AYRTON SENNA 1960 - 1994Ayrton Da Silva was born in Sao Paulo Brazil, on March 21st 1960. He was a very successful Formula One driver, racing for four different teams over a ten year career, He won the world championships three times; racing in 162 Grand Prix' and winning 41 of them and appearing on the podium 80 times. His ten year career in Formula One was cut tragically short in 1994, when he died in a crash whilst leading the San Marino Grand Prix.
He began go karting at the early age of four, and by the time he was 15 he began to enter big karting championships around his home town. In 1977 his skills had become obvious, as at the age of 17 he won the South American Karting Championships and came runner up for two years.
In 1981 Senna left Brazil for Europe, where he adopted his mothers maiden name, Senna. In his first season in the UK he took up Ford Formula 1600 racing, winning the RAC and Townsend-Thorson championships in his first season. In 1982 Senna won both British and European Ford Formula 2000 championships and in 1983 he moved up to Formula Three Racing. Senna joined West Surrey Racing team and in his first season won the championship again, just beating a young Martin Brundle, then of Eddie Jordan Racing, to the title.
By 1984 Senna's potential was begining to be truely realised, and he was taken on as test driver for periods with Brabham, McLaren, Toleman and Williams. In March of the same year, Senna was given his first chance in Formula One by the Toleman - Hart racing team replacing Derek Warwick as a driver.
He made his race debut in his home, Brazilian Grand-Prix held in Rio de Janeiro, but sadly left the race after just eight laps when his turbo systems failed. He scored his first points in his second ever Gran-Prix at Kyalami, South Africa. Senna failed to qualify for the San Marino Grand Prix, the only time this ever happened in his 10 year Formula one history, in which he raced 162 times, coming on the podium 80 times and winning 40 outright, due to a combination of tyre and pressure problems with his car. In this debut season, Senna achieved 3 podium finishes, in Monaco, Portugal and Britain, and finished in an 9th place overall, scoring a respectable 13 points. The fight for first place was settled by just half a point that year, with Niki Lauda getting 72 points and Alain Prost with 71.5.
In 1985 Senna bought out the last year of his contract with Toleman-Hart and made the switch to the Lotus-Renault Racing team where he was met with even more success. In the first race of the season in Brazil, Senna won his first of what would be 65 in his career, a record only bettered by Michael Schumacher. In the very next race Senna took his very first Grand Prix win, in Portugal after again taking pole position on the grid and eventually beating Michele Alboleto by over one Minuite. In the same season Senna managed another victory in Belgium and podium postitions in the Austrian, Dutch and European Grand Prix' he finished the season on 38 points in 4th place.
Senna got a flying start to the 1986 season, coming second in Brazil and winning the Spanish Grand Prix by 0.014 seconds to Nigel Mansell, the closest finish in recent Formula One history and after two races Senna found himself leading the World Drivers Championship for the first time ever. However an unreliable car let him down and ove the course of the season he dropped out of 6 races with trouble with his car. But managed another race win in Detroit and podium finishes in Brazil, Monaco, Belgium, Germany, Hungary and Mexico and he finished the season on 55 points and again in 4th place despite a much higher points score than in 1985.
For the 1987 season Senna and his car were both in better form, he was forced to retire from three races and was disqualified from the final race if the season, the Australian Grand Prix as his car was checked over and found that his brake ducts were too wide for the rule book. These fall backs didn't stop Senna though, he recorded two back to back win early on in the season, his second win at Detroit in as many years and a win in Monaco, which would turn out to be the first of a string of 6 victories at the circuit as Senna dominated this track in years to come. He achieved 4 second place finishes that season, at San Marino, Hungary, Italy and Japan, with third place finishes in Britain and Germany. Senna finished the season on 57 points and in third place in the Drivers Championships.
Senna and Nigel Mansell on the podium
In 1988 Senna moved for what was to be a six year spell at Honda Marlboro McLaren. Senna was disqualified from the first race of the season after swerving and blocking his own team mate Alain Prost in a fierce battle for the race, showing signs of the pairs intense rivalry as the best two drivers of the time. This did not hold Senna back and he won the second, San Marino, Grand Prix and went on to win in Canada, Detroit, Britain, Germany, Hungary, Belgium and Japan, Ayrton Senna had arrived. He finished second in Mexico, France and Australia and rounded of a brilliant season, he totalled 90 points and won his first ever World Drivers Championship, he was officially the best driver in the world, beating teammate and bitter rival Alain Prost by only 3 points, between them they had won every race of the season bar the Italian Grand Prix and so, McLaren flew away with the Constructors Cup with 199 points to Ferrari's 65 in second place.
In 1989 Prost and Senna's battle intensified and a number of battles on and off the track occurred, leading to a number of disqualifications for the pair and allegations of cheating and not following pre-agreed race tactics between the pair. Senna came of worse in these battles, he achieved 6 wins and one second place finish to end up on 60 points, in second place behind Prost's 76 despite being out of 7 races due to crashes and disqualification (usually down to Prost). Prost left the team at the end of the season to join rivals Ferrari.
This turned out to be a very bad decision on the part of Prost, as Senna flew out of the blocks and took the next two season' Drivers Championships. In 1990 he took 6 first place finishes, 2 second and 3 third to finish on 78 points, beating Prost by 7 points. In 1991 Senna was unstoppable, he won 7 races and got another five podium finishes and finished the season on 96 points, beating Prost by a comprehensive 62 points as he finished in 5th place, second place going to Nigell Mansell on 72.
The next two seasons Senna finished 4th and Second, with Nigell Mansell finally taking the title in 92 and in 1993 it was the turn of now Renault driver Alain Prost.
On the first of May 1994, the world Mourned the death of a true Formula One Legend, Senna was killed in a crash whilst leading the San Marino Grand Prix. Senna claimed pole for the race and after the death in qualifying of Ratzenberger, security and safety was key in the race. But Senna flew out of the blocks setting the fastest time, As Senna entered the high-speed Tamburello corner on the next lap, the car left the track at high speed, hitting the concrete retaining wall at around 135 mph, he was air lifted to hospital and later declared dead at 34 years of age.
Aftermath of the Senna crash in San Marino
Formula One had lost who in my opinion was the greatest driver of all time, statistically the third but his career was tragically short at its twilight. Senna was a true legend of the sport, keep an eye out for his nephew Bruno Senna coming up in Formula one in the next few seasons!
