For 1994, Senna finally signed with the Williams-Renault team after Prost had reluctantly decided to stop his career. Prost’s contract clause forbidding Senna from joining Williams did not extend to 1994 and Prost retired with one year left on his contract, rather than face the prospect of a repeat of the animosities of 1989 and 1990. Pre-season testing showed that the new Williams FW16 car had speed, but it was difficult to drive. Senna himself had made numerous comments that the FW16 had some quirks which needed to be ironed out. It was obvious that the FW16, after the regulation changes banning active suspension and traction control, exhibited none of the superiority of the FW15C and FW14B cars that had preceded it. The surprise of testing was the Benetton team, whose car was more nimble than the Williams although less powerful.

The first race of the season was in Brazil, where Senna took pole. In the race Senna took an early lead but Schumacher’s Benetton was never far behind. Schumacher took the race lead for good after passing Senna in the pits. Senna refused to settle for second. While trying for a win, he pushed too hard and spun the car, stalling it and retiring from the race. The second race was the Pacific Grand Prix at Aida where Senna again placed the car on pole. However, he was hit from behind in the first corner by Mika Häkkinen and his race came to a definitive end when a Ferrari driven by Nicola Larini also crashed into his Williams. Hill also retired with transmission problems, while Schumacher took victory again.

It was Senna’s worst start to an F1 season, failing to finish or score points in the first two races, despite taking pole both times. Schumacher was leading Senna in the drivers’ championship by twenty points. Senna and others that year then begun suspecting that Benetton’s performance was enhanced by the illegal use of traction control fuelled a media controversy, which never materialised into a formal complaint to the FIA.