Ayrton Senna da Silva (
pronounced /
aˈiɾtõ ˈsenɐ dɐ ˈsiwvɐ (help•info/,
March 21,
1960 –
May 1,
1994) was a
Brazilian three-times
Formula One world champion. Many aspects of Senna's talent marked him out as a remarkable driver: particularly his qualifying skill that yielded 65 pole positions in 162 races, and his wet-weather ability. But he also attracted criticism for his uncompromising race craft, a number of controversial incidents, and his bitter rivalry with Frenchman
Alain Prost. He is also the last Formula 1 driver to have been killed in a race, while leading the
1994 San Marino Grand Prix at
Imola in Italy. In
2000, Senna was posthumously inducted into the
International Motorsports Hall of Fame.
Early life Racing career Senna entered
karting competition at the age of 13.
Formula One Senna scored his first World Championship point in his second Grand Prix at
Kyalami in South Africa. He repeated the same finish two weeks later at the Belgian Grand Prix at
Zolder.
But his performance in the
1984 Monaco Grand Prix brought him a lot of attention. He qualified 13th on the grid and made rapid progress through the soaking streets of Monte Carlo. By Lap 19, he passed second place man
Niki Lauda and began to cut the gap to race leader Prost. But before he could pass Prost the race was stopped on lap 31 for safety reasons as the rain grew even heavier.
He also entered an exhibition race to celebrate the opening of the new
Nürburgring. Several top F1 drivers took part in the event, driving identical
Mercedes 190E 2.3-16. Senna won from
Lauda and
Carlos Reutemann.
1984: Toleman At Lotus in 1985 he was partnered by Italian driver
Elio de Angelis. He set his first pole position at the season opener in
Brazil at the
Jacarepaguá Circuit in
Rio de Janeiro, but retired with an electrical problem.
At the second round, held at the
Autódromo do Estoril in
Estoril,
Portugal on
April 21,
1985, he scored his
first Grand Prix victory, winning from pole position in heavy rain which even saw second-place man
Prost spin off into the wall.
1985-7: Lotus In 1988, thanks to the relationship he had built up with
Honda throughout the 1987 season with Lotus, and with the approval of McLaren's number one driver and then-double world champion, Alain Prost, Senna joined the
McLaren team.
[4] The foundation for a fierce competition between Senna and Prost was laid, culminating in a number of dramatic race incidents between the two.
1988-93: McLaren Senna had tried to join Williams in 1993 but was balked by Alain Prost who vetoed the move. Senna had even offered to drive for nothing such was the desire to be in the team of the early nineties, but a clause in Prosts contact meant that 1993 was out of the question. The clause in Prosts contract didn't extend to 1994 however and instead of taking on his greatest rival, Prost retired with a year on his contract left. For 1994, Senna finally signed with the
Williams-
Renault team. Given this was the same team that had won the previous two
World Championships with vastly superior cars, Senna was a natural and presumptive pre-season title favorite, with second-year driver
Damon Hill intended to play the supporting role. Pre-season testing showed the car had speed but now electronic drivers aids were banned and the car proved difficult to drive. The surprise of testing was the Benetton, it was more nimble than the Williams but had less power. The first race of the season was in
Brazil, where Senna took Pole. In the race Senna took an early lead but the nimble Benetton was never far behind. After the pit stops Schumacher got lead the race after passing Senna in the pits. Second wasn't enough of a reward for the Brazilian crowd and Senna refused to settle instead opting to push for a win. Senna pushed too hard, spun the car which then stalled, the race over.
The second race was the
Pacific Grand Prix at Aida where Senna again placed the car on Pole. However Senna was involved in a collision at the first corner. He was hit from behind by
Mika Häkkinen and his race came to a definitive end when a Ferrari driven by
Nicola Larini also crashed into his Williams. No points scored from a possible twenty made this his worst start to an F1 season.
At the third race of the season, the
San Marino Grand Prix at Imola, Senna declared this was where his season would start, fourteen races as opposed to sixteen in which to win the title. Senna again placed the car on what would be his final Pole but the weekend had not been smooth. Roland Ratzenberger lost his life in a horrific crash during qualifying, Senna visited the scene to see for himself what had happened for which he was later chastised for commandeering a marshals car to get to the scene of the accident. Senna and the other drivers all opted to start the Grand Prix and the race set off only for a huge accident at the start line. Instead of the race being stopped a safety car was deployed and the drivers followed it for several laps. On the restart Senna immediately set a quick pace with the third quickest lap of the race, followed by Schumacher. Senna started what was to be his final lap, the car passed the start line towards Tamburello where the car appeared to not attempt to take the corner. Senna scrubbed the speed from around 195mph down to around 135mph before it hit the concrete retaining wall. The car bounced back on to the run off area and came to rest. Course officials arrived at the scene quickly but none approached the car until the medical team arrived suggesting the accident was not going to be one from which Senna would simply walk away from. For a moment Senna's head twitched but and the world thought he might be okay, however the twitch was a sign off a massive brain injury. Senna was removed from the car by Sid Watkins and his medical team and treated by the side of the car before being airlifted to Bologna hospital where Senna was later declared dead.
The suspension of the detached front right wheel had pierced his helmet, causing a
fatal injury. Senna was kept alive despite his heart stopping twice but the situation was hopeless. Formula One lost its most controversial and brilliant driver. To this day, the cause of the accident has still not been fully determined.
1994: Williams Senna was renowned for his qualifying skill, a discipline he mastered like none before to produce a record 65 pole positions from 161 races. This record stood for 12 years after his death, before it was surpassed by
Michael Schumacher after taking pole position for the 2006 San Marino Grand Prix, his 236th race.
"Magic" Senna, as he was known to his fans, also won the Monaco Grand Prix six times, a record which stands today and a tribute to his skills which earned him the title "Master of Monaco".
Ayrton described in detail an odd feeling that he got during his qualifying laps. His experience when qualifying for the 1988 Monaco GP for example he described as being in a tunnel or dreamlike state:
Then suddenly something just kicked me. I kind of woke up and realised that I was in a different atmosphere than you normally are. My immediate reaction was to back off, slow down. I drove slowly back to the pits and I didn't want to go out any more that day. It frightened me because I was well beyond my conscious understanding. It happens rarely but I keep these experiences very much alive inside me because it is something that is important for self-preservation.
In that session, lap after lap he broke his own pole position time, until he felt ill at ease, backed off and returned to the pits.
During the
2004 San Marino Grand Prix ten year anniversary remembrance of Ayrton Senna in a series of interviews,
Gerhard Berger, Senna's team mate at McLaren from
1990-
1992 and a very close friend, expressed a memory of what it was like qualifying with Senna:
This competition could perhaps be attributed to not only Senna's determination and desire to be first (including qualifying), but Senna and Berger's close friendship and horseplay, as the two were always playing practical jokes on each other in attempt to outdo each other.
Berger is quoted as saying "He taught me a lot about our sport, I taught him to laugh".
Qualifying In F1, wet weather racing is considered to be a great equaliser of cars; that is, the driver makes more of a difference. Speeds must be reduced and car superiority in power or grip is greatly reduced. The rain demands great driver car control, ability and driving finesse. Senna had some of his best performances in such conditions.
One of his tactics was not to change into the
rain tyres at the start of the rain but to keep racing using
slick tyres. Although it made racing much more difficult Senna often gained several seconds of time ahead of his competitors because most of them were driving into pitstop to change into rain tyres.
The 1984 season was Senna's first in F1. He came into a field of competitors from whose ranks 16 world championships would be reaped. Participating as a rookie in a relatively uncompetitive car, the Toleman TG184, Senna had racked up three race retirements, a 6th and a 7th place from his first 5 races.
He started the first wet race of the season, the
Monaco Grand Prix in 13th place. The race was stopped for safety reasons after only 31 laps due to monsoon conditions. At the time the race was stopped, Senna was classified in 2nd place, and catching up to race leader
Alain Prost, at 4 seconds per lap. Senna's performance in this race, on a track on which it is notoriously difficult to pass other competitors, should be contrasted with the events of recent races at Monaco in which passing has been the exception rather than the norm, especially in dry conditions.
In
1993, at the
European GP at
Donington Park, Senna drove for the McLaren team. The MP4/8, although one of the front running cars, was considered inferior to the leading
Williams FW15C of Prost and Hill, and the Benetton B193 - which used a factory-supplied Ford engine - driven by
Michael Schumacher and
Riccardo Patrese.
Wet weather driving Beyond his exceptional driving skills Senna was one of the sport's most compelling personalities.
Character Main article: Death of Ayrton Senna The fatal accident at Imola in 1994 To take advantage of the close relationship Honda had with the Brazilian prodigy during his tenure as #1 driver for the McLaren/Honda F1 Team, Ayrton Senna was called in to fine-tune the
Honda NSX's suspension setting during its final development stages. The tests were conducted at
Suzuka Circuit with chief NSX engineer
Shigeru Uehara and his engineering team present to gather Senna's direct input. As a result of his suspension tuning, Senna subsequently found the prototype NSX initially lacked chassis stiffness to the level he was accustomed to, so the final production version was further reinforced to his satisfaction.
Senna and the NSX Senna's personal sponsor associated with him through his career was
Banco Nacional, a now defunct Brazilian Insurance and Banking Co.
In 1992, he endorsed
Ayrton Senna's Super Monaco GP II, a video game by
Sega.
MV Agusta have a special edition of their F4 model called the F4 1000 senna, which is produced in limited numbers every year in his honour.
Ayrton Senna was a very passionate
Sport Club Corinthians Paulista supporter.
Bernie Ecclestone revealed that he still believed Ayrton Senna was and remained the best F1 driver he'd ever seen.
Trivia "Winning is like a drug, I cannot justify in any circumstances coming second or third."
"Being second is to be the first of the ones who lose."
"On a given day, a given circumstance, you think you have a limit. And you then go for this limit and you touch this limit, and you think, 'Okay, this is the limit'. And so you touch this limit, something happens and you suddenly can go a little bit further. With your mind power, your determination, your instinct, and the experience as well, you can fly very high."
"One particular thing that Formula-1 can provide you, is that you know you're always exposed to danger. Danger of getting hurt, danger of dying. This is part of your life, and you either face it in a professional, in a cool manner, or you just drop it, just leave it and don't do it anymore really. And I happen to like too much what I do to just drop it, I can't drop it."
"Racing, competing, it's in my blood. It's part of me, it's part of my life; I have been doing it all my life and it stands out above everything else."
"There are no small accidents on this circuit." - talking about the Imola circuit before the fatal 1994 race.
"It's going to be a season with lots of accidents, and I'll risk saying that we'll be lucky if something really serious doesn't happen." - pre-season 1994.
"I continuously go further and further learning about my own limitations, my body limitation, psychological limitations. It's a way of life for me."
"Of course there are moments that you wonder how long you should be doing it because there are other aspects which are not nice, of this lifestyle. But I just love winning."
"If you have a target in your life, a real target, doesn't matter if you are very poor or rich people, if you work hard and believe in God, you can get the success, success in the life."
"I know that it is impossible to win always. I just hope that defeat doesn't come this weekend."
"I don't know driving in another way which isn't risky. Each one has to improve himself. Each driver has its limit. My limit is a little bit further than other's."
"If I ever happen to have an accident that eventually costs me my life, I hope it is in one go. I would not like to be in a wheelchair. I would not like to be in a hospital suffering from whatever injury it was. If I'm going to live, I want to live fully. Very intensely, because I am an intense person. It would ruin my life if I had to live partially." (January 1994, 4 months prior to his death)
Notable quotations During his quite long career Senna was involved in several incidents which caused considerable controversy. Senna was vilified in the British media for his involvement in title-deciding collisions in 1989 and 1990. German and Italian newspapers widely condemned his actions in 1990.
Controversies and criticism Going into the penultimate race, the
1989 Japanese Grand Prix, the Brazilian needed to win again to keep the World Championship open. Senna duly took pole position from the World Championship leader Alain Prost. At the start Prost made a good start and took the lead and for the first half of the race he chipped away to build up a lead of five seconds. Then Senna began to come back at him and by lap 40 they were only a second apart. Prost had the advantage on the straights, Senna was better in the corners. Senna was desperate to get past Prost and at the end of lap 46 Senna made his move at the chicane. Prost was already turning into the corner when Senna drove halfway alongside on the inside. The two interlocked McLarens slid up the chicane escape road. Prost, thinking the World Championship was over, climbed out. To separate the cars the marshals pushed Senna backwards on to the track. They put the car into a dangerous position and so had to push it forwards again. As they did so Senna bump-started the engine. He drove through the chicane and rejoined. The nose of his car was damaged and he had to pit but he rejoined only five seconds behind leader
Alessandro Nannini. Senna's chase was furious and merciless. On lap 50 Ayrton sliced past Nannini at the chicane to retake the lead and win the race. But it was Nannini who appeared on the podium as the winner. Senna had been excluded for missing the chicane and creating a serious accident. McLaren appealed the decision but the FIA Court of Appeal not only upheld the decision but fined Senna $100,000 and gave him a suspended six-month ban.
Going into the
1990 Japanese Grand Prix Senna was the Championship leader. After qualifying there was a huge a political battle going on over pole position. McLaren wanted it to be changed so that Senna would be on a clean piece of track but the request was blocked. Senna saw it as collusion between Prost and the officials and it helped to decide him on a frightening deliberate course of action at the start. If his position proved to be a disadvantage Senna was not going to back off in the first corner. Prost made the better start as expected and as they went into the first corner he was half a car length ahead. Senna did not lift off. The two cars collided with enough force to remove Prost's rear wing and spun into the sand trap. Senna was the World Champion. With one race left, Prost was no longer able to get the necessary points to beat Senna. There was lots of controversy after the collision between Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost. FISA announced plans for a special enquiry into safety after Ferrari threatened to withdraw from F1 unless sanctions were taken against Senna's dangerous driving. Senna, however, only emerged with a warning and a fine. Surprisingly at a press conference following the
1991 Japanese Grand Prix, Senna admitted his part in the first corner accident of the year before claiming it had been done in frustration at the FISA decision not to move pole position to the clean side of the track. Another surprising feature of the 1991 Japanese Grand Prix was that Senna moved over on the last corner of the last lap to let his team mate
Gerhard Berger of
Austria through to win.
Championship-deciding collisions Senna took the pole position during the qualifying for the
1985 Monaco Grand Prix, but was accused of deliberately baulking other drivers during the final qualifying session by running more laps than necessary.
Niki Lauda and
Michele Alboreto were most upset by events; Alboreto going so far as to force Senna up an escape road during the session. Senna pointed out that even on the 13th of his 16 qualifying laps he nearly equalled his pole position time.
At the
1988 Portuguese Grand Prix Prost discovered that winning meant everything to Senna when he was almost forced into the pit wall at Estoril at more than 180 mph. Prost got away slightly faster than Senna at the start but the Brazilian dived into the first corner ahead. Prost responded and went to pass Senna at the end of the first lap. Senna swerved to block Prost, forcing the Frenchman nearly to run into the pitwall. Prost kept his foot down and soon edged Senna into the first corner and started pulling away fast. After the race Prost was not happy with Senna's maneuver. Senna got away with a warning from the FIA.
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