Ayrton Senna was a Brazilian racing driver who is famous especially for his raw pace and driving skills in Formula 1. Senna was notorious behind the wheel of a car and is famous for his multiple championship victories at McLaren Honda F1 team during the end of 1980s breaking several records while he was at it.

Personal Life

Senna was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil. He was born to a rich Brazilian Landowner and factory owner named Milton da Silva. He had an older sister and a younger brother. Him being left-handed is also a popular know how among fans. Senna was known for being athletic participating in gymnastic events at a young age. It is interesting to note that at the age of 3 Senna was known to have trouble climbing the stairs and was diagnosed with motor coordination problem.

At just the age of 4, Senna grew interest in Motorsports. At the age of seven he was driving the family jeep around a farm and had a skill to change gears of the jeep without using a clutch. His father saw Senna's love for cars and bought him a 1HP kart. Suddenly the whole family saw a change in Senna. He started to be more confident in himself due to finding this new found love for cars and his ability to drive them.

Inspiration

When he was 8 years old , he highly looked up to the first Brazilian driver in Formula 1, Emerson Fittipaldi who was driving for the Lotus team at the time. He begged his father to let him race or be a part of a racing team. Unfortunately at the time a child had to be 13 years of age at the minimum to participate in a race. To make Senna happy his father bought him a 100cc Kart and Senna began practicing at a local kart circuit with his friends. In 1972, Fittipaldi had become the first ever Brazilian driver to win an F1 championship. The whole of Brazil partied and a little boy looked up dreaming to be the next champion for Brazil.

Senna, Legal to race

Senna was now 13 years old. He was happy that he could finally race legally. The first race was held at a karting track that was a portion of the Interlagos circuit. There was also several gifted children among the participants and the competition was tough. But even with immense pressure Senna won the race. In 1977, he won the South American Kart championship and won again the following year.

Chances at Europe

Senna traveled to Europe several times during 1978 and 1979. Though he made good performances there was nothing that Senna could stick to and he eventually returned to Brazil.

It was in 1981, Senna got married and came to England to race in formula Ford 1600. Most races were held at Brands Hatch and Ayrton Senna made sure to be placed in the top 10 in the first few races. Soon Senna won several events like the RAC and Townsend Formula Ford 1600 championship.

Pressure from the family to take up Business career

Senna had immense pressure from his family to take up the family business and be responsible from here on. Senna announced retirement from the sport of Formula ford and returned to Brazil.

It was at this time that Senna got a call from Ford to participate in a drive with Formula Ford 2000 for 10,000 Pounds. Senna could not resist the offer and flew back to England. It is interesting to note that though Silva was his father's family name he took up his mother's maiden name which was Senna and hence registered himself in the Motorsports world as Ayrton Senna.

In 1983 Senna won the British Formula 3 championship. This captured the eyes of several Formula one teams who were searching for a young talented driver for their 1984 lineup.

Stepping up into Formula One

At the end of 1983 Senna tested at several teams who were all keen on getting him on their team. This included Williams, McLaren, Brabham and Toleman.

He then secured a spot at the Toleman F1 team driving the Toleman TG184. He made his debut at his home grand prix in Brazil. But unfortunately due to a failed turbocharger, had to retire from the race. Senna drove his heart out and brought the best performances for the Toleman team with multiple pole positions and overall 9th in the standings.

Team Lotus 1985

Senna was looking out for a team where he could stand a chance at winning races rather than just hunting for pole. Lotus team was looking great as an overall engineering stand point. So Senna makes the jump switching to the team from the 1985 season. His first race was cursed with mechanical failures. However Senna managed a spectacular victory in his second race, winning with over a minute difference from the second placed driver. Senna made heads turn with a great overall performance in the season with 7 poles. However due to several mechanical failure of the car ended up in 4th position overall.

In the year 1986 Senna had improved his overall performances with 8 poles and 6 podium finishes. After winning the American Grand Prix Senna took a Brazilian flag from a track side supporter and drove one lap waving the flag. It was an iconic moment for Brazil and Brazilian fans.

Powerful Honda Engines

In 1987 the Lotus team grabbed great engines from the Japanese giant Honda. It was running turbocharged V6 which was earlier used by the Williams team. Senna was happy with the teams performances for the first half of the season, However as the season progressed, the car was found to be lacking in power and soon the Williams team started to dominate over all the other teams including Lotus-Honda. It was then that Senna decided that he would move to McLaren for the 1988 season.

The Ultimate partnership

Thanks to the great relation Senna had over the Honda company, Senna managed to convince McLaren to bring in Honda engines to their cars. McLaren also managed to bring in the best engineers from England, most of whom were kicked out of the aerospace industry due to a financial crisis. The Senna-Honda-McLaren partnership turned out to be a success as McLaren kept stacking victory over victory with Senna and his team mate Alain Prost.

Senna and Prost were also known for their bitter rivalry during the races. In several races Senna was determined to beat his team mate and that too by several seconds of difference to assert his dominance. At the 1988 Portuguese Grand Prix Prost managed to start a bit faster than Senna. As the turn approached Senna was furious and turned into Prost to block him. This almost became a dangerous maneuver as Prost almost hit a pit wall at 180mph (290kmph). Prost was angered by this move and talked with FIA to hang Senna a penalty, however Senna only received a warning for his actions.

1989

Numerous battles ensured on the track between Senna and Prost.

The Media also added controversy after they heard Ron Dennis mention that Senna's car seemed to faster than the one Prost drove causing pressure for Ron Dennis the team. At the penultimate race, Senna had to win a race to keep the fight for the championship alive, However a crash saw him throw his chances. Prost won the championship that year.

In the year 1990, determined as ever Senna took strong victories and a great lead over Prost with six wins, two second places and 3 third positions. He won the championship that year by a difference of 7 points to his team mate.

1991 saw him winning the championship yet again and this time he became the youngest Formula one driver in history to win 3 championships.

The Fall of McLaren

In 1992 the Mclaren team could not keep up with the blistering pace of the Williams cars.

This lead to the Williams driver Nigel Mansell to win the championship. Even the second place went to Nigel's team mate Riccardo Patrese. Also interesting to note that Michael Schumacher was third in the drivers championship that year.

In the 1993 season Prost was at Williams and won the championship with Ayrton Senna in runners up.

Tragic end

1994, Senna had made the move to team Williams after Prost retired from the team. He was paid $20 million to move to the team. Damon Hill was Senna's team mate for the year and drover car No 0 since car number 1 was assigned to Prost and would be given to him in case he returned from retirement.

A major rule change for the year was the ban on active suspension that would move the car height depending on the aero and G-force acting on it. This had ensured that the car would be in the best operating height from the track at all times. But the FIA bans it and considered it as cheating and causing less skilled driving from the racers.

Senna immediately expressed his concern regarding the handling of his car, saying that the car was unstable at most times. Senna was used to driving at the limits at all time and this was just hanging on a thread as he felt.

During the San Marino GP at Imola Italy, Senna placed himself on pole for the 65th time, a record. He was complaining to the team about how he felt uncomfortable with the car, especially after the engineer's latest adjustments.

The Sunday race had started. Senna got back the lead from Schumacher. The race was shortly stopped due to an accident by a Benetton-Ford. On lap 6 the race resumed and Senna soon set the fastest lap followed by Schumacher.

As Senna approched the high speed corner Tamburello on lap 7, his car seemed to have left the racing line with speeds of 191 mph (307kmph) and hit the concrete wall at 145 mph (233 kmph). The race was red flagged. Within minutes, the medical team had taken Senna out his car to the emergency team. Senna was found to have a weak heartbeat and a heavy blood loss. Senna was airlifted to a hospital. At 6.40pm the head of the hospital made the announcement that Senna had died.

Car telemetry had shown that brakes were applied for 2 seconds but sadly that was not enough to slow down the car enough before the impact. The right wheel and suspension had impacted the wall and sent back to the cockpit hitting Senna on the side of his helmet.

It was a black day for Brazil, the Government of Brazil declared 3 days of nation mourning. The Italian Air Force offered to fly the coffin to Brazil but the Senna family wished that it was returned home in a Brazilian airplane. The plane was escorted by fighter jets into the Sao Paulo International Airport.

After Senna's death it was found that he had donated millions of his personal money to help poor children. He had expressed his concern to his family and friends about the poor in Brazil and had always wanted to help them.

Senna had wanted to improve the safety in the sport overall. On the morning of his death, Senna had started the formation of the GPDA safety organisation which was intended to improve several rules to increase safety.

Senna was famously quoted as saying "The harder I push , the more I find myself. I am always looking to go to a different world, to go into areas I have never gone before".