One of the most famous names in Formula 1—Ayrton Senna da Silva—was a Brazilian F1 driver from 1984 until his devastating crash in Imola in 1994.
Senna was born on March 21, 1960, in São Paulo to his mother, Neide Senna, and father, Milton da Silva. On his 4th birthday, Milton gifted his son a miniature go-kart, which the boy immediately fell in love with. His family was relatively wealthy, so they never had any financial issues when it came to Senna wanting to kart.
He rode in a kart for the first time at 13 years old, winning his first ever race. Eight years later, at 21, he joined single-seater racing based in Bahrain and won a spectacular five championships within just three years. Finally, in 1984, at 24 years old, after 11 years of karting, Senna made his Formula 1 debut with the former team, Toleman. Although his surname was technically Da Silva, due to it being a very common surname in Brazil at the time, he decided to use his mother's maiden name, Senna, instead.
During his sixth ever F1 race, Senna came in second to Alain Prost, a French driver who would later win four world championships in his rivalry with Senna. This race was different from any other: torrential rain and storms, which would earn Senna the nickname ‘Rain Master’. It was clear even now that he would become one of the biggest and most recognisable names in F1 history.
Senna wasn’t content with his results from his rookie season, so he signed a contract with Lotus for 1985, scoring him 2 wins and 6 podiums. These stats were incredible at the time, and after staying with the team for 3 years, he had won 6 races and 30 podiums. Still not satisfied, he signed for McLaren in 1988 until the end of his career. Moving to McLaren was clearly the right choice, getting more wins in a season than ever before and winning the drivers championship for ‘88, ‘90, and ‘91.
Senna’s battle with Prost, his now-teammate, was more intense than ever, becoming possibly the most well-known rivalry in the sport, apart from James Hunt and Niki Lauda back in the 1970s. They battled for the championship until the end of Alain’s career in 1993, when he retired, just a year before Senna’s accident.
During the beginning of the 90’s, we saw Williams getting better and better results each season, with reports saying they had new technology to improve race results, which was obviously working. Senna had seen this, and after losing the championship to Prost in 1993, Senna knew what he had to do. He signed a contract with Williams, hoping and expecting more wins and championships. He wanted to take the sport by storm, and joining Williams at the time would certainly make that happen, even though it was already apparent he would be someone to remember.
Senna in his Williams Renault
At only his third race in Williams, Senna’s car steered off the track into the concrete wall at Tamburello corner. He had been in the lead, just ahead of Michael Schumacher, when his car just plummeted right into the wall at the relatively easy corner to take. When the car was recovered, marshals found that a small part of the suspension of the car had flown off when he hit the wall and penetrated his helmet, which caused his life-taking head injury.
Prior to the race, he had requested the steering column be lengthened as he preferred to drive like that, and the Williams team initially believed this was what had caused the crash. After viewing the footage from Schumacher’s onboard, they could clearly see that the car broke traction at the rear instead of the front.
This weekend at San Marino (now known as the Imola circuit, or its official name, Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari) will forever be remembered, but not in a positive way.
Just the day before Senna’s crash, we lost Roland Ratzenberger, an Austrian driver for Simtek Ford. Roland had suffered from three fatal injuries, including a skull fracture, blunt trauma, and a ruptured aorta. Reports say the fracture to his skull is what ended his life, but with everything else combined, I think it would’ve ended unfortunately anyway.
Tucked away in a small part of Senna’s car interior, an Austrian flag was found, which Senna had planned to raise on the podium once he finished the race in honour of Roland, but unfortunately he never got the chance.
In respect for Senna’s life and accomplishments, McLaren has put together a special livery for him, with the colours of his helmet as well as colours from the Brazilian flag. As well as the livery, the team will also have Senna-inspired kits, and Lando Norris has tweeted that he’ll have a tribute helmet to the late world champion.
Mclaren’s special Monaco livery
Something I noticed while doing some research is that Senna crashed on lap 7 of the race. He was very religious, always saying a prayer before getting in the car. In the Catholic Church, the number 7 resembles perfection and completion, which is just something nice to think about. After Senna’s passing, it was discovered he donated over $400 million to children's charities; he had kept the amount a secret during his life.
“The danger sensation is exciting. The challenge is to find new dangers.” -Ayrton Senna
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