In a recent appearance on the High Performance<\/a> YouTube channel, the former Ferrari boss and FIA president<\/a> described an interaction with the Brazilian legend that could\u2019ve drastically altered the course of Scuderia Ferrari, the sport, and sadly, Senna\u2019s own life.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was in Monza 1993, I remember, he [Senna] came to my room in Villa d\u2019Este,\u201d said Todt during the interview. \u201cWe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n If you\u2019re familiar with Senna\u2019s timeline of his last year at McLaren, you know he was emotionally (and professionally) torn about his next steps. Part of him wanted to remain at McLaren, a team that had helped create the Senna legend, per se. Ron Dennis and Jo Ramirez did their best to convince him, but a gradually underperforming team with no clear path forward and a revolving door of teammates wasn\u2019t part of Senna\u2019s strategy. All along, his good friend Prof. Sid Watkins and girlfriend (rumored to be fianc\u00e9e) Adriane Galisteu were trying their best to get the three-time F1 champ to retire, or at least take a sabbatical. <\/p>\n And while it\u2019s been long-rumored that Senna sought out Ferrari, this is, as far as I know, the first official retelling of Senna\u2019s official interactions with the team.<\/p>\n \u201cIn \u201994, we already had a contract with Gerhard Berger and Jean Alesi, and I said to him, \u20181994 will not be possible. In fact, we will not be ready yet, and we have those [driver] contracts.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cAnd he answered to me, \u2018In Formula 1, contracts are not important.\u2019 And I said, \u2018Yes, but for me, contracts are important.’\u201d<\/p>\n Per Todt\u2019s account, it\u2019s clear that Senna really wanted to move to Ferrari. Ferrari really wanted Senna, but wanted him for the 1995 season. As he explains later on in the interview, Ferrari was in shambles. It hadn\u2019t won anything in years; it had aging, primarily Italian staff who pointed their fingers at each other; and ultimately, the team\u2019s misfortunes were always blamed on drivers who couldn\u2019t \u201cdrive the car.\u201d<\/p>\n If Todt could hire Senna for 1995, he could end the finger-pointing. Unfortunately, despite Senna\u2019s push over several months of negotiations\u2014and I\u2019m sure Ferrari\u2019s strong desire to hire him\u2014the deal could not be done due to the timing. Senna went to Williams, and the rest we already know too well.<\/p>\n \u201cHe wanted to come, but he wanted to come in 1994,\u201d he added. \u201cSenna wanted to drive for Ferrari\u2014I heard Ferrari wanted him before that, and there were some contacts between the two before [I joined Ferrari], but I cannot talk about what I don\u2019t know. But with me as the head of the Formula 1 team, this discussion was in September 1993 for him arriving in 1995\u2014but he wanted to arrive in 1994.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s why he went to Williams. 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, and then we knew that 1996 was the year, really, to try to have [a star driver],\u201d said Todt.<\/p>\n The rest of the interview delves into Todt\u2019s initial contact with Schumacher and Willi Weber in 1995, and how they signed a contract in Monaco after just 24 hours of negotiations. Schumacher then joined Ferrari in 1997. As you may know, it was not sunshine and rainbows from the start, but what those three eventually accomplished will always be one of the most dominant performances not just in F1, but all competitive sports.<\/p>\n \t\t \n\t\t\t\tJean Todt: The Mastermind Behind Ferrari and Schumacher\u2019s Dominant Era\t\t\t<\/p>\n Got a tip? Email us at tips@thedrive.com<\/p>\n As deputy editor, Jerry draws on a decade of industry experience and a lifelong passion for motorsports to guide The Drive\u2019s short- and long-term coverage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The biggest car news and reviews, no BS Our free daily newsletter sends the stories that really matter…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":608048,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,578,576,577,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-608047","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-formula-1","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-f1","11":"tag-formula-1","12":"tag-formula1","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=608047"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608047\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/608048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=608047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=608047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=608047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"BELGIUM](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-52916338.jpg\")
Marcus Brandt<\/p>\n![\"Brazilian](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-163322911.jpg\")
\nMarcus Brandt and AFP PHOTO via Getty<\/p>\n![\"Jean](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-892060370.jpg\")
Paul-Henri Cahier<\/p>\n![\"Der](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-1213319647.jpg\")
picture alliance
\nPaul-Henri Cahier, Picture Alliance via Getty<\/p>\n![\"Jean](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776345973_257_hqdefault.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n