'Senna' director believes new Ecclestone doc vindicates Prost

Manish Pandey says he still feels regret for Prost upset over Senna film – but Ecclestone is only full of praise for Frenchman in new documentary

Alain Prost Ayrton Senna on podium at 1993 Australian GP

New Ecclestone documentary portrays Prost in positive light

DPPI

The director of the new Bernie Ecclestone documentary Lucky! hopes his new release has finally set the record straight on Alain Prost.

From the archive

Manish Pandey, whose Senna film was perceived by many to unfairly cast the Frenchman in a ‘villain’ role against the late F1 legend, implied in this month’s Motor Sport magazine that amends has been made via the positive focus on Prost by Ecclestone – who emphasises the four-time champion is his favourite driver.

The issue is clearly still a sensitive one for the director though, suggesting some criticism wasn’t warranted.

“All I would say is at the end of Senna we had seven beats of Ayrton Senna and Prost reconciling,” says Pandey in defence. “I still feel bad that he felt done down. But look at that accident at Suzuka [1990]. There’s no alternative version in the film. Yes, Ayrton was angry, but so what? I don’t think Senna came out well. He looked crazy in those moments, and when Jackie Stewart dismembers him in his interview.”

In Lucky! a surprising amount of time is said to be dedicated to Prost, given that he never drove for Brabham. “As a team owner, Bernie knew how good Prost was,” says Pandey.

The new series is structured around key drivers, as the producer explains: “Niki Lauda is central in episodes two and three. Episode four is only three years, 1981-83, and it’s the Brabham narrative arc. That really is about Nelson Piquet, and then episode five is about Prost.

“The humour comes from Nigel Mansell – you can make your own mind up if it was intentional – and we’ve found some glorious bits. Prost described Nigel as ‘hyper-fast’, which I think is perfect. Episode six is about Senna, but there’s so much of Prost in there too. Episode seven is about Michael Schumacher, with some Damon Hill and Mika Häkkinen. Then in the final episode the prominent character is Lewis Hamilton.

“We have tried to fix on a driver, to avoid it being fragmented for the wider audience,” adds Pandey. “It’s not just for the experts. I’d love my wife to be able to watch it and enjoy it too.”