Ayrton Senna

Ayrton Senna da Silva (21 March 1960 – 1 May 1994), better known as Ayrton Senna, was a Brazilian Formula 1 driver who won the championship three times, in 1988, 1990 and in 1991. He died in an accident that took place on the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, better known as Imola, in the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix. He is considered by many people to be the most skilled driver in the history of motor racing.

 Life before Formula 1 Racing 
Senna was born in São Paulo, a city in Brazil where the Brazilian grand prix is hosted. When he was four years old, he first got into a kart. When he was 13, he entered a karting competition for the first time. A fun fact is that he started his first kart race on pole position. The start places were written on pieces of paper and put in a driver's helmet, and he drew number one. Because he was a lot lighter than the other racers, he was much faster than all of them. He won the South American Kart Championships in 1977 and was runner-up in the World Championship, but he never won it.

In 1981 he raced in the British Formula Ford 1600 championship, and won it as well. He also changed his name to Senna, since da Silva is used a lot in Brazil.

In 1982 Senna won two European championships; the European and the British Formula Ford 2000. After testing with Williams, McLaren, Brabham and Toleman, he got a place within the Toleman team for the 1984 Formula One season.

 Into Formula One 
The Toleman team was a very small team compared to other famous teams like Williams, McLaren and Brabham. Even though, the team built a car good enough to let Senna impress with his talents. Ayrton Senna scored his first championship point on April 7, 1984 at the South African Grand Prix. Three races later, Senna impressed at the Monaco Grand Prix, where it was raining. Senna started on the 13th position, but right after the race started, he soon was gaining position after position on the track that is known for its small roads. On the 19th lap, he took second place from Niki Lauda and was making up a lot of time to the race leader, Alain Prost. It started to rain harder and the race was stopped on the 31st lap. Even though almost everyone agrees Senna should have won the race, Senna had a result to be proud of. In the rest of the season he would finish third place in two races, the British and the Portuguese Grand Prix. He finished his first year in Formula One racing on a shared 9th position and 13 points, sharing his 9th position with Nigel Mansell.

Senna did not just race in Formula One that year. He also co-drove a Porsche 956 with Henri Pescarolo and Stefan Johansson in the 1000km Nürburgring race. He also raced in a race to celebrate the opening of the new Nürburgring. He won this race.

 Ayrton's Years With Lotus 
The following year, joined the Lotus team, and many thought he would be able to meet his potential. The other driver for Lotus was Elio De Angelis. Ayrton scored his first of 65 pole positions in his career during the Brazilian Grand Prix, but was not able to win the race. He retired with an electrical problem after 48 laps. He did not had to wait a long time for his first ever victory in Formula 1, however, because he won the next race, the Portuguese Grand Prix starting off from pole position again. He showed his true talent driving in such bad weather which even later champion Alain Prost could not race in (he spun into a wall). The rest of the season was not too good for Senna though. He scored a lot of points but often retired because of mechanical problems. He won the Belgian Grand Prix in another wet race and finished 4th at the end of the season, scoring 38 points total. He also took two first places, two second places, two third places and seven pole positions.

His second season with Lotus, in 1986, was better than his first. The Lotus Car was a lot more reliable. He finished second in the Brazilian Grand Prix, with only Nelson Piquet being faster than Ayrton. He even took the lead in the World Championship standings during the Spanish Grand Prix after managing to keep Nigel Mansell away from stealing the victory. The gap between both drivers was only 14 thousand of a second. He did not have a lot of time to enjoy his lead, however, because his Lotus did not have the reliability Ayrton needed to chase after the title.

 Complete Formula One results 
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)
 Year Team Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 WDC PointsUp until , not all points scored by a driver contributed to their final World Championship tally (see point scoring systems for more information). Numbers without parentheses are Championship points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored. 1984 Toleman Group Motorsport Toleman TG183B Hart 1.5 L S4 T BRARet RSA6 BEL6 SMRDNQ 9th 13 Toleman TG184 FRARet MON2 CAN7 DETRet DALRet GBR3 GERRet AUTRet NEDRet ITA EURRet POR3 1985 John Player Special Team Lotus Lotus 97T Renault EF15 1.5 L V6 T BRARet POR1 SMR7 MONRet CAN16 DETRet FRARet GBR10 GERRet AUT2 NED3 ITA3 BEL1 EUR2 RSARet AUSRet 4th 38 1986 John Player Special Team Lotus Lotus 98T Renault EF15 1.5 L V6 T BRA2 ESP1 SMRRet MON3 BEL2 CAN5 DET1 FRARet GBRRet GER2 HUN2 AUTRet ITARet POR4 MEX3 AUSRet 4th 55 1987 Camel Team Lotus Honda Lotus 99T Honda EF15B 1.5 L V6 T BRARet SMR2 BELRet MON1 DET1 FRA4 GBR3 GER3 HUN2 AUT5 ITA2 POR7 ESP5 MEXRet JPN2 AUSDSQ 3rd 57 1988 Honda Marlboro McLaren McLaren MP4/4 Honda RA168E 1.5 L V6 T BRADSQ SMR1 MONRet MEX2 CAN1 DET1 FRA2 GBR1 GER1 HUN1 BEL1 ITA10 POR6 ESP4 JPN1 AUS2 1st 90 (94) 1989 Honda Marlboro McLaren McLaren MP4/5 Honda RA109E 3.5 L V10 BRA11 SMR1 MON1 MEX1 USARet CAN7 FRARet GBRRet GER1 HUN2 BEL1 ITARet PORRet ESP1 JPNDSQ AUSRet 2nd 60 1990 Honda Marlboro McLaren McLaren MP4/5B Honda RA100E 3.5 L V10 USA1 BRA3 SMRRet MON1 CAN1 MEX20 FRA3 GBR3 GER1 HUN2 BEL1 ITA1 POR2 ESPRet JPNRet AUSRet 1st 78 1991 Honda Marlboro McLaren McLaren MP4/6 Honda RA121E 3.5 L V12 USA1 BRA1 SMR1 MON1 CANRet MEX3 FRA3 GBR4 GER7 HUN1 BEL1 ITA2 POR2 ESP5 JPN2 AUS1 1st 96 1992 Honda Marlboro McLaren McLaren MP4/6B Honda RA122E 3.5 L V12 RSA3 MEXRet 4th 50 McLaren MP4/7A BRARet ESP9 SMR3 MON1 CANRet FRARet GBRRet GER2 HUN1 BEL5 ITA1 POR3 JPNRet AUSRet 1993 Marlboro McLaren McLaren MP4/8 Ford HBE7 3.5 L V8 RSA2 BRA1 EUR1 SMRRet ESP2 MON1 CAN18 FRA4 GBR5 GER4 HUNRet BEL4 ITARet PORRet JPN1 AUS1 2nd 73 1994 Rothmans Williams Renault Williams FW16 Renault RS6 3.5 L V10 BRARet PACRet SMRRet MON ESP CAN FRA GBR GER HUN BEL ITA POR EUR JPN AUS NC 0

 Related pages 
 Formula 1
 Juan Manuel Fangio

 References 

 Other websites 

 Official Ayrton Senna Website  

Category:Deaths in sport
Category:Brazilian Formula One drivers
Category:Racecar drivers from São Paulo
Category:Brazilian Roman Catholics
Category:1960 births
Category:1994 deaths