Who was best driver: Prost or Senna?

Question

They were both great, but many times Senna acted like a thug, so i guess Prost was better, maybe a little bit less speedy (only in the practice, not during the race), but by far more intelligent and classy than Senna. Senna was very skilled with wet races.
What do you think about it?

Answer 1

Senna was extremely intelligent, well known for his technical ability. He was so dedicated to his racing, that at times he would want to win at all costs. Prost was more relaxed in this respect, I guess you could say he went for the percentage game, whereas Senna always wanted to be the winner.

Both were great drivers, but over a single ultimate fast lap, Senna will always come out on top.

Answer 2

This is actually a very tough comparision - both were among the all time greats of the sport, and very successful drivers. But they were also extremely different, and to some degree, it's almost a matter of what style you prefer.

In terms of pure driving and car control, I am inclined to the the edge to Senna based on the control he displayed in the rain. He maintained excellent balance in the car and drove with great consistency. He was always a threat to do the unexpected and take a long shot or ill advised move - this was both on his strengths, and ultimatley one of his weaknesses. He often seemed to drive on emotion, but at the same time, disecting his drives often shows he was very analytical.

Prost was also a great technical driver, but always one that was working the odds to get the best possible result. His ability to win shows he too had to have had that drive and emotion, but an opposite to Senna, he always seem cold and calculating.

The period when they were teammates showed some heavy favoritism within the team (mostly from engine maker Honda) towards Senna, yet Prost still had some success... further, the rules of the times wound up favoring Senna (if the rules of today were in place then, Prost would have had even better career statistics at the expense of Senna).

For me, I consider Prost better based on his career championships and his amazing control of the pace within a race (or a season). But in terms of pure skill behind the wheel, I think it may have been Senna... given a few more years to compete Senna may have shown a maturity that would have seen some of those characteristics that define Prost, but that sadly never came to be.

Answer 3

Senna was definitely the best, and probably the best of all time, he was a very intelligent driver.. Prost was a good driver, Senna was a great driver. It just so bad he was taken from us well before his time...I saw both of them race when I was living in Europe...yep Senna definitely the better driver..

Answer 4

First of all...sorry for my english, I know it's not perfect.

Well, we're talking about two giants. It is easy to say that Senna was clearly faster than Prost, I think we should consider that they come to be team mates and opponents for the title when their career were in very different points. Prost was already twice world champion, Senna was 5 years younger, with just few victories in his pocket.

At that stage Senna was certanly faster than Alain in qualifying...but maybe some of you rememeber how Prost in 1984 menaged to start often from the first line of the grid with the Tag Porsche engine which was for sure superbe in race condition, but a poor thing for a single lap, cause they never used on track an engine for the qualifying (Lauda was often 4 or 5 lines behind Alain, with the same car).
It would be interesting to see that Prost fighting Senna for the pole.

Don't get me wrong, i believe that Prost in 1988, when they two of them really clashed for the first time, was a way better driver compared with himself in 1984, but in terms of pure speed it wasn't at the same lavel anymore and in the race still was able to match, and often to beat Senna in this field.

I sincerely think Prost was the best, he won 4 championships, always having as a team mate a world champion (past, present or future), he lost a championship for half point (1984) another one having scored 11 points more than the actual winner (1988) and another because the rival team used not regular fuel in the last part of the season (1983). Not to mention the one he lost in 1990 the way we all remebered.

Senna was the driver of the pure and absolute performance, probably the best qualifier Formula 1 have seen in the past 40 years, and off course a supere racer, but if we're talking about all round driver...I wouldn't swap the best Prost with anyone else.

Answer 5

I have to differ with the responses. I think Prost was better than Senna. I agree with you that Prost was no slower than Senna during the races. They both retired with basically the same winning percentage, 25%. Senna was a more memorable driver because he could come up with unforgettable drives. Prost was less exciting to watch.

I think Prost was greater than Senna for a few reasons:
- Senna never scored more points than Prost when driving the same car, in '88 and '89 Prost scored more points than Senna had all races counted for the world championship, but in '88 only 11 races counted and Senna won the title

- Using the current points system Prost would have won 6 or 7 world titles and beaten Fangio's record, Prost lost titles by the narrowest of margins on the old points system

- Based on points scored at seaon's end Prost was only beaten twice by his teammate, by a total of 1.5 points! Prost was teammates with five world champs and only Lauda beat him by 0.5 points in 1984, that's to say Prost outscored five champions driving the same car, sometimes beating them by massive margins in end of season points

Answer 6

Senna the quickest natural talent ever to grace formula1, so many memories for anyone who watched him race, a legend a driving god who had to race drivers like Lauda, Rosberg Prost, Piquet, Mansell and Schumacher to achieve his 65 poles and 41 wins before his untimely death. On my all time list I have Senna, Jim Clark then Prost. So I obviously rate the professor very highly, but as I have already said Senna is a driving god. : )

Answer 7

Senna hands down. He ain't call king of the wets for nothing. He got 65 poles in his career and as you can note, faster and more of a daredevil so hands down Senna for sure... Don't forget, the Brazilian had passion...

Answer 8

I have to give it to Senna, he drove with pure passion every time he was on the track, his fiery nature seemed to somehow drive him into a focused state on the track, I always remember him and Mansell having that battle in the Marlboro McLaren down the straight and actually touching wheels!! Amazing I cant see it every being as good as it was when he and the rest of them were driving

Answer 9

Got to be Senna definitely. He was king of the track in my mind and I am sure if he hadn't been killed at Imola in 1994 he would have gone on to win many more races,championships and peoples hearts!

Answer 10

Senna was death defying when he drove but Prost was very technical which is why they called his skills surgeon like.