Ayrton Senna

When it comes to pure raw speed and the impeccable control of it, there is perhaps no one better than Senna to do it.

Ayrton Senna celebrates winning the 1988 Japanese GP - and the F1 world driver's championship. (Image: Twitter/@McLarenF1)
By Nilavro Ghosh | May 17, 2022 | 5 Min Read follow icon Follow Us

Before Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton established their dominance in Formula One, there was a certain Brazilian driver who was the man to beat and who, to this day, is regarded by many as the greatest F1 driver of all time. Ayrton Senna’s legacy goes beyond winning world championships and races. His race craft is what drew fans towards him and left his rivals shaking when they saw him in their mirrors. When it comes to pure raw speed and the impeccable control of it, there is perhaps no one better than Senna to do it. The Brazilian was a three-time world champion, winning the crown in 1988, 1990, and 1991. He perhaps would have added at least one more title to his collection had it not been for arguably the most tragic incident in F1 history. Senna was involved in a nasty crash at the 1994 San Marino GP and lost his life at the age of 34.

Ayrton Senna before F1

Born to Guirado da Silva and his wife Neide Senna da Silva, Ayrton Senna had a penchant for racing from a very young age. He started karting when he was 13 years old and started his very first race on pole position. His first competition win came in 1977 when he won the South American Kart Championship. He moved to England in 1981 to begin his single-seater racing career, winning the RAC and Townsend Thoresen Formula Ford 1600 championships. The following year, Senna was offered to drive for a Formula Ford 2000 team and he won the 1982 British and European Formula Ford 2000 championships.

His exploits in the UK did not go unnoticed as the Brazilian found himself holding a Formula 3 contract in 1983. Driving for the West Surrey Team, Senna dominated the British F3 championship in 1983 for the first half of the competition, before a certain Martin Brundle closed the gap later on. After a tight battle with the Brit, Senna won the championship in the final round. In the same year, the Brazilian won the first ever Macau Grand Prix with the Theodore racing team. The very next year, he found himself in the highest division of the sport.

F1 debut and teams

Senna began his Formula One career in 1984 with Toleman. It was not a competitive car at the time and it took the Brazilian a while to score his first points in F1. That happened at the South African GP that year when he finished P6. He replicated the result at the Belgian GP a couple of weeks later. He scored his first podium that year at the Monaco GP and followed it up with a couple more podium finishes at the British and Portuguese GP. Senna was later suspended from Toleman as he had opened talks with Lotus without informing the team. The following year, he would join Lotus and stay with the team for three years.

In his first season with Lotus, Senna established himself as the quickest of all the drivers on the grid. He had achieved seven pole positions that year, more than anyone. At the end of the season, Senna found himself in fourth place on the driver’s championship table. His second season with the team also ended in a similar fashion, with the Brazilian bagging eight pole positions, six podiums and fourth place on the championship table. His best season with Lotus would be his last with the team. In 1987, the Brazilian finished in third in the championship after bagging six podiums.

1988 saw Ayrton Senna move to McLaren and it was the start of something special. The Brazilian developed a rivalry with then F1 world champion and teammate Alain Prost that would be talked about for years to come. That season, Senna won eight races in the McLaren, besting Prost who had seven. His eight wins was the most by any driver in an F1 season at the time and he had also set the record for most pole positions ever with 11 that season. The battle between Senna and Prost was intense but the Brazilian edged out his rival by just three points to win his maiden world championship.

The 1989 and 1990 F1 world championships ended in a similar way. Both had the penultimte race at the Suzuka International Circuit in Japan, and both had witnessed crashes involving Senna and Prost, Prost won the 1989 world championship after colliding with Senna at the Suzuka Circuit in Japan, the season’s penultimate race, which Senna needed to win to stay in contention. While Prost was turning in at the same circuit in 1990, Senna put his foot on the gas and the cars collided at 270 km/h (170 mph), going off the track, into the gravel trap, and slamming into the tyre barrier, becoming Senna world champion. The Brazilian would go on to become the world’s youngest triple champion the following year, cementing his name in the history books forever. Senna had become a McLaren and F1 legend by the time he won his third title.

Death

Tragedy struck in 1984 at the San Marino GP. At the time Senna was locked in fierce competition with Michael Schumacher. Senna’s car departed the racing line at roughly 307 km/h (191 mph), raced straight off the track, and hit the concrete retaining wall at around 233 km/h as he rounded the high-speed Tamburello circuit on lap 7. Senna died as a result of deadly skull fractures, brain damage, and a ruptured temporal artery, which supplies the face and scalp with blood. Medical officials believe that any one of these injuries may have killed the Brazilian. He was 34. Many of Senna’s Brazilian supporters regarded his death a national tragedy, and the Brazilian government announced three days of national mourning.

Career Stats

Races162
Wins41
Podiums80
Pole Positions65
Points610

Ayrton Senna’s ex-wife

Lilian De Vasconcelos Souza is the ex-wife of Ayrton Senna. The couple were only married for a short while, from 1981 to 1983. She was born in Sao Paolo, Brazil in 1964. Senna and Lilian had been friends from childhood, with their respective mothers being friends as well. Although Senna had not been the F1 great he was at the time, the Brazilian was more interested in racing than having a family with his wife as per reports. That was allegedly the main reason why they had to split. After only a couple of years together, Lilian and Ayrton got divorced, a process the former called ‘painful and traumatzing.’ Lilian did remarry after the divorce and at the time of his death, Senna was dating Brazilian model Adriane Galisteu.

Ayrton Senna net worth

At the time of his death in 1994, Ayrton Senna had a net worth of USD 200 million. He was paid USD 1 million each race at the height of his career. He signed a USD 20 million yearly pay contract with Williams in 1994. Every year, he made millions more through endorsements and retail sales. He made a total of USD 100 million from racing alone. Senna is largely considered to be one of the greatest drivers of all time.