The new season arrived and together with the 1984 season, Ayrton Senna, Martin Brundle, and Stefan Bellof joined Formula One, the young guns hungry for a chance to challenge the established stars.
Alain Prost was now in what would be the dominant team for the season: the mighty MP4/2 McLaren-TAG Porsche, driving alongside Niki Lauda.
Lauda was not particularly happy to see a driver who could frustrate his quest for a third title with the same car as him, and he had lobbied the team to retain John Watson. John Hogan, the man behind the scenes and the money at McLaren, told him there was nothing to be done, Watson was gone and Prost was in.
Lauda, as usual, simply put his head down and focused on the business at hand. It was not just the fact that Prost was obviously a much better driver than Watson, and he would have a harder time winning. Lauda was particularly annoyed at giving another driver a title opportunity in the car he had developed, using the engine he had fought to have, even …
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