It was 18 years ago today
that the world lost Ayrton Senna. He was one of the most naturally gifted
racing drivers in the history of motorsport and is right near the top (in many
people’s opinion, he is at the very top) of the illustrious pantheon of F1 greats. Above everything else,
Senna was a racer.
"Racing, competing,
it's in my blood. It's part of me, it's part of my life; I have been doing it
all my life and it stands out above everything else."
So I decided to give
myself the near impossible task of coming up with my top 5 Senna F1 races.
Trawling through the annals of my F1 memories (which do get progressively more
hazy with time), my initial short-list comprised 12 races with at least four
being in Monaco (to be fair, he did win it 6 times!). After a lot of thought
and deliberation and afternoon coffee, I have finally settled upon my Top Five.
So here goes…in the following order.
1.
European GP (1993)
At the very top of the
pile, it has to be Donington in 1993.
Donington Park was
hosting its first Grand Prix in 55 years. Even before the race it had been
raining very heavily. Way back in 1993 when the Williams marque reigned
supreme, their two drivers, Alain Prost and Damon Hill, were dominating the
field. Their state of the art cars had traction control, active suspension and
a phenomenal Renault engine. Michael Schumacher had qualified third in
the up and coming Benetton and we all know now what he can do in the rain.
Senna qualified 4th on the grid in a struggling McLaren underpowered by a Ford Cosworth.
After a bit of a tussle
at the start between Schumacher and Senna, Karl Wendlinger (remember him?)
sneaked past into 3rd and Senna was down into 5th place.
But that was all before The
Greatest First Lap Ever in F1 history.
Ayrton Senna showed his
unbelievable car control and bravery to overtake four cars (three of which
driven by future world champions) in the space of A Single Lap to lead the
European GP.
Senna eventually won the
race in appalling and constantly changing weather conditions. He finished
1:23.199 ahead of Damon Hill who was in 2nd place (which in Formula
1 terms is akin to around 6 or 7 hours) and had lapped everyone else, including his ultimate arch-nemesis, Alain Prost! His sublime driving skill and prowess in the rain
meant he led 71 of the 76 laps on that day.
2.
Portugal GP (1985)
This was Senna’s first
race win and one which set a ridiculously high benchmark for the rest. He had
qualified his Lotus on pole for the very first time, with Prost and De Angelis
right behind him. In atrocious wet weather conditions and in a car with no
traction control and a manual gearbox, he opened up a commanding lead. As Senna
drove imperiously around Estoril in the most treacherous of conditions, there
was utter carnage on the track behind him. Among the many who crashed out were
Rosberg the Elder, Lauda and Prost. There is no way F1 cars would be allowed to
race in such conditions today. And in a way that is a big shame.
Senna would win by over a
minute from the second placed Alboreto in the Ferrari and lapped every single
other driver (up to and including Tambay in 3rd place). In fact he
was so dominant that day that he recorded his first grand slam as well – he won
from pole, led every lap, and set the fastest lap of the race. What a way to
open your race-winning account.
3.
Monaco GP (1984)
Apologies, another
appallingly wet race (but they’re always the fun ones!). Senna in a totally
rubbish Toleman, in his first season in F1, managed to qualify 13th
on the grid. Basically at Monaco, where you qualify is where you usually
finish, barring multiple pile-ups at the Loews hairpin (just checked out race
weekend packages to stay in the hotel that’s right there and they are a mere
snip at €4,850) or indeed a bucketload of rain. Guess what happened next?
By lap 19, Senna was in 2nd
place and hunting down Prost like a man possessed. On lap 32, Prost slowed as
he approached the start/finish line and Senna went past him. But moments later the race was
red-flagged so the track positions as at the end of the previous lap were taken. When Alain Prost was still leading the Grand Prix. The race was ostensibly stopped due to
‘safety concerns’ (like anyone gave a flying toss about that back in the 80s) and the
cynical among us might think that The Powerful and Mighty of F1 (some of whom
were French) wanted Prost, a Frenchman, to have the race win. It sounds like a dumb cliché but Senna was the real winner that day. This race marked the arrival of a genius on the grand stage of Formula 1.
4.
Brazilian GP (1991)
Unbelievably by 1991,
with two world championships under his belt, Senna had never won his home Grand
Prix. It cannot be overstated just how adored Senna was in his native country.
He was a global icon, a national hero and their greatest ambassador all rolled
into one.
It all should have been
so easy. Senna started from pole and was comfortably leading for most of the
race. Until disaster struck. On lap 60, in the rain (always, the rain), Senna’s
car broke. It jammed into 6th gear. No other gear was available,
just 6th gear. This would make most F1 cars totally undriveable
unless they were being driven by Ayrton Senna. Senna pushed himself through and
beyond any physical limits known to man to keep his car on course. This was the
victory he had dreamt of for years and wanted more than any other. He sealed
the win and was so physically and emotionally overcome, he could barely stand
or lift the trophy on the podium.
5.
Monaco GP (1992)
This was the Year of Our
Nige. He had blown away the rest of field and had won the first five races by a
country mile. Next up was Monaco and in the childhood ranch, there was great
excitement that Mansell was going to win in Monaco for the very first time.
Okay Senna was pretty good in Monaco (ie. he had won it every year bar one
since 1987) but this year he was in a unreliable and fairly dismal McLaren. And
our Nige had plonked his Williams on pole. What could possibly go wrong?
Mansell zoomed off into
the lead and it looked like Senna had settled for 2nd place until on
lap 68, Mansell made an unexpected pitstop. Senna moved into the lead and then
as Mansell caught him, there was an almighty battle between the two as Mansell
tried literally everything to get past the McLaren. Their duel on the narrow,
twisting streets of Monaco was utterly thrilling and compelling but, in the
end, Senna of course triumphed with Mansell finishing 0.2 seconds behind him.
That's not a bad top five but I'm sure (in fact I know!) that I have
missed off some sensational races. There were so many brilliant, sublime drives
by Senna. So thank you, Ayrton.
Hard to argue with that. Donington was unbelievable - those who didn't see it won't understand how good a drive it was. He was a flawed genius though; a human, not a god or a robot, fallible, but a genius nonetheless.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment. Oh he was definitely a flawed genius (eg. Suzuka 1990) but a Brazilian might disagree with you on the 'god' part! Think I will have to take another look at Donington on You Tube...
ReplyDelete