Ayrton Senna, the cult hero: A look back at what made him a Formula One legend

Editor’s note: This article was originally published on May 1, 2019 to mark 25 years since Ayrton Senna’s tragic death.

“Just because I believe in God, just because I have faith in God, it doesn’t mean that I’m immune. It doesn’t mean that I’m immortal.”

Ayrton Senna, one of the best drivers in Formula One history, had said that in 1989. He was tragically killed on the track less than five years later at only 34 and since then his quotes, interactions and races have assumed special significance in Formula One lore.

The Brazilian superstar immortalised himself in sport not because of his untimely death at the peak of his career, but by what he achieved in his 10 years as a racer par excellence. He was a three-time World champion and still features in the top five drivers in history when it comes race wins and pole positions. His enduring legacy is how he transformed the sport: his skill and style of driving changed how F1 cars were made, even as his death changed the safety rules.

Twenty five years after his passing on 1 May, 1994, let’s revisit the legend of the driver and the cult hero through the eyes of those who knew him best on track.

The fateful weekend in 1994

Senna was not the only driver who died at the San Marino Grand Prix in 1994. First Ruben Barrichelo crashed and then Roland Ratzenberger lost his life in qualifying a day before, an incident that left the Brazilian shaken. There were doubts if he would race, given how safety conscious the once uber-aggressive driver had become.

But as fate would have it, he got into the Wiliams car he was still fully comfortable with on May 1, 1994. He was leading the race in the modified car which had given him trouble already in his first season. But at Tamburello corner, his car inexplicably jumped off the Imola track and hit the concrete wall. The car’s right front wheel and suspension were hurled into the cockpit and a piece of metal hit Senna’s head and killed him to the horror of million watching on television. It is said that if the shaft had gone six inches higher or six inches lower, he may have lived. And F1 would have been a different sport.

What made Senna the driver he was?

This is the question that many fans of the present generations who have never seen him race will have. The 2010 documentary directed by Asif Kapadia titled Senna gives a fair idea of what set him apart.

He was an audacious driver, his 41 race wins and 65 pole positions (which places him fifth and third on the lists respectively) tell you that his all-or-nothing style was successful. He was ruthless on the track, with more collisions than any other race driver in his quest for the win. He could even be reckless, as the crashes which led to the intense rivalry with Alain Prost showed. He could make a car perform far more than its design capabilities allowed, as he did when he won his first race in Monaco driving a below-par Toleman.

He was a religious man, with constant references about how he found God when in the car. He is said to have even read the Bible on the morning of that fateful race. He was a philosophical man, who saw his race craft as a way to find himself.

But most of all, he was an excellent driver. He enjoyed “pure racing”, no politics. He thrived on pressure and some of his best wins came in these circumstances: on wet tracks after it had rained and become more dangerous, when his car was stuck in sixth gear, when his shoulders had gone numb.

Ron Dennis, the former CEO of McLaren with whom he won his three titles, is perhaps the best placed to talk about his legacy. Dennis, an important voice in his documentary, signed him in 1987 and worked closely with him until Senna left the team at the end of 1993.

“I raised my game because I could see the commitment he brought to his driving. Like any team situation, if someone demonstrates that you can try even harder, then you do. He showed what he was prepared to do to achieve his objectives. He raised my game because I think that you try to be as good as the person you are with. I liked his principles - they played to my strengths. He changed Formula One because he raised everybody’s game,” he had told F1.com.

Dennis also spoke about the human element of Senna’s racetrack genius – his personality.

“I also think he’s remembered because he was just so unbelievably competitive. He was great, but he had good, human values. He had a few lapses in his life, but he was incredibly principled. And he was a good human being.”

Nigel Mansell, who beat Senna in the 1992 World Championship, called him a “true thoroughbred racer.”

“Ayrton was our toughest rival. He would leave no stone unturned to get the utmost out of his car and his team,” Mansell told BBC Sport.

“In the 1980s, I was blessed to drive against so many great drivers but Ayrton certainly stood out most among them. In the beginning, we were great enemies. He wanted to win at all cost with everybody, so we knocked heads quite a lot,” he had told an interview broadcast as part of Radio 5 live programme The Day Senna Died on his 20th death anniversary.

Michael Scumacher, who took the proverbial baton when he won the San Marino GP and the championship in 1994 – the first of his record seven – was sure that he would not have won it, had Senna been there. “For me it was always clear that it was Ayrton who was going to win the championship and I would like to take this championship and give it to him. He thought he would come back after a couple of races,” he had said in a video interview.

Sir Jackie Stewart, who had famously questioned him about his disregard for driver safety, spoke about how he saw Senna evolve.

“Senna had felt as if we needed to re-look at and re-address safety within the sport, because there hadn’t been a fatality in over 12 years, but that didn’t mean to say something would not happen. At that time, for whatever reason, his whole mental attitude towards motor racing changed.

“He suddenly was aware that he was being exposed to risks, and wanted to avoid them. That was his maturity evolving from his own experiences and wisdom. He knew I had done that during my career, and if you are world champion, as he was, that carries a lot of attention in the media. If you speak, people will listen. He wanted to be involved,” he told Mail Online.

Fellow driver Martin Brundle spoke about the Senna, pre-Formula One.

“He had a sixth sense and a gift for knowing where the grip was. We spent a lot of time at close quarters and had our contacts but he wasn’t a dirty driver.

“He could be pretty ruthless but the accidents we had together weren’t out of bloody-mindedness, they were out of really aggressive, competitive situations. There was no weaving, diving across the road at me or just being bloody-minded and having me off. Well, maybe just once,” he said of their battle for the 1983 British Formula 3 title in an interview with The Telegraph.

Damon Hill, who was his team mate at Williams, called him a game-changer who got a lot from a car than it was designed to.

“Every era has someone who changes the sport and I think he was one of those people. He changed the sport, he changed the approach. He was far more aggressive and far more committed, to the point of almost craziness. But he had such self-belief, and I think that inspired people - I think they were fascinated by him.

“I think he was a bit of a shock to the system when he arrived in Formula 1 because he was audacious. I think that’s why everyone wanted to have him in their team, because they knew that this was the guy who would give everything he absolutely had to get the very last drops out of that car,” he told Sky Sports.

After equalling the Brazilian’s career total of 65 pole positions, Lewis Hamilton said “Ayrton was my favourite driver. He inspired me to be where I am today.”

Gerhard Berger was one of his closest friends and team mates with whom he played practical jokes. It is famously said that Senna taught Berger to race but he taught Senna to laugh.

“I’m happy to tell [the story about putting frogs in Senna’s room] sometimes, but in general when I think about Ayrton I like to think about this era — maybe the best era in Formula One.

“His dream was always to go to Ferrari. He always told me ‘Gerhard, I want to be one day in Ferrari but I just have never seen the moment where they have been good enough that I know I can deliver,” he said in a recent interview.

But perhaps one of the best descriptions of Senna, the man who mixed his personal emotions with his driving, is the tribute from Alain Prost. The two were friends and then became bitter rivals at McLaren after a championship-defining crash and subsequent controversy. Prost left the team and when he joined Williams, one of his conditions was that he would not be teammates with Senna.

But that changed soon and the poignant last image of them on podium together at the end of 1993 showed a picture of companionship and the Frenchman is now a member of the Senna Foundation.

“Not only my career but also my life is tied to Ayrton Senna. These are things that can be explained, but not completely. We had gone from a world where Formula One was for specialists to a completely open world. The big media came in because there was this human battle with drivers of different characters, different charismas, different cultures and different education,” he said of his rivalry with Senna.

“When we raced against each other, logically roughly 50% of people adored you and 50% hated you, it was really amazing. After my retirement in 1993, it changed. Fortunately, there was almost a six-month friendship from the moment I pulled out of F1 until the accident. After Ayrton’s death, I would say the vast majority have rallied to a shared story, not Prost against Senna, and that’s beautiful,” he was quoted as saying by AFP.

On his part, Senna was an eloquent individual when he spoke about the sport, a fact gleaned in his many interviews about racing, religion and more. He was a vivacious personality off the track as well. He dated glamorous women, gave freely to charity and provided joy to a ravaged Brazil.

Frank Williams, who worked with him during that ill-fated, short stint with Williams, put it best when he said: “he was an even greater man outside of the car than he was in it.”