Different characters

In a recent poll by CNN, Prost was mentioned in dispatches by viewers in our quest to find the greatest F1 driver of all time, with Senna and Argentine maestro Juan Manuel Fangio acknowledged as the best of their eras.

Prost believes that he and Senna were unwittingly the victims of their own success and did not receive the protection they deserved from the media and sponsors.

"We were very much exposed," said the Frenchman.

"We had a lot of people who were very interested, very motivated to have this kind of story.

"We did not realize that at the time. We just wanted to win but we had different characters and a different way of thinking and racing."

Despite the obvious dangers, Prost would not swap his experiences with those who make up the modern day F1 grid.

"If you are racing like today with almost no risk and you can continue until you are 44 or 45 years old like Michael (Schumacher), for sure it is tempting.

"You need to remember that there was a very bad period when you went out on a Sunday morning and say what's going to happen today?

"Am I going to be able to come back because we had very bad accidents, very regularly.

"I would have loved to have driven in this period, working with the engineers on the technical side, but no, I prefer my period. "

But Prost remains deeply unhappy about the balance of the Senna film and in particular the closing moments.

Greatest drivers

"What I regret is that our story was more than sport, it was also human," he told CNN.

For all that, Pandev is convinced they did the story justice in a balanced and fair way

"Look at their body language after Ayrton's last win at Adelaide in '93 - warm, all smiles, a tap on the knee. Then the coming together on the podium. Then Alain's disbelief after the accident.

"Then Alain, clearly in shock, drinking a cup of water. Alain is the last and, in a way, the most important person to cross himself at Ayrton's coffin - the sadness all over his face, the badge on his lapel clearly marked 'A' (A for 'Amigo', friend) - and Alain is the main pallbearer.

"Finally, we end by saying that Alain is a Trustee of the Foundation."