Ayrton Senna, mystical and rough hero: a legend of exploits and torments

Journalist

May 1 – 00:02 – MILAN

It was the benchmark, the point of reference, of an F1 that no longer exists. Even today, however, 30 years after his death, Ayrton Senna remains a milestone with which everyone in Formula 1 must deal: from those who broke records and numbers, to those who are marking the current era, trying to emulate his deeds and simply unattainable style.

human and tough

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Senna was in fact a complete driver, fast and rough, with a touch of genius and extraordinary control skills. Natural talent, forged by extraordinary technical application and a congenital aptitude for perfectionism, the Brazilian was a champion of great intelligence. He had the ability to take risks, but with the feeling of always being able to control them: he was as human in life as he was edgy on the track. He lit up the races, winning 3 world championships, 41 GPs and 65 poles and then shining in the sky like a comet. The trail left behind remains indelible, deeper than the figures collected: many, from Michael Schumacher to Sebastian Vettel, up to Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen themselves have surpassed them, without however reaching their overall stature. That of the best of all.

child and champion

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The child was born in Sao Paulo to a wealthy family. The boy grows up on karts and takes advantage of every downpour to ride almost in the dark and develop his skills as a “Rain Wizard”. The man was forged between Brazil, Italy and England, with clear ambitions and an eloquent “no” as a youngster to Ron Dennis, with whom he would later win his three titles at McLaren. The driver exploded in Monte Carlo, in the torrential rain of 1984: on that 3 June, a 24-year-old Brazilian was knocking on the door of history, capable of rising with the modest Toleman from 13th on the grid to 2nd place, threatening the ‘graced’ leader Prost only from the interruption of the race decided by Jacky Ickx, later accused of favoritism. For Ayrton it was only his sixth GP in F1: enough to put his name in the notebook of the predestined. The champion dedicates himself to Estoril 1985, in the flood: his black Lotus is a hydrofoil and his phosphorescent yellow helmet shines among the waves that sink the others. To clarify, the second, Michele Alboreto in the Ferrari, reaches over 1′. Detachment from Endurance races, not from F1 GPs.

donington

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Donington, a place of the soul. It was on the English track, in fact, that Ayrton carried out his first test in an F1, in 1983, with a Williams – the Alpha and Omega of his career, given that it was the car in which he would die 11 years later – and achieved his greatest victory there. . It happens in 1993, when with a modest McLaren-Ford he ridicules, in the wet, Schumacher, Wendlinger, Hill and Prost, going from 5th to 1st in the best first lap in the history of F1. Here too the gap on the second arrival, Damon Hill on Williams, is Giro d’Italia: 1’23”! A feat, or rather the feat: those who were lucky enough to enter the Donington press room can also appreciate a reminiscent picture of it.

estoril, joys and resentments

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The great rivalry with Alain Prost, another dark god of F1, was born in Estoril in 1988, by teammates in McLaren: Ayrton squeezes the Frenchman towards the wall on the straight, but he passes, wins and accuses him of being dangerous. It is the fuse of a rivalry that will flare up to the point of bordering on hatred. He will be reunited only at the end of his career, in the embrace on the podium of Adelaide 93, the Frenchman’s last GP and the Brazilian’s last victory, and in the heartbreaking “Alain I miss you” uttered on the radio by the Brazilian during the disastrous weekend in Imola. There was rivalry, but also mutual respect, even if it was only understood later. Or late anyway.

suzuka, poisons and titles

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The Senna-Prost feud took place in Suzuka, the Japanese track where Ayrton won all three of his titles: 1988, 1990 and 1991. In 1988 the coronation came with a thrill: the Brazilian missed the start, but in just 28 laps he climbed back up like a fury from 8th to 1st, he overtakes Alain, his McLaren teammate, and triumphs. The clash occurred in ’89. The two, fighting for the title, touch at the chicane before the straight with 6 laps to go: Prost abandons; Senna starts again, changes the damaged nose, gets back on Alessandro Nannini, wins, but is disqualified for cutting the chicane. Title to Prost and Brazilian fury. There is the shadow of the support of the Frenchman Balestre, president of FISA, the former FIA, to his compatriot, with a tail of poison and threatening to withdraw Ayrton’s Superlicence. Senna, a sensitive and melancholic soul despite the roughness he was capable of on the track, seriously thought about leaving racing. A year later, however, Senna took revenge: the first corner ramming of Prost, fighting for the title over Ferrari, earned him a second World Championship steeped in controversy. His phrase, “Racings sometimes end at the first corner, sometimes with 6 laps to go”, smacked of premeditation. A non-crystalline page from which Ayrton emerged thanks to his charisma. In ’91 the third laurel, against Nigel Mansell’s Williams, whose pure speed he often suffered. With the English Lion Senna engaged in duels on the track, such as the one between the sparks of the Montmelò straight with the single-seaters side by side an inch apart, and also physical clashes.

Monte Carlo and the poles

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In Monte Carlo Senna gave his best: 6 victories between 1987 and 1993, with the Settebello thrown away in 1988, at the Portier, while he was dominating the race. However, the perfect pole on Saturday remains indelible, that magical dance between the walls that relegated Prost, second on the grid, 1.4 seconds behind. He said he drove as if he were “in another dimension,” exhibiting that mystical side that was a little fascinating, a little annoying. No one loved the flying lap like Ayrton, there he was unassailable: in 158 qualifying sessions he beat his teammate 140 times (88.6%) and when he died, on 1 May 1994, the ranking all time of the poles read: Senna 65; Prost and Clark 33; Mansell 31. Got it? Almost all dubbed! The figures, updated by a calendar which in the meantime had become hypertrophic, then saw him overtaken in the specialty by Schumacher (68 poles) and Hamilton (104). The Brazilian’s impressive pole/GP average of 40.3%, however, remains higher than both that of the German (22.2%) and the Englishman (30.8%).

complex personality

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Senna combined the qualities of an extraordinary champion with the magnetism of personalities who write history beyond their field of belonging. He was driven by an extreme motivation in the desire to assert himself, pursued with obsessive physical preparation and the imperative to win at all costs. Even physically clashing with rivals: the young Michael Schumacher knows something about that. The Brazilian was marked by a profound spirituality and a faith that he did not hide, to the point of having said he saw God during a GP. The mystical and sensitive side of him was striking, but it made him vulnerable and tormented in his own way. Ayrton was charming with women, his famous conquests were famous, including the model Carol Alt, generous with children, to whom he left a Foundation, and idolized by the people: he in fact made Brazil dream, redeeming its difficult social condition and compacting it in that flag that waved after his victories. In his homeland he was and still is a national hero: his first triumph at home, at Interlagos in 1991, was legendary, with the gearbox stuck in sixth and arm cramps that almost prevented him from lifting the trophy.

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tambourine

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Ayrton, the king, went to Imola, together with the last of the class, the Austrian Roland Ratzenberger, who died on Saturday and whom he wanted to remember by waving the red and white flag that was found on him after the fatal crash during the lap of honour. . He was upset before the start of his last GP, but he started from pole to die in his own way: first in the race, first in the class. On the wall of the Tamburello, the modern Golgotha ​​of a tragedy also magnified by the dynamics, pierced by a suspension arm where the green-gold helmet could not provide a shield, a page of F1 has ended, the greatest driver of the modern era has disappeared and a myth. That 30 years later, he is more alive than ever.