Ayrton Senna from Brazil: 30 years since the legendary F1 icon left us
In the opening laps of the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, three-time Formula One World Champion Ayrton Senna was leading the race from a young German driver who was proving to be the most prominent threat to his hopes of winning a fourth world title, Michael Schumacher.
Despite the safety car only returning to the pits on lap five following Pedro Lamy and JJ Lehto’s first lap collision, the two title protagonists were already starting to build a lead from third-placed Gerhard Berger.
Senna crosses the start-finish line to begin lap seven
On lap seven, just the second lap at racing speeds, Senna approached the high-speed Tamburello curve at 309 km/h (192 mph) with Schumacher’s Benetton B194 in his mirrors. On approach, he attempted to brake and even downshifted twice, but his Williams FW16 was uncompliant, and he subsequently ran off the track and hit the concrete wall on the corner exit at 211 km/h (131 mph).
The high-speed impact tore off his front-right wheel and his nose cone before his car quickly came to a halt. Senna laid motionless in his Williams, and despite a slight movement of his head just seconds after the impact offering a glimmer of hope, the world had lost its greatest racing driver at just 34 years old.
So much more left to achieve. So much more fire left in his belly. Taken all in an instant. Brazilian F1 journalist Flavio Gomes, who was in Imola on the day of Senna’s accident spoke on that fateful day in May 1994.
“The way he died, the violent accident, the death at a very young age live on TV, it was traumatic for the fans,” says Mr Gomes. “It had been a long time since anyone had died in a Grand Prix, since 1982. Many people in Formula 1 had never seen someone die during a race weekend, and that weekend two died.”
To this day we still don’t know exactly what caused Senna’s accident. Some have speculated that debris on the track was to blame, others point to a faulty steering column, and some have even suggested the inherently unsafe nature of the Tamburello curve caused his accident. We will never definitively know.
What we do know is there was a uniqueness about Senna. He had this mystery about him throughout his life, and even in his death. He may no longer be with us physically, but he remains alive through the millions that he touched, especially in his beloved Brazil.
“He [Senna] was an idol without a doubt. For people in Brazil, he had the image of a martyr because of the way he died. Many in Brazil are fanatical about him in an almost religious way, as if he were a kind of holy person,” says Mr Gomes.
Sebastian Vettel drove Senna’s iconic 1993 McLaren MP4/8 before the 2024 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola, the track where his fatal accident occurred 30 years ago
Senna raced on the absolute edge of adhesion every single time he put down the visor of that iconic yellow helmet and went racing. After qualifying on pole for the 1988 Monaco Grand Prix by almost 1.5 seconds to teammate Alain Prost, Senna said:
“I was at one stage just on pole, then by half a second, and then one second… and I kept going. Suddenly, I was nearly two seconds faster than anybody else, including my teammate with the same car. And I suddenly realised that I was no longer driving the car consciously. I was driving it by instinct, only I was in a different dimension. I was way over the limit but still able to find even more. It frightened me because I realised, I was well beyond my conscious understanding.”
Senna was above comprehension. He not only did things in the car which we as fans struggled to compute but which he also struggled to make sense of at times. But greatness is not to be understood, it is to be admired.
His 1988 Monaco masterpiece was one of 13 pole positions that year. For context, all but three poles in 1988 were claimed by Senna.
Senna claimed the first of his three world championships in 1988
Senna had a special relationship with the Formula 1 car. A special feel for where the grip was before he entered a corner. Where some drivers found two or three-tenths of lap time, Senna could find six, seven, sometimes even eight-tenths.
Watching Senna was to watch man and machine in perfect harmony, and nothing was beyond the realm of possibility once he stepped into a Formula 1 car.
“He was a winner. He was a great driver in an era of great drivers,” says Mr Gomes. “He had a special ability and talent for doing what he did – driving racing cars.
“He died at the best moment of his career and he was talented enough to be champion more times. How many, its is impossible to say, but he had good years ahead of him.”
Senna would have been 64 today
Whether it was his first lap wet weather masterclass in Donnington in 1993. Wrestling his McLaren MP4/6 to the chequered flag with just sixth gear at his disposal in Brazil in 1991.
Out-qualifying his teammate Prost, an all-time great in his own right by 1.5 seconds in Monaco in 1988.
Claiming his maiden Grand Prix victory by over one minute on a soaking wet day in Estoril in 1985. Dragging his inferior Toleman TG184 to second place on a torrential day in Monaco in 1984 as a rookie.
Senna just lived to race, and he lived and died doing what he loved most.
“Racing, competing, is in my blood. It’s part of me, it’s part of my life; I’ve been doing it all my life. And it stands up before anything else.”
There will never be a more beautiful sight than Senna’s iconic yellow helmet, perched high in the cockpit of his red and white McLaren dancing around the streets of Monaco.
A whole generation of drivers who never had the privilege to watch him race still admire him. And still watch videos of him in awe, just watching him at work was an experience in itself.
In just 10 years in the sport, Senna left a legacy that few athletes in the history of any sport could. He undoubtedly still had many more good years ahead of him, but his three world championships, 41 Grand Prix victories, 80 podiums, and 65 pole positions still put him among the all-time leaders in every statistical category.
He left us 30 years ago, yet what he left behind is timeless. They say you only die when the last person who loves you dies too. In that case, Senna will never die; his legacy will live on for many more generations to come.
Ayrton Senna from Brazil. Gone but never forgotten. Obrigado Ayrton. Senna sempre.
