WI: Ayrton Senna joins Minardi (not as ASB as it seems)

While doing Formula One-related research for Player Two Start, I stumbled upon an interesting factoid about Ayrton Senna and Gian Carlo Minardi. For those not well versed in Italian, here's a translation:

The friendship with Ayrton Senna

Gian Carlo Minardi met Ayrton Senna in the early Eighties, when the Brazilian champion was racing in Formula Ford. Having caught the eye of Paolo Barilla, then a pilot of the Faenza team, Minardi himself was informed about Senna; Minardi then offered Senna about 50 million lire to run for him.

In a recent video interview released on Ayrton's birthday, Minardi said: "Ayrton thanked me, because I had been the first to make him a proposal of this kind, but he had other plans: he wanted to become world champion by 1988, something that eventually occurred ".

Minardi and Senna saw each other very often. Ayrton visited Gian Carlo during his Formula 2 races in England, and his father Milton spent a lot of time in the Minardi motor room. The Brazilian champion was very fond of the cuisine of Romagna. 1993 was a difficult year for Senna, due to Ron Dennis. Minardi said that at that time Ayrton often called him on the phone, and that he himself had conceived the famous formula employed by Senna with the McLaren team, that is, to agree on a race-by-race payment. According to the manager from Faenza, Ayrton told him: "I beat Fangio's record or I win five world titles, then I will run a year for you to make Minardi great".

This never happened, following the fateful accident of Imola in 1994.

Most likely, this would've gone about as well as Schumacher's brief stint with Mercedes (that is, not very well) but, considering the lowly profile of the Minardi team, having a surviving Senna on board would probably generate a lot of hype for the Faenza team, bringing some much needed money to the Minardi paddock. Maybe Senna alone won't be enough "to make Minardi great", but could there be a way for Senna's brief stint in Minardi to coincide with the start of something greater for the privateer team best known for its excellent coffee?

Many of the young drivers that began their F1 career with Minardi went on to become good to excellent (Fernando Alonso, man) drivers, so a world championship wouldn't be that unlikely... :p And, having a Brazilian start a golden age for a team memetically associated with coffee would be... quite fitting, to say the least. :p

PS: according to this article, Senna was willing to race for Minardi FOR FREE. Dude was dead serious about wanting to finish his career there.
 
It would be interesting to see what engine deal Minardi could secure thanks to Senna's involvement in this ATL.

There were rumours about Senna signing to Ferrari prior to his death, and those rumours were close to being fact; he might spend a few years in Ferrari and then move to Minardi, with Minardi securing an engine deal with Ferrari as part of the package. Senna!Minardi however would probably race in the colours of Banco Nacional, the Brazilian bank that was Senna's main sponsor.
 
Last edited:
There were rumours about Senna signing to Ferrari prior to his death, and those rumours were close to being fact; he might spend a few years in Ferrari and then move to Minardi, with Minardi securing an engine deal with Ferrari as part of the package. Senna!Minardi however would probably race in the colours of Banco Nacional, the Brazilian bank that was Senna's main sponsor.

So Senna in this scenario would have likely continued racing until around 1997-1998 (possibly even up to 2000 and thereby match Riccardo Patrese's long F1 career)? Wonder how his potential presence at Ferrari impacts Michael Schumacher, whether the latter would have also moved to Ferrari as in OTL, opted for another team or stuck with Benetton?

It seems premature for Senna to move to Ferrari for 1995 when Williams had a significantly improved car for the next 3 seasons from 1995-1997.
 
Last edited:
So Senna in this scenario would have likely continued racing for around 1997-1998 (possibly even up to 2000 and thereby match Riccardo Patrese's long F1 career)? Wonder how his potential presence at Ferrari impacts Michael Schumacher, whether the latter would have also moved to Ferrari as in OTL, opted for another team or stuck with Benetton?

It seems premature for Senna to move to Ferrari for 1995 when Williams had a significantly improved car for the next 3 seasons from 1995-1997.

Schumacher was too good for Ferrari to ignore, maybe in 1996 and 1997 Senna and Schumacher will both drive for Ferrari - with Senna in a role more closely resembling that of a mentor than that of an expendable second driver whose only role was to cover his teammate's shoulders. Hill and Villeneuve will still win the 1996 and 1997 championships but, with the Senna/Schumacher duo being what it is, both championships will be absolutely insane. Barrichello and Irvine will both stay at Jordan for the 1996 season, their paths diverge in 1997 (with Barrichello joining Stewart as in OTL while Irvine could end up at Sauber instead) and in 1998, when Senna joins Minardi, Irvine gets scooped up by Ferrari.

As for Senna's partner in 1998 Minardi, Trulli could hang around for one more season, I guess. Not many people would turn down the opportunity of racing alongside Senna.
 
Schumacher was too good for Ferrari to ignore, maybe in 1996 and 1997 Senna and Schumacher will both drive for Ferrari - with Senna in a role more closely resembling that of a mentor than that of an expendable second driver whose only role was to cover his teammate's shoulders. Hill and Villeneuve will still win the 1996 and 1997 championships but, with the Senna/Schumacher duo being what it is, both championships will be absolutely insane. Barrichello and Irvine will both stay at Jordan for the 1996 season, their paths diverge in 1997 (with Barrichello joining Stewart as in OTL while Irvine could end up at Sauber instead) and in 1998, when Senna joins Minardi, Irvine gets scooped up by Ferrari.

As for Senna's partner in 1998 Minardi, Trulli could hang around for one more season, I guess. Not many people would turn down the opportunity of racing alongside Senna.

Which team would Martin Brundle likely race for in 1996?

Would be fascinating if Minardi gets at least Sauber+ spec Ferrari engines should Senna's move also come with a Ferrari engine deal (particularly as part of a wanked Minardi ATL scenario), Mugen Honda though started to enjoy some success from 1998 onwards at Jordan.
 
Two roosters in the same henhouse? There's potential for trouble there.

Exactly. :p

PS: I have to make a correction here, it seems that Todt wanted Senna, yes, but around 1990, so he'll most likely stay at Williams before joining Minardi.
 
Last edited:
Ferrari certainly had a bad period from 1991-1995 even Prost could not save them, whereas William were dominant up to 1997.

Like the idea of Senna winning his 4th-5th titles though not potentially at the expense of Hill and Villeneuve (Schumacher is another matter), also worth noting that Ferrari's OTL success with Schumacher partly seems to stem from the team being built around him together with a competent teammate ready to play 2nd fiddle and follow team orders. So not sure how Senna and Schumacher at Ferrari would affect that dynamic, the 1996-1997 ATL could potentially be a continuation of the 1991-1995 "malaise underdog" period at Ferrari despite being similarly competitive to OTL and including volatile Senna-Prost (or even Senna-Irvine) style clashes with Schumacher (with the latter being just as likely to leave Ferrari as Senna due to his OTL success being stymied as a result of the team not being built around him).

Could see the above causing Hakkinen to win his 3rd title in 2000 and Coulthard his 1st title in 2001, with Schumacher in this scenario being a 2-3 time champion from 2002-2004 if managing to stay with Ferrari.
 
Top