Ayrton Senna
| Formula One World Championship career | |
|---|---|
| Entries | 161 |
| Championships | 3 (1988, 1990, 1991) |
| Wins | 41 |
| Podiums | ? |
| Pole positions | 65 |
| Fastest laps | 19 |
| First entry | 1984 Brazilian Grand Prix |
| First win | 1985 Portuguese Grand Prix |
| Last win | 1993 Australian Grand Prix |
| Last entry | 1994 San Marino Grand Prix |
Ayrton Senna da Silva (March 21, 1960 - May 1, 1994), better known as Ayrton Senna, was a Brazilian racing driver who won the Formula One world championship title three times. His tragic death in 1994 is still mourned by Brazilians and he remains one of the most beloved Formula One personalities.
Born in São Paulo, the son of a wealthy Brazilian landowner, he quickly developed an interest in motor racing. Encouraged by his father, a racing enthusiast, young Ayrton got behind the wheel of his first kart at the age of four. He entered karting competition at the legal age of 13. In 1977, Senna won the South American Kart Championship.
Heading for Europe in 1981, he entered the British Formula Ford 1600 competition, which he won. He also adopted his mother's maiden name, Senna, as da Silva is a very common name in Brazil. In 1982 Senna combined the British and European Formula Ford 2000 Championships, winning both. In addition to winning the prestigious and high-profile Macau Grand Prix, Ayrton saw off the challenges of Martin Brundle in the 1983 British F3 championship and secured a seat with the Toleman-Hart F1 team in 1984. His talents did not go unnoticed, especially after he impressed at the Monaco GP under wet and difficult conditions. The next year, Senna joined the Lotus team and won his first GP at Estoril, Portugal under treacherous conditions.
In 1988 Senna joined the McLaren team with Alain Prost as his team mate. The foundation for a fierce competition between Senna and Prost was laid, culminating in a number of dramatic race incidents between the two.
On the track, Senna could be ruthless at times, showing extreme determination and precision, especially in qualifying, a discipline he had mastered like no one before (resulting in a record 65 poles). In the wet, Senna was unchallenged, and in 1993 at the European GP at Donington Park, Senna demonstrated his exceptional wet driving skills by humiliating his opponents at the wheel of an inferior car. When the first lap was over, after overtaking 4 cars, he became race leader. Senna won the Monaco GP six times, a record in itself, and a tribute to his skills.
In 1994, Senna finally left the ailing McLaren team for the top team at the time, Williams-Renault. He failed to finish his first two races, despite taking pole position at both events. On May 1 1994, he took part in his third race for the team, the San Marino GP. Senna yet again took pole position, but would never finish the race. He was leading the race when he went off the track in the Tamburello curve and did not survive the injuries sustained by the subsequent frontal collision with a concrete retaining wall. He was 34.
In 2001, a television documentary called "Going Critical: The Death of Ayrton Senna" was screened on the UK's Channel 4. The programme considered the available data from Senna's car to reconstruct the sequence of events that led to the fatal crash. The programme concluded that an unusually long safety-car period had reduced the pressures in Senna's tyres, thereby lowering the car. As the car entered the Tamburello bend, it bottomed-out and the loss of the ground effect led to a sudden reduction in downforce, and hence grip. As Senna instinctively corrected the resultant slide, the downforce and grip suddenly returned, and Senna effectively drove off the circuit. The programme came to the ironic conclusion that if Senna hadn't been such a great driver, his reactions to the slide wouldn't have been as quick, and he might have survived the crash.
There are other causes to be considered -- Senna did not like the position of the steering column relative to his seating position and had repeatedly asked for it to be changed. That weekend, he was particularly upset by the death of Roland Ratzenberger in practice, which forced the issue and even caused him to consider retiring. He had spent his final morning in meetings with fellow drivers, determined by Ratzenberger's accident to take on a new responsibility for driving through safety changes in F1. Patrick Head and Adrian Newey agreed to modify the steering column and many surmise, based on video evidence of Senna turning the wheel left and right with no movement of the front wheels, that steering failure was the cause of the crash.
The Williams team was entangled for many years in a court case with the Italian prosecutors over manslaughter charges, but they were found not guilty and no action was taken against Williams. In 2004, the case is being re-opened.
His death was considered by many of his Brazilian fans to be a national tragedy. Senna is buried at the Morumbi cemetery in São Paulo, his hometown.
Off the track, Senna was a deeply religious and compassionate man. After his death, his family created the Ayrton Senna Foundation, an organization with the aim of helping poor and needy young people in Brazil and the world. As a result, Senna continues to impact the world today.