Thirty-two years ago, three of the greatest drivers in Formula 1 history shared the podium for the first and only time.
The world of racing is fascinating precisely because it defies any real, rooted logic—it delves into the memory of what was never lived, pushing those who weren’t there to feel as if they were, somehow. It transcends time, pulling it momentarily into the present, extracting it from a moment that exists—embedded in a memory that often races too fast, in a world where everything is decided by thousandths of a second.
The world of racing is a dreamlike projection, a tale that in many ways mirrors Greek mythology, which is why some gods can be seen almost lying across a single-seater—yet so human. It’s a world full of incredible and fascinating stories, and one of them winds the clock back 32 years—an eternity in the time scale of a Formula 1 car.
It was May 9, 1993, on a sunny afternoon in Barcelona, when for the first and only time, the podium was shared by three legends of motorsport—and of the 20th century: Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna, and Michael Schumacher. In that very moment, when the three superheroes stepped onto the podium, the total number of world titles between them was “only” six. Today, that number stands at fourteen—an enormity.
Speed is a space-time concept that overturns the very idea of time, making it subjective in its subjectivity. We attach to unthinkable paces the feeling of the present, while things that happened just yesterday can feel prehistoric. The podium of the Spanish Grand Prix is the perfect example of a still frame, of a time that hasn’t moved a single millisecond from the moment it occurred.
Because certain moments and certain men remain eternal—like instants, like a corner drawn with a compass, or an overtake made on the final centimeter of an endless braking zone. Certain situations don’t just stay as they are; they open the door to a thousand stories—and maybe that number is still too small. Because the beauty of racing is that there will always be blank pages, ready to be marked by iridescent simplicity and eternity, thanks to those who absorbed eternity themselves. Like that podium, 32 years ago, with 14 world titles. In strict order: Prost, Senna, Schumacher.
