Ayrton Senna could have raced for Williams in 1992, two years before he actually joined the Grove-based, but his sense of loyalty prevented the move.
Senna conquered his third world title with McLaren in 1991 but worries about Honda’s commitment incited the Brazilian to contemplate a move to Williams for the following year.
Julian Jakobi, who looked after Senna’s interests in F1, had secured two potential deals for his client for 1992: an extension of his contract with McLaren and a fresh deal with Williams.
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In the end however, Senna chose to remain with the Woking-based team , in large part because of its engine partner Honda, the very source of the three-time world champion’s inclination for change.
“Ayrton wanted to go to Williams, but he was loyal to Honda,” Jakobi explained F1’s Beyond the Grid latest podcast.
“His basic instinct was to go to Williams earlier, but he was loyal particularly to Mr. Kawamoto, who was the president of Honda.
“He was very close to him, because Honda had basically brought themselves and Ayrton to McLaren in 1988, and they’d won three championships together.
“Even late ’91, when he won the third championship, he didn’t feel instinctively that the Honda was what it was, and he was worried about the future.
“In 91, I remember going to Spa with two contracts for Ayrton: one for McLaren and one for Williams,” Jakobi remembered.
“Ayrton knew he should have gone to Williams, and we had both of the contracts ready to sign, and I thought on Sunday morning that he was going to sign with Williams.
“But he’d spoken to Kawamoto overnight in Japan and he came in on Sunday morning and said “I’m going to stay another year”. So he stayed at McLaren for 92.
“But he could already have gone [to Williams] for 92 and Nigel probably wouldn’t have been there. And that’s the year he won the championship. But when Ayrton backed out, Mansell stayed.”
Senna concluded his 1992 season with McLaren with three wins but just fourth in the drivers’ standings.
However, Honda’s departure from F1 at the end of the season left the Brazilian contemplating a year on the sidelines.
“Honda decided to pull out, and they told Ayrton I think three months before they told Ron [Dennis], and he was devastated,” recounted Jakobi.
“Then we had to find another drive for ’93. How close did he come to not driving in 1993? The answer is pretty close.”
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