Born Ayrton Senna da Silva on March 21, , in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Senna was an awkward child who was later diagnosed with a motor-coordination problem. Senna's father, Milton da Silva, was successful businessman and landowner, but also was a motor racing fan, and encouraged his son's fascination with cars. When Senna was four, his father gave him a one-horsepower go-kart.
When Senna got behind the wheel, his awkwardness disappeared—he was a natural. The entire family supported Senna's interest in motoring, and spent weekends together at local parks where the young man could drive his kart. Five races into his debut season in Formula One, Senna dragged his Toleman by the scruff of its neck round a rain-soaked Monaco, storming from 13th on the grid to finish second overall.
Senna famously loved the Monaco circuit, indeed he holds the record for the most wins there with six. In though when racing in his first year for McLaren, he dominated qualifying like never before. He finished on pole, out-qualifying teammate Prost by an unprecedented 1.
McLaren dominated the season like no team had ever done before, winning 15 out of 16 races. His favourite thing happened though, and a downpour meant his biblical wet-racing skills were unleashed as he fought through the pack, eventually overtaking Prost en route to victory.
Martin Donnelly suffered a terrible accident during practice at Jerez, in which he was thrown from his car. Senna was deeply affected by it, watching everything unfold on his monitor in the pits, before visiting the scene himself to see if Donnelly was OK. The documentary directed by Asif Kapadia titled Senna gives a fair idea of what set him apart. He was an audacious driver, his 41 race wins and 65 pole positions which places him fifth and third on the lists respectively tell you that his all-or-nothing style was successful.
He was ruthless on the track, with more collisions than any other race driver in his quest for the win. He could even be reckless, as the crashes which led to the intense rivalry with Alain Prost showed. He could make a car perform far more than its design capabilities allowed, as he did when he won his first race in Monaco driving a below-par Toleman. He was a religious man, with constant references about how he found God when in the car.
He is said to have even read the Bible on the morning of that fateful race. He was a philosophical man, who saw his race craft as a way to find himself.
But most of all, he was an excellent driver. He thrived on pressure and some of his best wins came in these circumstances: on wet tracks after it had rained and become more dangerous, when his car was stuck in sixth gear, when his shoulders had gone numb. Ron Dennis , the former CEO of McLaren with whom he won his three titles, is perhaps the best placed to talk about his legacy.
Dennis, an important voice in his documentary, signed him in and worked closely with him until Senna left the team at the end of Like any team situation, if someone demonstrates that you can try even harder, then you do. He showed what he was prepared to do to achieve his objectives. He raised my game because I think that you try to be as good as the person you are with. I liked his principles - they played to my strengths.
He was great, but he had good, human values. He had a few lapses in his life, but he was incredibly principled. And he was a good human being. In the beginning, we were great enemies. Michael Scumacher , who took the proverbial baton when he won the San Marino GP and the championship in — the first of his record seven — was sure that he would not have won it, had Senna been there.
Sir Jackie Stewart , who had famously questioned him about his disregard for driver safety, spoke about how he saw Senna evolve.
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