous today, with Ayrton who made a powerful breakaway and managed to almost completely flank Alain, we don't know how the rest would have gone but he would have put on a show, like a crossing of trajectories or a head-to-head along the starting straight. The fact that they then came into contact was the spark that exploded the long period of tension between the two champions, but as everyone admitted, the Brazilian's disqualification was not due to that, excluding any act of malice on both sides. As magnificent as it was different in terms of the consequences to which it led, that Overtaking deserves to be included and is one of the main pieces that make up the legendary Senna – Prost challenge.

Keep it going…

Andrea Villa