Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has revealed he asked Alain Prost about his rivalry with Ayrton Senna at McLaren to prevent similar issues occurring within the team.
Wolff has overseen Mercedes’ dominance over the V6 hybrid era, with the German manufacturer clinching a record-breaking seventh successive constructors’ championship at Imola.
During his reign, Wolff has embedded a strong culture at the team, and has always been an advocate of treating his drivers equally.
This was despite experiencing a similar scenario to Prost between 2014 and 2016, when Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg’s intense on-track rivalry led to friction inside Mercedes.
Speaking to Prost not long after he joined Mercedes, Wolff said he asked the four-time world champion what had led to the fallout between him and Senna in the late 1980s.
“We have always been very transparent with each other,” Wolff said, as quoted by Motorsport.com.
“At the beginning of my stint with Mercedes, I remember a discussion with Alain Prost. I said to him, ‘what went wrong between you and Senna?’
“He said that sometimes, we didn’t know whether we had the support of the team or not. There was always politics involved.
“Now I don’t know if that is true because I was not part of that, and certainly they had a great era.
“But we don’t play politics. We play politics outside, but we don’t play any politics inside. I would never permit it.
“Transparency, being honest with each other, blaming the problem and not the person, and empowering are the values that are of utmost importance to us.
“That’s why it’s a good place, a fun place, but it’s also a pushing place.”
Prost was joined at McLaren by Senna in 1988, losing out on the championship to the Brazilian, who secured the first of his three world titles.
The relationship deteriorated a year later, with the pair coming to blows at Suzuka in a crash that decided the world championship in Prost’s favour.
The Frenchman left and signed for Ferrari for 1990, but a carbon-copy accident of 12 months before would see Senna crowned champion.
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