Ayrton Senna: 26 Years after the loss of a Legend

Ayrton Senna was an F1 racing driver like no other driver ever seen in the sport

He was a deeply spiritual man with deep patriotic roots from his native Brazil, and idolized the likes of Jim Clark and Juan Manuel Fangio.

During his F1 career he amassed an incredible record and a lasting legacy that stands to this day.

Ayrton Senna da Silva, born on the 21st of March 1960. 

He was a Brazilian racing driver who won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in 1988, 1990 and 1991, and who is widely regarded as one of the greatest Formula One drivers of all time. 

He died in an accident while leading the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix whilst driving for Williams Racing.

Senna was born in the Pro-Matre Maternity Hospital of Santana, a neighbourhood of São Paulo.

The middle child of wealthy Brazilian landowner and factory owner Milton da Silva and his wife Neide Senna da Silva, he had an older sister, Viviane and a younger brother, Leonardo.

Senna's Racing Helmet

Ayrton Senna's Statue at the Imola Circuit in San Marino

Ayrton Senna's F1 Cars

1984: Toleman-Hart TG183B 

Competed in Four races before the switch to the new TG184

1984: Toleman-Hart TG184 

Competed in this car for the remainder of 1984 races, finished 9th in the drivers championship

1985: Lotus-Renault 97T

Finished 4th in the driver's championship, won his first race at the Autódromo do Estoril, Estoril, Portugal

1986: Lotus-Renault 98T

Finished 4th in the driver's championship 

1987: Lotus-Honda 99T

Finished 3rd in the driver's championship

1988: McLaren-Honda MP4 / 4

Wins his first F1 driver's championship, ahead of Alain Prost

1989: McLaren-Honda MP4 / 5

Finished 2nd in the driver's championship behind Alain Prost after a controversial decision at the Japanese grand prix

1990: McLaren-Honda MP4 / 5B

Wins his 2nd driver's championship ahead of Alain Prost

1991: McLaren-Honda MP4 / 6

Wins his 3rd driver's championship, making it back-to-back championship wins

1992: McLaren-Honda MP4 / 7A

Struggled to 4th in the driver's championship with two different engines from Honda, 

1993: McLaren-Ford MP4 / 8

Struggled to 2nd in the driver's championship with two different engines from Ford, wins the European Grand Prix in very challenging conditions and his biggest victory margin in his career.

1994: Williams-Renault FW16

The last car Senna raced, until his untimely death at the San Marino Grand Prix

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	Pts[1]
1984	Toleman Group Motorsport	Toleman TG183B	Hart 415T 1.5 L4 t	BRA Ret	RSA 6	BEL 6	SMR DNQ													9th	13
		Toleman TG184						FRA Ret	MON 2‡	CAN 7	DET Ret	DAL Ret	GBR 3	GER Ret	AUT Ret	NED Ret	ITA	EUR Ret	POR 3
1985	John Player Special Team Lotus	Lotus 97T	Renault EF15 1.5 V6 t	BRA Ret	POR 1	SMR 7†	MON Ret	CAN 16	DET Ret	FRA Ret	GBR 10†	GER Ret	AUT 2	NED 3	ITA 3	BEL 1	EUR 2	RSA Ret	AUS Ret	4th	38
1986	John Player Special Team Lotus	Lotus 98T	Renault EF15B 1.5 V6 t	BRA 2	ESP 1	SMR Ret	MON 3	BEL 2	CAN 5	DET 1	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	GER 2	HUN 2	AUT Ret	ITA Ret	POR 4†	MEX 3	AUS Ret	4th	55
1987	Camel Team Lotus Honda	Lotus 99T	Honda RA166E 1.5 V6 t	BRA Ret	SMR 2	BEL Ret	MON 1	DET 1	FRA 4	GBR 3	GER 3	HUN 2	AUT 5	ITA 2	POR 7	ESP 5	MEX Ret	JPN 2	AUS DSQ	3rd	57
1988	Honda Marlboro McLaren	McLaren MP4/4	Honda RA168E 1.5 V6 t	BRA DSQ	SMR 1	MON Ret	MEX 2	CAN 1	DET 1	FRA 2	GBR 1	GER 1	HUN 1	BEL 1	ITA 10†	POR 6	ESP 4	JPN 1	AUS 2	1st	90 (94)
1989	Honda Marlboro McLaren	McLaren MP4/5	Honda RA109A 3.5 V10	BRA 11	SMR 1	MON 1	MEX 1	USA Ret	CAN 7†	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	GER 1	HUN 2	BEL 1	ITA Ret	POR Ret	ESP 1	JPN DSQ	AUS Ret	2nd	60
1990	Honda Marlboro McLaren	McLaren MP4/5B	Honda RA109E 3.5 V10	USA 1	BRA 3	SMR Ret	MON 1	CAN 1	MEX 20†	FRA 3	GBR 3	GER 1	HUN 2	BEL 1	ITA 1	POR 2	ESP Ret	JPN Ret	AUS Ret	1st	78
1991	Honda Marlboro McLaren	McLaren MP4/6	Honda RA121E 3.5 V12	USA 1	BRA 1	SMR 1	MON 1	CAN Ret	MEX 3	FRA 3	GBR 4†	GER 7†	HUN 1	BEL 1	ITA 2	POR 2	ESP 5	JPN 2	AUS 1‡	1st	96
1992	Honda Marlboro McLaren	McLaren MP4/6B	Honda RA121E 3.5 V12	RSA 3	MEX Ret															4th	50
		McLaren MP4/7A	Honda RA122E/B 3.5 V12			BRA Ret	ESP 9†	SMR 3	MON 1	CAN Ret	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	GER 2	HUN 1	BEL 5	ITA 1	POR 3	JPN Ret	AUS Ret
1993	Marlboro McLaren	McLaren MP4/8	Ford HBE7 3.5 V8	RSA 2	BRA 1	EUR 1	SMR Ret	ESP 2	MON 1	CAN 18†	FRA 4	GBR 5†								2nd	73
			Ford HBA8 3.5 V8										GER 4	HUN Ret	BEL 4	ITA Ret	POR Ret	JPN 1	AUS 1
1994	Rothmans Williams Renault	Williams FW16	Renault RS6 3.5 V10	BRA Ret	PAC Ret	SMR Ret	MON	ESP	CAN	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	EUR	JPN	AUS	NC	0

^‡ Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed.
^† Driver did not finish the Grand Prix, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.

Formula One records

Senna holds these Formula One records:

Record		Achieved
Most wins leading throughout a Grand Prix	19	1990 Italian Grand Prix[N 1]
Most consecutive pole positions	8	1988 Spanish Grand Prix – 1989 United States Grand Prix
Most consecutive front row starts	24	1988 German Grand Prix –1989 Australian Grand Prix
Most consecutive wins at the same Grand Prix	5	Monaco Grand Prix 1989–1993
Most pole positions at the same Grand Prix	8	San Marino Grand Prix 1985–1991, 1994[N 2]
Most consecutive pole positions at the same Grand Prix	7	San Marino Grand Prix 1985–1991
Most consecutive podiums at the same Grand Prix	7	Hungarian Grand Prix 1986–1992[N 3]
Highest percentage of front row starts in a season	100%	1989[N 4]

1. ^ Shared with Lewis Hamilton
2. ^ record shared with Michael Schumacher, who took 8 poles at the Japanese Grand Prix and Lewis Hamilton at the Australian Grand Prix.
3. ^ record shared with Michael Schumacher, who took 7 podiums in a row at the Canadian Grand Prix and Sebastian Vettel with 7 consecutive podiums at the Japanese Grand Prix.
4. ^ record shared with Alain Prost (1993) and Damon Hill (1996), who also started from the front row in every race of a season.

Ayrton Senna Da Silva