They've already passed Exactly 30 years since his death of one of the most famous champions in the history of F1: Ayrton Senna. On May 1, 1994 the Brazilian pilot went out to Tamburello curve due to a broken suspension arm and died a few hours later at the Maggiore Hospital in Bologna. But his memory is indelible.
The difficult debut
Senna made his F1 debut with Toleman in 1984, at the age of 24, and then pass thenext year to the Lotus. The journalists of the time they defined him: “the new Gilles Villeneuve”. But the former Ferrari driver Clay Regazzoni, he immediately made it clear: “Although driving in a similar way due to strong impetuosity, (Ayrton) he is able to control the car more. And this year (1985, Ed.) he matured quickly. Next year Senna will be the man to beat".
Regazzoni's predictions proved true quite correct: 21 April 1985, under one torrential rain, Ayrton won his first GP in Estoril, in Portugal. The pilot will later remember it as: “My best Grand Prix". During the three-year period at Lotus (1985-1987) the Brazilian won 16nd pole position, but won only 6 GP, as the car was not entirely competitive.
Ayrton Senna's 1988
In 1988 Senna he moved from Lotus to the much more competitive McLaren, where he had how teammate the Frenchman Alain Prost, already a two-time world champion. A year dotted with several twists and turns: Monte Carlo, Ayrton he was a minute ahead of Prost, but he hit a barrier and was forced to retire. In October, at the start of the Japanese GP, when the “match point” for the world title was being played between Prost and Senna, the latter he panicked. The Brazilian turned off the engineinstead of giving full throttle. Shortly afterwards Ayrton recovered, but at that point he was in fourteenth position. He tried the comeback and he did it: having overcome all his rivals, and aided by the discard rule, to general amazement, Senna won his first world title.
Note: The waste rule consisted of discarding some of the worst results for the purposes of calculating championship points. The 11 best placings were taken into account world champions of the various drivers.
Senna vs Prost and the first difficulties
In 1989 il title it was instead of Cheers, ahead of Senna and Patrese. In the 1990, Alain went to Ferrari and the rivalry between the two former teammates reached paroxysm, between door calls, mutual revenge and poisonous declarations at the end of the match. That year it was Senna's again, ahead of Mansell, while Prost finished fifth in the standings. In 1992 he was fourth at the end of the season, while the already brilliant Michael Schumacher made his debut.
The King of Sherwood Forest
In 1993 Prost won il fourth world title, overcoming of a title the rival. But that year also occurred one of Senna's most incredible feats. European GP of that year was held in rainy England, but a Donington, near the iconic Sherwood Forest. We already knew that Ayrton Senna was one of most undisputed kings of the wet, but that day he even surpassed himself. He started fourth, but in the rain which was already raging on the circuit: he made a mistake at the start, and yet, two corners from the end of the first lap, took the lead and won the race. The whole without ever managing the tires: he did well five pit stops, the last of which for slick tires, as the rain ones were finished, and making the fastest lap of the race passing through the pits!! Yes, because at a certain point with the mechanics - perhaps even tired of continuing to see it again - it wasn't understood, and therefore he didn't stop in the pits, but left immediately. L'year later the FIA approved the speed limitation in the pit lane. Action that Michael Alboreto he was already undertaking of his own free will and had been pressing for years for the safety of mechanics and pilots.
An unfortunate weekend
The next year Ayrton changed teams and moved on to the Williams, where a young man worked Adrian Newey, hoping to return to success. In the first two seasonal events, in Brazil and Japan, Senna started in the lead, but had to retreat, and Schumacher took advantage of it.
Il San Marino GP, third round of the 1994 season, on the Imola circuit, it started very badly. During the free practice Rubens Barrichello crashed into the barriers protective with his Jordan, but he was the only one to survive that weekend. The Brazilian fainted and was taken to hospital, but the next day he was in the paddock watching the others race. The next day, however, during the official tests, the Austrian Roland Ratzenberger died after hitting the wall at 314,9 km/h. Seven minutes later he was taken to hospital by air ambulance.
Ayrton Senna's final corner
At the start of the race on Sunday one another frightening accident, the one between JJ Lehto e Peter Lamy he put it on the track safety car. Shortly after the restart, Senna's Williams crashed into the wall of the Tamburello curve. Had the steering column failed which the pilot had requested because the Newey-designed Williams had one major flaw: The space between steering wheel and body above it was very tight. After two GPs spent cutting his knuckles and working hard, Senna obtained the much requested steering column in Imola to have more room to maneuver with the steering wheel. Unfortunately, however, this gave way – perhaps it was not secure – and a suspension arm flew right into the driver's helmet. The unconscious champion was taken away by air ambulance in a cerebral coma: 1 May 1994 at 18.40 pm he died, only 34 years, at the Maggiore Hospital in Bologna. Newey was not prosecuted because Senna died outside the circuit, as required by the controversial Italian law in force at the time.
The gesture was legendary carried out immediately after Ayrton's death by his photographer friend Angelo Orsi, room at the Tamburello curve just as the fatal impact occurred. Although Angelo managed to photograph the last moments of life of Senna, who had just returned home he burned the film out of respect for his friend.
Many ways to remember Ayrton Senna
Ayrton, of catholic faith, even if of an evangelical mother, he often read the Bible, even several times a day. On his tomb it reads: in fact a quote taken from the letter to the Romans: “Nothing can separate me from the love of God”. Or: "Nothing can separate me from the love of God".
Ayrton founded various associations to help Brazil. To date numerous are the compliments by artists such as Lucio Dalla, Cesare Cremonini, and many others. from I sing: "My name is Ayrton / and I'm a pilot / and I run fast on my way / even if it's no longer the same road / even if it's no longer the same thing”. The world of F1 is no longer the same without Senna, but he continues to live in the hearts of many fans.
At the end we report it special di Sky Sports su Ayrton Senna which will be broadcast from 13pm to 20pm today, Wednesday May 1 2024.
Sources: Rai News; Naska YouTube channel.
