It was just over a month before the one-year anniversary of the day that the woman dressed in white had taken him by the hand and taken him away from the court. And 18 weeks to end the 15-month suspension that FIFA had imposed on him for ephedrine use. Diego Maradona was on vacation in France when he traveled to Monaco to fulfill a dream: to see the Grand Prix of Formula 1, which this weekend returns with its circus to the shores of the Mediterranean.
On May 27, 1995 Maradona was Diego, the car fan who took a picture with four-time champion Alain Prost, spoke in Italian with Niki Lauda and asked Michael Schumacher for the cap, who had already won the first of his seven titles and was heading to the second with Benetton.
Wearing jeans, a grey T-shirt, black sneakers and sunglasses with iridescent violet glasses, Maradona arrived in the paddock about half an hour before the start of the second qualifying session.
Diego Maradona and Niki Lauda at the 1995 Monaco Grand Prix. (Video image)
According to the chronicle that Alejandro Prosdocimi, the journalist sent by Clarín, wrote that day, Diego "did not walk long before the photographers recognized him and before he was invited to a passing lunch in the Williams tent, along with the president of FOCA, Bernie Ecclestone, and the former world champion of the category. the Frenchman Alain Prost. Prost got the photo with the idol; Maradona too."
"I'm shocked. This is a Grand Prix I never got to see. People go crazy, everything is very spectacular," he told Ecclestone, through a translator, shortly before interrupting the meal to give a note to Sylvia Tamsma Piquet, the ex-wife of Brazilian driver Nelson Piquet, for Italian TV.
The Monaco Grand Prix is the most coveted (even today) for the jet set, but the champion in Mexico 1986 that world was alien to him. As he revealed in the first contact with the press during that weekend, both he and his entourage of seven people – which included Guillermo Coppola and Carlos Fren, with whom he had assembled a technical duo in Mandiyú and Racing – had to stay in Menton, 20 kilometers north of Monaco, because there was no place in the hotels of Monte Carlo. "On top of a friend of Claudia's they had to throw a mattress in the room because if she did not stay on the street," he remarked astonished.
Back in the pits, chased by the paparazzi and surrounded by fans who wanted a souvenir in an era other than selfies, Maradona reversed the role by crossing with Niki Lauda, one of his idols, and exchanging a few words in Italian before placing himself in his final place to see the classification, just above the pits. With earplugs in his ears and hugging Claudia Villafañe, he encouraged Jean Alesi and Gerhard Berger, although he had to resign himself to see how the Ferraris were fourth and fifth, while Damon Hill took pole in the Principality with the Williams.
"Boca is a closed matter," Maradona told Clarín in Monaco. A few months later, he would return to the Argentine club.
But his first day still lacked a match: the visit to the world champion. When the engines had been turned off, Maradona arrived at Benetton's motorhome, where there were two tables. In one was the German Michael Schumacher, who had just finished second in the classification, and in the other was Diego.
In the middle of a 15-minute talk in Italian with members of the team, the Argentine came out of his idol role and encouraged an earthly request. "Tell him if he doesn't give me the cap," he told one of the Italian Benetton players, pointing to Schumi and his black cap with the legend "F1 world champion." Schumacher fulfilled the wish but Maradona found the unthinkable: the cap did not fit him.
"But look: he has a little head," Diego shouted in Italian.
"Better this way, it's more aerodynamic," Schumacher replied in English.
With the souvenir in his left hand, Maradona shook his right with the German and a handful of photos were taken before the footballer was called in the Ecclestone trailer for the last meeting of a day full of public relations. On Sunday, F1 managers would no longer have time to indulge: there was a Grand Prix to run.
The third of the nine victories of the two-time champion Schumacher
The Monaco Grand Prix, the fifth round of the 1995 season, appeared as the opportunity to break the duel between Schumacher and Hill after two victories per side - Brazil and Spain for the German, and Argentina and San Marino for the Englishman. Pole gave a slight advantage to the Williams driver, who dreamed of emulating his father, Graham, a five-time winner in Monte Carlo.
Hill kept the lead both at the start and on the restart, after a 15-minute interruption by the accident between David Coulthard and the Ferraris at the Sainte Devote corner during the first lap, which did not prevent them from returning to the track with the reserve cars. And for 28 laps the dream seemed achievable.
Michael Schumacher's Benetton on the Monte Carlo street circuit. Photo Reuters
But Williams' two-stop strategy was not as strong as that of Benetton and Schumacher. With a single pit stop, the German only lost the lead one lap – until Alesi also went to the pits – and headed towards the third of his nine victories in a season that would end with his two-time championship at Benetton and the agreement with Ferrari, where he would face a magical reign.
While that was happening on the track, in the pit lane journalists were inquiring about Maradona's future. Although he was suspended until September 30, Diego was analyzing different offers to continue his career as a footballer.
On holiday on the Côte d'Azur, Maradona said "no" to Boca and flirted with Santos.
"We are reaching an agreement, we are at 80 percent," he told a Brazilian media before the consultation to go play for Santos. "Why not? I would like to finish my career playing the Champions Cup with Napoli," he told an Italian reporter about a chance to return to Napoli.
What Maradona ruled out instead was to return to Boca. "I don't see her, fierce, I don't see her. Boca is a closed matter. What I want is to see Formula 1," he told Clarín.
Two months later, on Friday, July 21 at 19:10 p.m., Maradona signed a contract until December 31, 1997. His return after 14 years finally occurred on October 7 against Colón in a packed Bombonera that celebrated, beyond the 1-0, the 90 minutes on the court of the best player in the world.
Getting into an F1, the dream that Diego could not fulfill
At the 2008 Rally Argentina, during the shakedown in Carlos Paz, Diego Maradona appeared dressed in a red fireproof jumpsuit and climbed into the Citroen C4 WRC as a companion of Sebastien Loeb. When he got out of the car, he revealed to journalist Diego Durruty that lost chance he had enjoyed in 1987 when Williams invited him to get into one of its Formula 1 cars.
"There was an Argentine who knew people from the team. Everything was ready for the test, but I cancelled it because I had to play for the Coppa Italia. Then the opportunity did not arise again," he lamented.
On the other hand, the Diez was invited several times by Argentine pilots and, before that experience in the World Rally Championship, a Turismo Carretera was encouraged, when companions were still allowed. It was in September 1991 in the car of Oscar Aventín, the future champion of that season.
The smile of the Ten. In Córdoba, when he climbed as a companion of Loeb before the Rally of Argentina. AP Photo Photo_Eduardo Di Baia
"I'll never forget those laps at TC. I got a barbaric fright. It felt like we were hitting each other on a curve. I realized that it was the way to face it. And there I calmed down. When I sat down as a passenger I realized how bad you drive," he said of that experience in the Ford Falcon.
In those '90s, he also created a bond with Gabriel Raies. "José María Volta, who was my companion, explained the road map and we left. He read it quite well and went crazy, "said the rally driver from Cordoba about that passion for irons that Maradona exhibited from before being world champion, with his black Ferrari in Italy, until the twilight of his career, when he arrived in a Scania truck to the Boca training.
Unforgettable. Diego and the Scania truck with which he arrived at a training session in Boca.
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