RacingJean Todt says Ayrton Senna wanted to drive for Ferrari, but the move broke down over one blunt disagreement: Senna wanted to arrive for 1994, and Todt would not tear up Gerhard Berger and Jean Alesi’s contracts to make it happen.
Speaking on the High Performance Podcast, the former Ferrari Formula 1 team principal described Senna as the first "really dream driver" he discussed for Ferrari and traced the talks back to Monza in 1993. Todt said Senna came to see him at their hotel during that weekend and made his interest clear.
"It was in Monza 1993, I remember. [Senna] came to my room, we were staying in the same hotel, and we spent part of the night together to speak about him joining Ferrari. He wanted to come, he wanted to come, but he wanted to come in 1994," Todt, former Ferrari Formula 1 team principal, said on the High Performance Podcast.
That timing was the problem. Todt said Ferrari already had Berger and Alesi under contract for 1994, and he was not prepared to push those agreements aside even for a driver of Senna’s level.
"1994 will not be possible. In fact, we will not be ready yet, and we have those contracts," Todt, former Ferrari Formula 1 team principal, said on the High Performance Podcast, recalling what he told Senna. Todt added that Senna’s answer was direct: "In Formula 1, contracts are not important." Todt said he replied, "Yes but, for me, contracts are important."
Todt said the talks he personally handled were really about a later start date. According to Todt on the High Performance Podcast, the discussion took place in September 1993 and Ferrari’s side was looking at Senna for 1995, not an immediate switch for 1994.
"With me, at the head of the Formula 1 team, it was a discussion in September 1993 for him arriving in 1995, and he wanted to arrive in 1994. That's why he went to Williams," Todt, former Ferrari Formula 1 team principal, said on the High Performance Podcast.
Todt also tied that decision to where Ferrari stood at the time. He said on the High Performance Podcast that the team was still rebuilding through both 1994 and 1995, which fed into his view that Ferrari was not ready for the move Senna wanted a year earlier.
"So, after that, in 1994, Ferrari still had the same drivers, but we were rebuilding the team. In 1995, we were still rebuilding the team," Todt, former Ferrari Formula 1 team principal, said on the High Performance Podcast.
He also made clear the limits of what he could confirm about any earlier Ferrari-Senna contact. Todt said on the High Performance Podcast that he had heard Ferrari wanted Senna before his own involvement, but stopped short of going beyond that.
"I heard Ferrari wanted him before that, and there were some contacts between the two before, but I cannot talk about what I don't know," Todt, former Ferrari Formula 1 team principal, said on the High Performance Podcast.