Senna

By Rohan Santhosh in collaboration with Gagan N Bangaragiri

Ayrton Senna da Silva is a legendary name in Formula One.

He was one of the

greatest and most influential to have raced in the sport, with a sensational career that spanned over a decade. Ayrton, a three-time world champion in 1988, 1990, and 1991, had a thrilling rivalry with Alain Prost which peaked when Prost was his teammate after winning his maiden World Championship. This is the story of how the young boy with dreams born in Sao Paulo grew into one of the fiercest and most talented drivers the sport had ever seen. 

Ayrton Senna was born on 21st March 1960 in Sao Paulo, Brazil into a wealthy family as his father was a successful businessman and a landowner. This wealth helped him in pursuing his racing career. Senna's first taste of driving came when his father built him his first go-kart at the age of 6 which had a lawnmower engine producing a whopping 1HP, but that was enough for young Senna to fall in love with karting, a love which persisted throughout his career due to the simplicity of the sport. Senna began karting in local events using a kart which was owned by another legendary Brazilian racer, Emmerson Fittipaldi. It was at the age of 13 when Senna raced in his first sanctioned event at the famous Interlagos circuit. Senna dominated with his natural talent and speed as he started the race off on pole position and finished first place. Over his career as a racing driver, Senna was seen as a mastermind; this brilliance came out of his career in karting. Initially, Ayrton never thought about using karting to get into F1 but it was later when his father introduced him to Emmerson Fittipaldi his career made the change for the better. He had eventually outgrown and outclassed every driver in the Brazilian Karting circuit, after which he made a life-changing decision to move to England, where he would take part in Formula Ford and British Formula 3 steadily clawing his way up into Formula One.

Senna's entry into Formula One was in the struggling midfield team, Toleman Motorsport. His debut race was at the 1984 Brazilian Grand Prix at the Jacarepaguá Racetrack in Rio de Janeiro where he qualified 17th but had to retire due to his turbocharger failing. It was at the next race in South Africa where he finished 6th and got his first F1 point of many, and this was only the beginning of his F1 career. One of his greatest races was his performance at the 1984 Monaco Grand Prix which was the first wet race of that season. The rain in Formula 1 back then was called the great equalizer as even if the car was the fastest on the paddock, if you couldn't drive in the rain it wouldn't matter. This was one of the races where Senna showed his racing prowess in the wet, and a race where he pushed the underperforming Toleman to its limits. Senna had qualified 13th on the

grid with Alain Prost, one of his later rivals starting on pole. After the race began, two Renaults crashed out, helping Senna move up to 11th place. As the race progressed more and more incidents occurred helping Senna move up the field. Alain Prost was overtaken by Nigel Mansell in the Lotus F1 car who later made a mistake causing him to retire. It was currently Prost in 1st followed by Niki Lauda in 2nd and Senna in 3rd. By the 19th lap, Senna's god-given talent in the rain helped him overtake another seasoned veteran in the sport, Niki Lauda. As the race continued, Senna was slowly catching up to the race leader Alain Prost at almost 2 seconds per lap (an immense rate in Formula 1) due to an engine issue in Prost's Mclaren but as the race progressed Senna only continued to catch up to him and did not let down. Due to this, Prost began waving to the stewards to end the race as the rain was making it more dangerous to drive the cars. The race was called off and Prost stopped his car. Senna wasn't informed of the race being stopped and hence when he saw Prost still at the starting line, he thought he overtook him for the lead. On the next lap, the chequered flag was brought out signalling the end of the race. Senna did his victory lap thinking he got his first victory, just to be informed that the race was called off one lap prior, and was given 2nd place. Senna was furious but acted like a gentleman during the podium celebration. But this stellar performance in an underperforming car attracted the attention 

After his scintillating debut into F1, he moved to Lotus in 1985 to race in a more competitive car, a car that could help him win races. This move paid off as the Lotus 97t gave Senna his first victory in the 1985 Portuguese Grand Prix, another wet race where he won the race by an entire minute(another great feat in F1). His career in Lotus spanned 3 seasons and gave him 6 of his 41 career victories. This natural talent was spotted by Ron Dennis, the Team Principal of Mclaren signed Senna to race for Mclaren in the 1988 season alongside teammate and rival Alain Prost. These two had one of the most drawn-out and engaging rivalries in F1, it is so complicated that it needs to be explained separately. The Mclaren MP4/4 was a dominant car, so dominant that it won 15 out of the 16 races held that season. The title fight was riveting. It was a dance constantly moving back and forth between Prost and Senna. The Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka was the penultimate race of the season, the battle of world champion was down to the wire as Senna had won 7 races while Prost had won 6. If Senna won this race he would be the World Champion otherwise it would be decided the next race. Senna was a man who always wanted to win and wanted to win the race so he could be World Champion.

That weekend, Senna put an astounding lap qualifying on pole for the 12th time that season, this proved that he was a class driver as no one had ever achieved such a feat. When the race began the next day, Senna's car stalled at the start line and was not able to move, luckily due to the downward slope of the track he was able to push the car to start it. He was in 12th place but he was so determined to win and make his Brazilian countrymen proud. He overtook 6 cars in the opening lap. He continued the race driving with pure passion and precision by lap 28 out of 51, he did the impossible. He was on Prost's tail steadily catching up then he did a spectacular pass down the straight leading to the finish line. He held this lead till the end and was 13 seconds ahead of rival Prost. This was a deserving end to Senna's spectacular season and he was crowned the new World Champion. He went on to win 2 more World Championships at Mclaren.

Although Senna had multiple wins at various tracks in the F1 calendar, the place he had not won at was his home race in Brazil but that was about to change. It was the 1991 Brazilian Grand Prix held at the Interlagos race track which was in his hometown of Sao Paulo. He had turned 31 two days before the race and said that if he won the race it would be the greatest gift he could receive. In the qualifiers, the Williams team posed a challenge to him but he managed to beat the duo and get pole position. The race began and he comfortably reached lap 65 out of 72 but then a catastrophic gear failure and only had 5th and 6th gear for the

remaining 6 laps of the race. He pushed through it and after two laps the gap between him and Riccardo Patrese the Williams driver in 2nd decreased from 6 seconds to 4 seconds and he even lost 5th gear. Now he was locked in 6th gear. He gave it everything he had and he had done it, his efforts made him win the Brazilian Grand Prix at his home for the first time. He considered this one of his most treasured moments as millions of Brazilians considered him a national hero and were jubilated at what Senna had accomplished. At the end of the race, he had no energy, he was lifted out of his car and taken to the podium, there Senna picked up the trophy with all the strength he could muster while the fans were chanting his name. This was and still is one of the most iconic moments in F1 history.

For 1994, Senna finally joined the Williams team after Prost retired and was supposedly paid a $20 million salary. Senna was assigned car number 2, with his teammate Damon Hill running car number 0 since Prost was car number 1 if he hadn’t retired. Senna brought in a new sponsor for Williams. Rothmans International became the primary backer for Williams, and Senna was one of their first drivers in the familiar white and navy livery. Rule changes for 1994 had banned active suspension, traction control, and ABS. The new FW16 was far from the superiority that the FW14B or the FW15C that it succeeded. The FW16 found Senna in close running with the Benetton B194. Senna made his discomfort with the FW16 clear from the get-go. 

Senna died at the age of 34 due to fatal injuries he sustained in the San Marino Grand Prix. The San Marino Grand Prix was held at Imola, a town in Italy, in the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari. During the afternoon qualifying, Senna's teammate, Rubens Barrichello, was involved in an accident when his car became airborne at the Variante Bassa chicane and hit the tyre-wall and fence.

Barrichello had a broken nose and arm from the incident and withdrew from the event. During qualifying, Rolan Ratzenberger was killed after the front wing of his Simtek-Ford broke as he entered the Villeneuve corner, causing him to crash into a concrete wall. The morning before his crash, Senna talked to his former teammate, Alain Prost, about the re-establishment of the Grand Prix Driver’s Association, to increase the safety in Formula One. 

At the start of the race, JJ Lehto’s Benetton-Ford stalled and was hit by the Lotus-Mugen Honda of Pedro Lamy. A wheel and some debris landed in the main grandstand and injured 8 fans and a policeman. On lap 7, Senna’s car left the racing line at 307 kmph at the Tamburello corner, and ran in a straight line off the track and hit the concrete retaining wall at 233 kmph. Within two minutes of crashing, Senna was extracted from his car. Senna had a weak heartbeat and had suffered blood loss of approximately 4.5 litres and treatment began beside the car. An on-site tracheotomy was performed due to his poor neurological condition. He was immediately airlifted to Maggiore Hospital in Bologna. Senna’s death was announced at 6:40 in the evening but the time of passing as per Italian law was 2:17 when he made contact with the walla and his brain stopped functioning. 

The front-right wheel and suspension are thought to have sent into the cockpit, striking Senna on the right side of his helmet, pressing him into his headrest. A piece of metal attached to the wheel penetrated his helmet and struck his forehead and also a jagged piece of metal also pierced his helmet visor just above his right eye. He perished to skull fractures, brain injuries and a rupture in his temporal artery. When his car was examined, an Austrian flag was found in his car, to raise in honour of Ratzenberger after the race. The pictures of Senna being treated on the track were never made public out of respect.

Senna is without a doubt one of the Motorsport World's most respected, successful, and passionate drivers.