Soul of a winner: the Ayrton Senna story
- pitwallstories
- Aug 9, 2024
- 4 min read
1994-2024: 30 years from that fateful accident. Some think that time is the best ally of pain, but often we forget the fact that some people have left a mark too big to be forgotten: this is certainly the case of Ayrton Senna, "Magic", the eternally young, the soul of a winner.
Ayrton Senna da Silva: San Paolo 1960 - Bologna 1994, a lifetime destined to the thrill that only a single-seater can give. Three times world champion with McLaren (in 1988, 1990 and 1991), winner of 41 Grand Prix (which makes him the sixth most successful driver in the history of Formula 1), Senna still holds the record for most wins on the Monte Carlo track (six). As every sports fan knows, however, the numbers are not enough to explain what it means to become part of history and to get your story engraved in the hearts of millions: beating more and more records, being on the front page of major sports newspapers and signing the most prestigious contracts is simply not enough. A Champion is something greater, someone who’s legacy lasts a very long time. Time: something Ayrton had very little of. His life was cut short on May 1st 1994, at the age of 34, because of the injuries sustained during the San Marino Grand Prix, held on the circuit of Imola.
The beauty of this sport sometimes makes us forget about the risks it entails. Visors lowered, cars set on the grid and the starting lights turned off: these are the moments that precede the show that we all know and love...which sometimes turn out to be so cruel that not even Ayrton Senna could escape his fate. You might wonder what the point of all this is. Senna would have said:
«Racing, competing, it's in my blood. It's part of me, it's part of my life; I have been doing it all my life and it stands out above everything else»
Senna first entered the world of motor racing at the age of thirteen in 1973, when he started karting. The first tests in Formula 1 came ten years later, but he only officially debuted in the 1984 Brazilian Grand Prix, in the British team Toleman’s car. Three other teams will have the chance to hire the Brazilian driver: Lotus, McLaren and Williams. It was in McLaren that Senna had the greatest success of his career, thanks to the superiority of the famous MP4/4: a single-seater that Ayrton had to share with his teammate, "the professor", Alain Prost, giving life to one of the most famous rivalries in the world of sport.
The 1989 San Marino Grand Prix was a real turning point in the relationship between the two drivers: the delay of the race following the accident of Berger (Ferrari) meant a second start; Prost initially seemed to have the best, leading the field, but Senna overtook him by not respecting an agreement made before the start (the two should not had attacked each other in the first few laps). Senna won, Prost came second. Since then the battle between the two was on, on track, but also outside.
During that season, the battle for the title came at the moment of greatest tension in the Suzuka Grand Prix, during which an attempt to overtake made by Senna caused an accident with his teammate: the Frenchman was now mathematically world champion, for the third time in his career.
Suzuka was a fixed stage in the rivalry between the two: in 1990 Senna put Prost, now in Ferrari, out off track again, and, a year later, even admitted to having deliberately caused the accident to avenge the wrong done in the previous season. His statement is historical:
«Races are like this, sometimes they end up at the first corner, sometimes with six laps to go»
A deep rivalry leads, in most cases, to a dose of mutual respect: on the other hand only between two "equals" is it possible to trigger a fight as exciting as it is competitive. Senna and Prost themselves understood this, and over the years they learned to respect each other by recognizing their mutual talent.
«He's humanly incompatible with me, but I can't imagine my career without the stimulus represented by Alain»
Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna: equals or opposites? The truth is that it’s incredibly difficult to think of one without resorting to the other: theirs is a pair of "complementary" opposites, one of those cases where either chance or fate are used to explain how two such champions could have shared the same time, the same circuits and even the same car. Regardless of the answer, we were certainly lucky to be spectators.
Anyone who comes into the world of motorsport knows how important Senna’s figure is: we’re all guardians of his immense legacy.
The first to treasure it are drivers, who choose the same path of the Champions of the past, hoping to be able to reach their records, or even break them. This is the dream of many young racers, since they cross the tracks with the first karts: to read their own name next to that of those who have made history.
That’s what Lewis Hamilton experienced in 2017, precisely in the Canadian Grand Prix: after equalling the number of pole positions of Ayrton Senna, he was honored by the family of the Brazilian driver with the helmet that he wore in 1987.
Impossible to hold back tears: surely Lewis cannot; we see him as he proudly raises the heirloom to the crowd , as if it were a trophy obtained at the end of a long and arduous race. «The greatest honour that can exist» announces Hamilton to microphones because, for someone who grew up dreaming of becoming world champion in Formula 1, this is an unforgettable moment.
Unfortunately the two never met and Senna could not congratulate him personally. But champions recognize each other: records exist to be broken, and the fact that it was Lewis Hamilton who did it can only make Ayrton proud.
Written by Emma
