Where can I begin about Aryton?
I love this guy. The most passionate, the most intense, one of the best drivers in F1. My brother was a fan of Ayrton, I guess thats when I noticed Senna. I was in primary school. Unfortunately, India did not have the previleges of cable TV, I never got to see the great man in action. Very unfortunately the next time I got to see him, was him in the wrecked car at Imola GP 1994. Star Sports had started broadcasting GrandPrix racing, I was excited to watch a race; thats the very first image I saw. I missed the great man in action.
Genuises do not need the best cars, they need the worst cars to shove it down, ''Here I am''. The discovery of Senna was 1984 Monaco GP. Senna was driving Toleman in his debut season, which was the mediocre team of the grid. It was a wet race. And Senna being the unknown rain meister, caught
and passed Niki Lauda on lap 19 who was driving the McLaren-Porsche which was definitely the best car on the grid, and began chasing Alain Prost (also mclaren) who was half a minute ahead. The race was stopped on lap 31, but Senna was just 7 seconds off Prost. Chance of victory lost, hardly matters because Senna gets the attention and moves to Lotus Renault, one of
the good teams though not in the league of Williams and McLaren.
It was the mastery displayed in the wet, passing the world champion, chasing down another; signs of a genius. Keywords: Wet race, Rookie named Senna, driving Toleman, finishing 7 sec down Alain Prost in McLaren.
I don't know why he was not snapped up by the big teams. He did finish 6th, 2nd, 3rd, 3rd in 1984, his debut !!. Fantastic for a rookie. It was good in way to learn the race craft in a decent car rather than land in the best, end up depending on the car.
And then there is the pressure, ''Hot rookie, Senna to drive Williams-
Honda''. Its not a good way for young drivers who happen to do well in their debut and suddenly find themselves the center of attention.
Those three years at Lotus really helped Senna polish his race skills. He had pretty good engines Renault, then Honda. The car was certainly not the best, to be specific the 4th best after Williams, McLaren, Ferrari. But when he could he was supremely fast. He would qualify a second or more
ahead of the best cars and the best drivers. Senna is known for his qualifying performance.
For example Detroit GP 1985. Its a street circuit, the more you commit, the better your times are, street circuits demand very high concentration when pushing the limit, one mistake and you are history. There is no run off areaslike gravel traps or grass; there is the track, then there is the wall.
The walls welcome you with open arms, very easy to kiss the wall and retire.
Senna takes pole position at the 1985 Detroit GP with a time of 1:42.05. The next person on the grid is Nigel Mansell in Williams-Honda with a 1:43.25. More than a second quicker. But retires when he crashes.
The next year, he was again on the pole beating the same man by half a second.
1985, his second year in F1:He qualified 10 times on the front row out of 16 races with 7 poles.It becomes a trade mark of Senna. He won two races and finished on the podium 6 times. Finishes 4th in championship.
His first win comes in a wet race, Portugese GP 1985. There was only one car on the same lap as Senna. Only 9 cars finished of 26, the weather was too much for 7 drivers who spun out including Alain Prost and Keke Rosberg who were were world champs.
The next incident that jumps to my mind is 1988 Monaco qualifying. Senna has Alain as his teammate. Senna goes out and he beats Alain's time to take the pole, not satisfied he goes out once more, betters his time again. Then again. Finally he had a time of 1:24.000 to Alain's 1:25.42. Thats 1.42 seconds faster !!! Can u imagine anyone beating the 'Professor' so comprehensively.
Then there is 1991 Brazil. Senna won that race. The car was stuck in 6th gear for a good 20 laps toward the end. Brazil is his home race, Senna was very passionate about it. When he crossed the finish line, he let go of all the tension he had inside him. I have that in the Senna video, he literally
screamed for 15 seconds, almost cried of relief,its shocking to hear it, but it shows how hard the person tried, how much passionate the guy was, the intensity of that.
His personal battles with Alain Prost is his own war. I would not care much about why's and don'ts. I'm in no position to judge who was wrong when they tangled in 1989, I don't know how bad Senna felt when they handed Prost the crown. It was a revenge in 1990. It got personal.
Senna also never liked equal team-mates. Apart from Prost, there was Elio De Angelis who matched Senna on quite many occassions but Senna did want anymore of him. Next year Lotus hired someone else.But he proved himself against Prost, the best team-mate anyone could have.
Nevertheless, Senna proved himself time and over again that he is the best.
Fast forward to 1993 Donington, another wet race. Senna is now in the second best car or third best, but nowhere comparable to the Williams-Renault that Prost was driving. The rain meister qualified 4th, at the start of a wet race went down to 5th. IN ONE LAP, HE OVERTOOK 5 CARS TO TAKE THE LEAD !!! He won that race.
There are very few drivers like Senna, so passionate about winning, so single minded, so motivated year after year, ageless, supremely gifted and too quick for everybody else. I see the same motivation, passion and talent in Michael Schumacher.
He was a rare gem. Its a sad day when we lost the genius. I respect him for whatever he was and not bother about people (too worried about ideals) wishing what he could have been.
Senna is a hero for me. Salutes for him !!!
