1990 Japanese Grand Prix

Ayrton Senna qualified on pole but was unhappy with the dirty side of the track it was situated on, arguing that pole should always be on the racing line. He and Gerhard Berger then went to the Japanese stewards to request a change of position of pole to the cleaner left side of the track. The stewards initially agreed but an injunction by FISA president Jean Marie Balestre later that night rejected the decision and the original pole position remained on the dirtier right side of the track. In a...

Prost and Senna discussed the event afterwards, with Senna claiming it was not how he wanted it but how it had to be. [ 7 ] Prost was infuriated by this, and described the move as "disgusting" and Senna as "a man without value". [ 8 ] He later said that he almost retired from the sport instantly after the incident. [ 6 ]

After winning his third and final World Championship in 1991, Senna admitted that his move was deliberate, [ 9 ] and that it was a payback for 1989. [ 10 ] [ 11 ] [ 12 ] The pair went on to win one more championship each (Senna in 1991 and Prost in 1993) and eventually reconciled their differences on the podium in their final race together at the 1993 Australian Grand Prix . [ 13 ]

In a discussion with his fellow Grand Prix commentator Murray Walker at the BBC in 1991, 1976 World Champion James Hunt said:

"Oh no, I think he Senna took an awful lot of vilification from Balestre over a period of a couple of years. He feels with great justification in my opinion that Balestre single handedly robbed him of the world championship which Senna is the be all and end or and when he finally won this year with Balestre out of the way, he snapped at a moment of adrenaline and I think to my opinion that humanised him. No he didn't, he did not. He neither said that he pushed Prost off, nor did he push him off ...