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Ayrton Senna da Silva was a Brazilian Formula One racing car driver born on March 21, 1960.  Senna tragically died in a fatal crash on May 1, 1994 when leading the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola.

Ayrton Senna was a genius, a triple Formula One world champion who began his career in Formula One racing in 1984 when he joined the Toleman team. His prodigious talent was quickly recognised and he moved to Lotus-Renault a year later.

Senna would go on to win six Formula One Grand Prix races over the next three seasons for Lotus in an inferior car before making the switch to the McLaren-Honda racing team where he won his first F1 Drivers Championshp in 1988.

Senna joined Frenchman Alain Prost at McLaren and the two drivers quickly established a rivalry unparrelled in F1 racing history.

The switch to McLaren gave Senna what he craved, the opportunity to win more races and he didn’t disappoint a growing legion of fans by taking out the F1 World Drivers Championships again in 1990 and 1991.

McLaren then began to fall off the pace with the Williams F1 Racing Team dominating the sport. Senna was still competitive enough to challenge but constantly up against a superior car, Senna made the fatal switch to Williams for the 1994 Formula one season.

Ayrton Senna Facts:

Name: Ayrton Senna da Silva
Birthplace: Sao Paulo, Brazil
Born: 21/03/1960
Died: 01/05/1994
Teams: Toleman, Lotus, McLaren, Williams
Races: 162 (161 starts)
Championships: 3 (1988, 1990, 1991)
Wins: 41
Podium finishes: 80
Career points: 610
Pole positions: 65
Fastest laps: 19
First race: 1984 Brazilian Grand Prix
First win: 1985 Portuguese Grand Prix
Last win: 1993 Australian Grand Prix
Last race: 1994 San Marino Grand Prix

Ayrton Senna Quotes Talking about ‘that accident’ with Alain Prost.

“I think what happened in 1989 was unforgivable, and I will never forget it. I still struggle to cope with it even now. You know what took place here. Prost and I crashed at the chicane, when he turned into me. Afterwards, I rejoined the race, and I won it, but they decided against me, and that was not justice.

“What happened afterwards was, a theatre, but I could not say what I thought. If you do that, you get penalties, you get fined, you lose your license maybe. Is that a fair way of working? It is not.”

“At Suzuka last year I asked the officials to change pole position from the right side of the track to the left. It was unfair, as it was, because the right side is always dirty, and there is less grip. You sweat to get pole position, and then you are penalized for it. And they said, “Yes, no problem”.”

“Then, what happened? (Then FIA President Jean-Marie) Balestre gave an order that it wasn’t to be changed.”

“I know how the system works, and I thought this was really shit. So I said to myself, “OK, whatever happens, I’m going to get into the first corner first.” I’m not prepared to let the guy (Alain Prost) turn into that corner before me. If I’m near enough to him, he can’t turn in front of me, he just has to let me through.”

“I didn’t care if we crashed. I went for it. And he took a chance, turned in, and we crashed. It was building up, it was inevitable. It had to happen.”

Someone asked Senna to confirm that he caused the accident.

Senna replied with, “Why did I cause it?”

“If you get fucked every time you try to do your job cleanly, within the system, what do you do? Stand back, and say thank you? No way!”

“You should fight for what you think is right.”

“If pole had been on the left, I’d have made it to the first corner in the lead, no problem. That was a bad decision to keep pole on the right, and it was influenced by Balestre. And the result was what happened in the first corner. I contributed to it, but it was not my responsibility”