On this day in 1994, Ayrton Senna tragically lost his life at the San Marino Grand Prix.
To celebrate his incredible career – which saw him score 80 podiums, 41 wins, 65 pole positions, 19 fastest laps and three world titles – here are my top five moments from his time in Formula 1.
5) A helping hand
Senna was close to Professor Sid Watkins, who was in charge of F1’s on-track medical team for 26 years, and was interested in the medical side of the sport. He had a few conversations with Watkins about what could be done in the event of a driver crashing and he used what he learned to save the life of Erik Comas during practice for the 1992 Belgian Grand Prix.
Senna was the first man on the scene after the Frenchman crashed heavily at Blanchimont. Instead of continuing, he stopped on the circuit and ran to help, dodging other cars through the dust clouds. He switched off the car engine and held Comas' head in a stable position until doctors arrived.
Whilst Senna was arguably the sport’s best driver, he was also an incredibly caring person who showed concern for his fellow racers.
4) On another level
The Brazilian’s pole position lap for the 1988 Monaco Grand Prix was just under 1.5 seconds faster than his team-mate Alain Prost in equal machinery. It was just staggering. He would have easily won the race on Sunday had he not crashed at Portier.
He said on the lap: “I suddenly realized that I was no longer driving the car consciously. I was kind of driving it by instinct, only I was in a different dimension. It was like I was in a tunnel, not only the tunnel under the hotel, but the whole circuit for me was a tunnel. I was just going, going - more, and more, and more, and more. I was way over the limit but still able to find even more."
3) Debut podium
Driving for the lowly Toleman team, no one expected Senna to score top three results in his debut season. But that is exactly what happened at the 1984 Monaco Grand Prix. He qualified down in 13th place but showed his incredible skill in wet conditions to move up to second place by lap 19.
He started to hunt down the leader Alain Prost and rapidly closed the gap to the Frenchman. On lap 29 Prost waved frantically at the stewards, indicating that he thought the race should be stopped. Senna passed the McLaren driver as the red flag was shown on lap 32 but the results were taken from the previous tour, meaning he finished in second place.
2) Rain master
Following his impressive second place finish in Monaco one year earlier, Senna once again showed his incredible speed in the rain to take his debut victory – this time driving for Lotus – at the 1985 Portuguese Grand Prix.
He lined up on pole position (also a first) and was unchallenged throughout. He was in a league of his own and lapped everyone up to Michele Alboreto who finished second for Ferrari.
1) Domination at Donington Park
As I said in a previous piece about Senna, the first time I saw the opening lap of the 1993 European Grand Prix I was blown away. He made it look so easy in the damp conditions at the Donington Park circuit, moving from fifth to first before he even reached the final corner. This is widely regarded as one of the best laps in Formula 1.
After taking the lead from Alain Prost at the Adelaide hairpin, Senna simply drove off into the distance and eventually finished almost one and a half minutes ahead of Damon Hill, who finished in second. He also lapped everyone up to the Brit.
What are your favourite Senna moments? Let me know on Twitter, Facebook and Google+.
This article was originally posted on the 20th anniversary of his death in 2014.
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| © Williams Martini Racing |
5) A helping hand
Senna was close to Professor Sid Watkins, who was in charge of F1’s on-track medical team for 26 years, and was interested in the medical side of the sport. He had a few conversations with Watkins about what could be done in the event of a driver crashing and he used what he learned to save the life of Erik Comas during practice for the 1992 Belgian Grand Prix.
Senna was the first man on the scene after the Frenchman crashed heavily at Blanchimont. Instead of continuing, he stopped on the circuit and ran to help, dodging other cars through the dust clouds. He switched off the car engine and held Comas' head in a stable position until doctors arrived.
4) On another level
The Brazilian’s pole position lap for the 1988 Monaco Grand Prix was just under 1.5 seconds faster than his team-mate Alain Prost in equal machinery. It was just staggering. He would have easily won the race on Sunday had he not crashed at Portier.
He said on the lap: “I suddenly realized that I was no longer driving the car consciously. I was kind of driving it by instinct, only I was in a different dimension. It was like I was in a tunnel, not only the tunnel under the hotel, but the whole circuit for me was a tunnel. I was just going, going - more, and more, and more, and more. I was way over the limit but still able to find even more."
3) Debut podium
Driving for the lowly Toleman team, no one expected Senna to score top three results in his debut season. But that is exactly what happened at the 1984 Monaco Grand Prix. He qualified down in 13th place but showed his incredible skill in wet conditions to move up to second place by lap 19.
He started to hunt down the leader Alain Prost and rapidly closed the gap to the Frenchman. On lap 29 Prost waved frantically at the stewards, indicating that he thought the race should be stopped. Senna passed the McLaren driver as the red flag was shown on lap 32 but the results were taken from the previous tour, meaning he finished in second place.
2) Rain master
Following his impressive second place finish in Monaco one year earlier, Senna once again showed his incredible speed in the rain to take his debut victory – this time driving for Lotus – at the 1985 Portuguese Grand Prix.
He lined up on pole position (also a first) and was unchallenged throughout. He was in a league of his own and lapped everyone up to Michele Alboreto who finished second for Ferrari.
1) Domination at Donington Park
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| © LAT |
As I said in a previous piece about Senna, the first time I saw the opening lap of the 1993 European Grand Prix I was blown away. He made it look so easy in the damp conditions at the Donington Park circuit, moving from fifth to first before he even reached the final corner. This is widely regarded as one of the best laps in Formula 1.
After taking the lead from Alain Prost at the Adelaide hairpin, Senna simply drove off into the distance and eventually finished almost one and a half minutes ahead of Damon Hill, who finished in second. He also lapped everyone up to the Brit.
What are your favourite Senna moments? Let me know on Twitter, Facebook and Google+.
This article was originally posted on the 20th anniversary of his death in 2014.
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