Ayrton Senna was desperate to join Ferrari from Williams before his fatal crash in 1994, former chairman Luca di Montezemolo has claimed.

It's not a new revelation that the great Brazilian had an interest in joining the Scuderia having already won three Formula 1 championships at McLaren during his career.

And while Di Montezemolo admits not signing Senna was his biggest regret during his time at Ferrari, he revealed how the prospect of it happening was perhaps closer than most imagined

“He came to my house in Bologna before the Imola accident and told me that he wanted to drive for us at all costs and to free himself from Williams," he told Sky Italia.

“We agreed to speak after Imola, but then what happened. He wanted to come to us and I would have been happy to have him.

“It would have been the icing on the cake, which was then Michael Schumacher who entered Ferrari history because nobody did what he did."

Indeed, having missed out on signing arguably F1's biggest star once, Di Montezemolo didn't want to do so again with Schumacher for 1996, even if it was a tricky sell to some at Ferrari.

“It was at the beginning, but I was convinced of what I was doing because it was the right time,” he said.

“Two years before we didn’t have the car to win and Michael came after a great job of reorganisation and was able to make the difference.

“Only there was a delicate phase in 1996 with two or three difficult races in Canada and pole in France, as a result of which we were unable to start.

“But then the victory in Spa and Monza started the triumphant years.”

Also Read:

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• Briatore: F1 fortunate Schumacher didn't quit after Senna's death

Of course, had Senna made the move to Ferrari for 1995 and history remained the same, it would have meant the two men considered by many as the greatest of all time would have been together at the Italian team.

Or maybe not...

“A Schumacher/Senna pairing would have meant that we’d shoot ourselves in the foot,” the former chairman said.

“That would not have worked. If you have two superstars on the same team, you don’t win.

"It would have been good for the show, but it wouldn’t have been good for Ferrari."