I remember April 11th 1993 so well. It’s the only
time I ever saw Ayrton Senna race live. The European Grand Prix at Donnington
has gone down in history as one of the great races as Senna drove through a
myriad of conditions to take his 38th victory. There would only be
three more brilliant wins before his untimely death twenty years ago on this
day at the San Marino Grand Prix.
I’ve written before about Donnington here, but I realise how
lucky I was to witness a true legend of the sport compete in one his best
seasons despite not winning the championship. His skills in the wet that day and on so many other occasions were truly astonishing, he just left everyone behind.
Senna was a fascinating racing driver;
there was so much about him that really shone through to take him above other
competitors. His total commitment, his belief in justice that often spilled
into controversy and divided opinion about his racing ethics, his compassion to
other drivers when out of the car, but his raw speed was something so exciting
to witness.
The sad thing is there was so much still to come. His
rivalry with Alain Prost is well documented. Prost was regarded as the best
when Senna came into the sport. When he became Prost’s team mate at McLaren
Senna set out to destroy him. He wanted to be known as the sport’s sole number
one.
That he established himself so incontrovertibly and
ruthlessly made him someone you just couldn’t ignore. But there was a stage of
his career that wasn’t allowed to play out. How fascinating would it have been
to see how he’d have reacted to the threat of Michael Schumacher whose star was
quickly rising and who Senna knew was the next big name the sport would know?
Could someone do to him what he did to Prost? Undoubtedly it would have been
dramatic and surely controversial, controversy being the one word that has
followed both these titans of the sport.
Senna brought racing into a new realm and is often cited as inspiration by today's stars such as Lewis Hamilton. But he arguably made
Formula 1 a contact sport which can be seen by how drivers these days run everything so close to the edge when racing wheel to wheel. But Senna was also a keen advocate for safety. The
aftermath of Senna and the often forgotten Roland Ratzenberger’s death at Imola
made the sport so much safer over the years to the extent that there hasn’t
been a fatality since.
With many people who die too soon their legacy is
embellished. We remember only the good parts and raise them up to be more than
they were. This is in part true of Senna, his legend now is almost like a demigod,
but he was certainly fallible and that’s what made him so interesting and
continues to do so for many people.
His total commitment to driving was
amazing, his technical ability brilliant but his emotions sometimes made him
vulnerable and could push him to do things that he knew was wrong but he could
justify as being right which is why we have Japan 1990. He crashed into Prost at over 150mph to right a wrong from 1989 when he believed the title was unfairly taken from him showing the dark side of himself when on other occasions he'd stop his car on track to make sure other drivers were ok. His was a complex character.
Personally I don’t think he was the best driver that ever
competed I do think he was the most exciting though. The name Senna just
conjures speed. When you heard him talk it was almost like a spiritual lesson.
Listen to him reflect about his qualifying laps at the 1988 Monaco Grand Prix where he believed he was driving almost unconsciously such was his focus. He qualified two seconds clear of Prost that day, his own team mate. It was one of 65 pole positions to go with his 41 wins and three world championships that made him probably the fastest driver the sport has seen.
In Monaco he demonstrated that speed better than anywhere. He committed himself so much more around the tight confines of those streets than anyone ever has before or since to win six times in the principality. It was tragic that the next race after the San Marino Grand Prix in 1994 was Monaco.
I remember sitting in front of the television twenty years
ago and watching my hero die. It was one of the saddest moments I remember
witnessing. After he crashed and the car came to a stop, it looked like his
head moved. I thought he was about to get out of the car as they always seemed
to.
There hadn’t been a death in 12 years at a race meeting
until April 30th and Ratzenberger crashed, I’d been too young to
know it was possible. Now the next day the one driver who seemed invincible
wasn’t getting out of his car and it was truly unbelievable.
So much good has come out of that tragic situation. The
safety in Formula 1 is amazing now and the Ayrton Senna foundation which the
man himself was already establishing was continued by his family to help under
privileged children in Brazil.
However, Senna had created so much good before in his life
and not just with his racing. But it’s in the car that I and many others
remember him. That yellow crash helmet so distinctive in his early years in the black and gold Lotus or in the winning years in the red and white
McLaren’s that he drove so hard, so fast and never giving up.
I remember him at Donnington, driving out of the spray
towards me and shooting past for lap after lap, crushing the dominant Williams
Renault cars and just leaving everyone else behind. That’ll always be the
ultimate Senna memory to me.
all photo's taken from autosport.com
