Ayrton Senna in the McLaren MP 4/5 during the 1989 Monaco Grand Prix Formula One Art Print by Stuart Booth

At Monte Carlo in 1988 Ayrton Senna crashed his McLaren whilst leading his team mate Alain Prost by 53 seconds; in 1989 Senna won the Monaco Grand Prix by exactly that margin.  This was a race that Prost should have won, as although Senna lead relatively easily in the early laps, he lost the use of first and second gears; however not only did the Brazilian adapt his driving to minimise the handicap, he didn’t report the problem to his engineers lest they inform Prost.  Prost was badly held up by back markers and mistakenly cruised to a second place finish.

In this artwork Ayrton Senna is shown sliding the McLaren MP4/5 over the bumps out of Casino Square with Alain Prost behind, in the sister car, in front of the Hotel de Paris.

1989 saw the rivalry between the team mates reach a new intensity, culminating in a controversial collision at the Japanese Grand Prix; Prost won the World Championship but left to drive for Ferrari in 1990.