Gerhard Berger recalls his time at Ferrari and the death of Ayrton Senna

Gerhard Berger reopened his memory book talking about when he drove for Ferrari: “It was a fantastic time. The team welcomed me like a family, even though I was flanking Michele Alboreto, an Italian. At the end of 1987 came the first results: pole and victory at Suzuka and Adelaide. But the following year, with the new regulations, the McLarens became unbeatable. We won only at Monza, a month after Enzo Ferrari’s passing, and I am proud to have been the one to win that success. Maybe a sign from heaven. Even when I won for the last time, in 1997 at Hockenheim, my father had been dead for a week”.

Inevitable question about Ayrton Senna, whose partner he was for three years: “Beautiful and difficult at the same time. Leaving Ferrari I was looking for a new challenge, but I had underestimated how strong Ayrton was. Sometimes I beat him in qualifying or in the race, but in general he almost always beat me. The best driver I had ever seen”.

Many anecdotes: “Once I replaced the photo on his passport and he had to spend a day with the Argentine police. Another time I threw his suitcase from the helicopter. We used to have fun, it was a way to exorcise fear. Formula 1 back then was very dangerous, there was not the attention to safety that there is today, and those moments were our outlet”.

Senna’s death still hurts: “We all knew it could happen. But no one thought it would happen to Ayrton. It seemed impossible that he would die in a racing car. We had to accept it. However, it is nice that, more than 30 years later, we are still talking about him. He left a great legacy”.