Ayrton Senna’s 10 greatest moments

Ayrton Senna was the greatest Formula One driver of all time. His life was cut short when he fatally crashed in Imola, 1994, but his legend lives on and he’ll forever be known for his astonishing speed, sharp wit and selfless personality. Today would be his 56th birthday, so we thought it only fitting to highlight some of the many inspirational moments from his glittering career. Here are Ayrton Senna’s 10 greatest moments, in chronological order.

One of Senna’s greatest moments didn’t occur during his Grand prix career at all. Before the 1984 F1 season, Mercedes released a new saloon car and to mark the occasion a race between some of the world’s greatest drivers was to take place, with all of them driving the new road car. The 12-lap race boasted an insane line-up including Jack Brabham, Phil Hill, John Surtees, James Hunt, Niki Lauda, Alain Prost, Keke Rosberg, Jody Scheckter, Stirling Moss and a young, relatively unknown Ayrton Senna. Remarkably, Senna won the race, beating the many World Champions before him, and firmly announcing his arrival to a global audience.

This was the race that firmly put Senna on the map. 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. It was all the more impressive considering his car was a mid-fielder at best, yet Senna’s performance displayed his genius in the wet, impressing critics and wowing fans.

Senna famously loved the Monaco circuit, indeed he holds the record for the most wins there with six. In 1988 though when racing in his first year for McLaren, he dominated qualifying like never before. Senna famously exclaimed in the spiritual manner only he could pull off, ‘suddenly I realised that I was no longer driving the car consciously…I was driving it by a kind of instinct’, and it showed. He finished on pole, out-qualifying teammate Prost by an unprecedented 1.427 seconds.

McLaren dominated the 1988 season like no team had ever done before, winning 15 out of 16 races. Senna trumped Prost in a bitter rivalry that played out all year, but the Brazilian’s finest moment was at Suzuka. The penultimate race, it was critical for Senna to score big but after he stalled off the line, things weren’t looking too hopeful. 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. Fast forward to quali, and it seemed Senna wanted to prove something to the track that had almost taken Donnelly’s life. Manish Pandey, writer and producer of documentary Senna said it perfectly, ‘He already had pole, but he went out again and beat his own time. He was setting his own targets in his own mind. He went out there and basically told the track, ‘you can’t do that to one of us. F**k you!’ It was just something he had to do.’

Ayrton Senna was one of the true ‘personalities’ of Formula One, but with his racing he often divided opinion. Known for his aggressive, uncompromising driving style, he would stop at nothing to win even if this meant going for overtakes that other drivers wouldn’t dare. Sir Jackie Stewart went on an attack of his own though in a famous interview with Senna in 1990, in which the Brazilian was (as always) brutally honest in his answers.

Senna was deeply passionate about his homeland of Brazil. Everything he did was for his faith and his country, from his signature yellow, green and blue helmet to the millions he donated to charity. Up until 1991 though, victory in Interlagos eluded him. Not an awful lot went in Senna’s favour during the Brazillian Grand Prix of ’91 – he was even stuck in six gear for the final push – but Senna won anyway. The emotional and psychical toll of victory took a lot out of Senna when he crossed the line, and he actually fainted before being driven back to the pits. A small price to pay for one of the greatest victories ever, perhaps.

After the McLaren dominance of the past few years, the other teams stepped up, namely Williams and their sophisticated new chassis – the most technologically advanced on the grid. Senna wasn’t going to sit back without a fight though, and at Monaco (where else?) he put on a defensive masterclass, keeping Nigel Mansell behind him with every trick in the book.

Donnington in 1993 is widely considered to be Senna’s greatest race. The way he made the car dance was mesmerising, yet it was his strategy in the wet that truly shone. We’ll let this video do the talking…

The Australian Grand Prix represented, sadly, a lot of lasts for Senna. It was his last race for McLaren, his last pole position and his final ever race victory. It was a triumphant one though, and must have been satisfying for the Brazillian as he pipped his great rival, Alain Prost, to the post.

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