Twenty six years ago today at the San Marino Grand Prix the world lost the greatest Formula 1 driver. Ayrton Senna.
“I race designed to win”
“There is no compromise.”
“You give everything you have.”
“Everything.”
“Absolutely everything.”
R.I.P Ayrton
Remember it well. Sad day.
was in front of my TV 26 years ago
never forget these image
I was also watching when it happened. Senna was my favorite driver. Simply the best!
Sad loss which changed F1 forever.
It took a while to recover from the shock.
RIP
There was no one like Senna then and I very much doubt there will be another in my lifetime. He was very special.
Simply the best!
Terrific driver, but what made him better than, for example, Schumaker, Hamilton or, indeed Fangio? Strikes me it’s a little like who was the greatest ever boxer debate! Fact is, we’ll never know, as each ‘generation’ throws up its best, who cannot realistically be measured against those who went before, or those yet to appear.
Juan Manuel Fangio was the best, and Alain Prost is second best. That’s ‘is’, because he didn’t kill himself.
I watched every race through the 70s, 80s, and 90s; and Prost’s unmatchable skill was quite obvious. The incredible consistency of these two drivers is to be revered.
A third would be Niki Lauda.
Just my opinion though. Don’t mean to offend.
Loved watching Senna race, brilliant driver with plenty of flair.
My all time favourite and the one I believe Senna appreciated was Jim Clark.
Tragedy they both died racing before their time.
You obviously never saw Jim Clark race.
The clip of Senna testing a Honda NSX (in his loafers!) at Suzuka is quite something. Many comment on his incredible footwork but equally impressive is the steering, super relaxed and the bare minimum movement to maintain his line.
@JohnF
Yes, I believe you’re right, I don’t think I ever had the pleasure. I remember hearing quite a bit about him, but he was before my active F1 time.
Fangio said Jim Clark was the best driver to have raced in F1.
Clark won the Belgium F1 by more than five minutes in the rain that’s how good he was.
His death was caused by a mechanical failure in a F2 race. At the time he raced cars were very unreliable or he’d have won at least one more world championship.
Wow, wish I had been following F1 back then. And I bet the team owners weren’t paying the top drivers 30 million a year then either.
Being in Canada, I was still in Hockey mode back at that point. I was born in '56.
I loved Senna from the moment I saw him do what possibly separates the truly special from everyone else; the truly special drivers can make an also-ran car compete with the top teams, and also they can excel in wet conditions. Senna did just that at Monaco in 1984, and had the race not been stopped just before overhauling Alain Prost, there’s the likelihood he could have won by an enormous margin. And all done driving a Toleman. He was driver in purest sense - man and machine at one with each other.
Senna is the best of the best
I was in canada at the time what a shock. I have read
Most books about him. In august there is a paperback
Edition on jochen rindt Uncrowned champion
Should be a good read.
If he was not killed schumacher would never of won
7 championships.
I remember seeing a documentary about him years ago. He was testing and came in saying the engine was off, mechanics plugged the diagnostics in (not as good as now clearly) and they said nothing wrong. He went out and finished the test and said engine was def off. Engine got pulled out back at HQ and stripped and they found a hairline crack in one of the cams. I wonder how many top line drivers of the day would have felt that ?