Niki Lauda and Gerhard Berger at Ferrari contributed groundwork for the era Schumacher, Alain Prost it would actually take to be sporting director Jean Todt .
Before Peugeot race director Jean Todt in 1993 took command at Ferrari , forged the leaders in Maranello, the secret master plan to put the fate of the Scuderia in the hands of two former drivers Niki Lauda, who from 1992 to 1995 actually Ferrari consultant was , and - less well known to the public - Alain Prost .
Prost had come to Ferrari after the escalation of its dispute with Ayrton Senna at McLaren in 1990 and almost immediately became champion . Despite five wins this season (three of them as a hat-trick in the summer ) he lost the world championship with 71:78 points against his arch rival Senna, who brought about the decision with a deliberately provoked the same collision at the first corner at the penultimate race in Japan .
1991 could no longer continue our success Prost and Ferrari: The French did not score a single victory , he ended up in fifth place in the driver standings and not increased because of quarrels with racing manager Cesare Fiorio at the season finale in Australia in the Ferrari 643 Fiorio also did not survive the year and had to leave his post . And because Ferrari had since 1979 ( Jody Scheckter ) without drivers' championship title, urgently needed a restructuring.
Negotiations failed in Suzuka 1991
" What hardly anyone knows that the end of 1991 should I be Ferrari's sporting director ," reveals Cheers to the ' Auto Bild motorsport ' . "In football you would tell players to coach . I sat with the Ferrari attorney in Suzuka up in the morning at 3:00 clock in the hotel room together to discuss the terms . A day later, he was not allowed to talk to me. Because they have me suddenly kicked out. "
" It is funny that the people who kicked me out , were later fired himself ," Prost can laugh about it today . At that time, however, Ferrari was dominated by political games , a power struggle in a vacuum after the death of Enzo Ferrari in 1988. Until 1991, Luca di Montezemolo was : "We sorted out the problems ," says Prost . " I almost came back , but by then it was too late. "
Niki Lauda came as " Piccolo Commendatore "
Instead Montezemolo took back his old friend Lauda, who had meanwhile disappeared from Formula 1 and had founded an airline . As " presidential advisor " were the " Piccolo Commendatore " as he was called by the Italian media lovingly transferred three task areas : coordination between riders and team management , comparative observation to other teams and sponsors relationships, especially to Marlboro.
" That sounded maybe not bad ," Lauda writes in his book " The Third Life" ( published 1996 by Wilhelm Heyne Verlag ) . "But what I really should coordinate between drivers ( Alesi , Capelli ) and Team Leader ( Lombardi ) ? There was like in kindergarten, full performances , and petty jealousies . " And the sporty descent continued unabated , as Ferrari was 1992/93 , only fourth in the Constructors' Championship.
"After all, there were strategic things to be clarified ," said Lauda . " It was about the location of a development center for England , it was about the designer genius Barnard, further to the initially secret mission of working with Honda. " An idea that was developed by Lauda's compatriot Gerhard Berger, McLaren - Honda left the end of 1992 and 1993 came to Ferrari to lead the team for which he was driven from 1987 to 1989 back to the top.
Berger threaded a technology transfer with Honda
" Most worries me made Ferrari engine " Berger recalls in his book " finish line " (published in 1997 in the auto revue Edition) . "He (remark: engine) was clearly too weak, but only such mention touches the pride of the Italians. [7b]You may rather say , the Pope has a girlfriend , that as the Ferrari Formula 1 engine missing the PS [/b]. I went with my message ' you are missing 100 HP ' already on his nerves so that he could be denied on the phone. "
Honda withdrew from Formula 1 racing end of 1992 back , " even though they had the most wonderful engine in Formula 1 " as Berger continues . So he met at the Japanese Grand Prix Honda CEO Nobuhiko Kawamoto , the interest in cooperation with Ferrari signaled . Other hand, in Maranello Berger's idea was not received well : " As for the looks of Ferrari with Honda technology , are you crazy ? " Montezemolo said to have raged .
But Berger prevailed, so Lauda " around Christmas 1992 ' as a straw man flew to Tokyo to negotiate on behalf of Ferrari with Honda . " Lauda was the pragmatist , no big ego ," writes Berger . " Lauda Kawamoto actually worked with a framework of how technology transfer might work, especially without loss of face for Ferrari . , The headline 'Ferrari Honda buys expertise ' could not bear Montezemolo . "
Lauda, Jean Todt at Ferrari brought into play
But after it had come to an agreement with Prost , had to be a new Ferrari team boss. " Jean Todt was my invention , even if not so looked after ," says Lauda . And also on driver's side of the Ferrari consultant dedicated to reinforcing : First, he wanted to prevent Ayrton Senna's move to Williams and take him instead to Ferrari , later on, he successfully for a Michael Schumacher.
The Ferrari duo in 1996, having actually Prost / Berger should be called . Berger had ( with exit clause ) already signed his contract. " In between ," says Berger, " Todt asked me what I thought of the idea to bring back cheers . Did I have problems with it , no problem , I said, ' on the contrary , I think it's great .'" But instead of a comeback Prost did the signing of Schumacher. The rest is history .
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