Ayrton Senna is a colossus bestriding F1, adored in life and mythologized in death. No other driver has commanded the attention as Senna. He was more than a famous racing driver, transcending his sport to become an icon. He spoke not in bland euphemisms of the ill educated or technical details only interesting to a minority, but with passion extracted from a deep introspective of what pushed him to the outer edge of limitations. The fascination was much to do with how he put so much commitment into driving all the time; never a period in a race when he would accept a just a points finish, constantly pushing for victory. His ambition too many was ruthless and critics such as his great rival Alain Prost said that Senna cared more about winning than living; a dangerous madman who thought God was his co-pilot.
 

Nationality & DoB - DoD	Brazilian , 21-03-60, - 01-05-94
Team	Toleman, Lotus, McLaren, Williams
Active years	1984-1994
Championships	3 (1988, 1990, 1991)
Races	162 (161 starts)
Wins	41
Podiums	80
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

Whether or not Senna was a better driver than Jim Clark or Michael Schumacher or Juan Manuel Fangio is much debated, interestingly Alain Prost who was a bitter rival of Senna and often bettered him on the track is not normally included in the same group. The debate, whilst fun, cannot produce a definitive answer, however, few would dispute that Ayrton Senna is one of the greatest.
 
Ayrton Senna was born into a wealthy Brazilian family where he enjoyed a privileged upbringing; he never needed to race for money.

He recalled in later years that as a very young child waking on Grand Prix days trembling with anticipation at the prospect of watching his Formula 1 heroes in action on television.
 
Senna started racing karts at 13, winning in 1977 the South America Kart championship, he was runner up in the world kart championships in 1979 and 1980. In 1981 Senna moved to England, winning the Formula Ford 1600 Championships that year and in 1982 the British and European Formula Ford 2000 championships. In 1983 won the British Formula Three Championship.

Senna made his F1 debut in 1984, driving for the Toleman Team; he made a great impression in a wet Monaco GP. He qualified 13th place on the grid but drove magnificently to finish in second place when the race was stopped for heavy rain, at that point he was catching race leader Alain Prost at a rate of 4 seconds per lap. He finished the season in 9th place in the championship and signed for Lotus for the 1985 season.

Senna's first pole and victory was at the second race of the 85 season the Portuguese GP, Senna's team mate at Lotus was Elio de Angelis, and their relationship soured over the season; -both drivers demanded top driver status, and after spending six years at the team, De Angelis departed at the end of the year, convinced that Lotus were becoming focused around the Brazilian. Senna and De Angelis finished the season 4th and 5th respectively in the driver rankings. Senna had begun to establish himself as the quickest in the field: his tally of seven poles that season was far more than that of any of the other drivers.

Senna demonstrated his ruthless selfishness in vetoing Derek Warwick joining the team preferring an unknown. It is amazing that even at this early time in his career teams would bend to his demands. He led the championship in the early part of the season, but reliability issues in the second half of the season undermined his challenge. Nonetheless, Senna was once more the top qualifier, with eight poles, and finished the season fourth in the driver's standings. Senna stayed with Lotus in 1987, which were now running with Honda engines, he drove well and had a number of victories, however, it was evident that the Williams cars had the advantage over the rest of the field, the gap between the Honda-engine teams made most obvious at the British GP where Mansell and Piquet lapped the Lotuses of Senna and Nakajima. Senna became dissatisfied with his chances at Lotus and in 1988 he would drive for McLaren. Senna finished third in the final standings. Importantly he had also built a good relationship with Honda. Honda decided to supply McLaren rather than had Williams for 1988.

1988 was the start of one of the great rivalries in F1; Ayrton Senna Vs the then double world champion Alain Prost. Both drivers had huge egos and driving in he same team was a sure recipe for conflict.

At the 1988 Portuguese GP, Prost got away slightly faster than Senna at the start but the Brazilian dived into the first corner ahead. Prost responded and went to pass Senna at the end of the first lap. Senna swerved to block Prost, forcing the Frenchman nearly to run into the pitwall at 180 mph (290 km/h). Prost kept his foot down and soon edged Senna into the first corner and started pulling away fast. Though Prost was angered by Senna's manoeuvre, the Brazilian was fortunate just to get a warning from the FIA. Senna would later apologize to Prost for the incident. Ultimately, the pair won 15 of 16 races in the dominant McLaren in 1988 with Senna winning his first Formula1 world championship title, by taking 8 wins to Prost's 7, (Prost had scored more points over the season, but the point scoring system at the time meant had to drop three 2nd places as only the 11 best scores counted).

The following year the rivalry between Senna and Prost intensified into battles on the track and a psychological war off it. Tension and mistrust between the two drivers increased when Senna overtook Prost at the restart of the San Marino GP, a move which Prost claimed violated a pre-race agreement. Senna took an early lead in the championship with victories in three of the first four races, but by the penultimate race of the season at Suzuka in Japan, Senna needed to win to remain in contention for the title. Senna had attempted an inside pass on Prost who turned into the corner and cut him off, with the two McLarens finishing up with their wheels interlocked in the Suzuka chicane escape road. Senna then got a push-start from marshals, pitted to replace the damaged nose of his car, and rejoined the race. He took the lead and finish first, but was disqualified by the FIA for cutting the chicane after the collision, and for crossing into the pit lane entry. Senna engaged in a long tirade of recriminations against the then President of the FIA Jean-Marie Balestre. Senna finished the season 2nd with 6 wins and one 2nd place.  The terrible relationship with Prost continued in 1990 despite Alain Prost leaving McLaren for Ferrari.

In 1990, Senna took a commanding lead in the championship with 6 wins, two 2nd places and three 3rds. As the season reached its final quarter however, Alain Prost went on to win five races and with two races left in the season Senna was 11 points ahead of Prost.

At the penultimate round of the Championship in Japan at Suzuka (the same circuit where Senna and Prost had their collision a year before), Senna took pole position ahead of Prost. The pole position in Suzuka was on the right-hand, dirty side of the track. Prost's Ferrari made a better start and pulled ahead of Senna's McLaren. At the first turn Senna aggressively kept his line while Prost turned in and the McLaren ploughed into the rear wheel of Prost's Ferrari at about 270 km/h (170 mph), putting both cars off the track, this time making Senna the Formula 1 world champion.

A year later, after taking his third world championship, Senna explained to the press his actions of the previous year in Suzuka. He maintained that prior to qualifying he had sought and received assurances from race officials that pole position would be changed to the left-hand, clean side of the track, only to find this decision reversed by Jean-Marie Balestre after he had taken pole position. Explaining the collision with Prost, Senna said that what he had wanted was to make clear he was not going to accept what he perceived as unfair decisions by Balestre including his disqualification in 1989 and the pole position in 1990. Senna admitting that he deliberately drove into Prost, and that such was premeditated was described by Prost and others as 'disgusting'. However, Senna continued to be lauded by many.

Senna captured his third title in 1991, taking seven wins and staying largely clear of controversy. There were some memorable moments, such as at the Spanish GP when Senna and Mansell went wheel to wheel with only centimetres to spare, at over 320 km/h (200 mph) down the main straight, a race that the Briton eventually won. Quite a different spectacle was offered following Mansell's victory in the British GP at Silverstone. Senna's car had come to a halt on the final lap but he was not left stranded out on the circuit, as Mansell pulled over on his parade lap and allowed the Brazilian to ride on the Williams side-pod back to the pits.

The 1992 Mclaren lacked the pace of the Williams and Senna finished in fourth in the championship. Senna reluctantly stayed with McLaren for the 1993 season, he expected the car to be uncompetitive and had wanted to join Williams, however, Prost (who had secured a drive for the team for 1993) had a clause on his contract vetoing Senna as a team-mate. Senna offered to drive for free and called Prost a coward in a press conference in Estoril. In the event Senna in a McLaren car could not match Prost in a Williams; and Senna finished the season in second place.

For 1994, Senna finally signed with the Williams-Renault team. Prost's contract clause forbidding Senna from joining Williams did not extend to 1994 and Prost retired with one year left on his contract.

Williams had won the previous two World Championships with vastly superior cars, and Senna was a natural and presumptive pre-season title favourite, with second-year driver Damon Hill expected to play the supporting role. Between them, Prost, Senna, and Hill had won all but one race in 1993. Benetton's Michael Schumacher had won the remaining event.

Pre-season testing showed that the Williams car had speed, but it was difficult to drive. The FIA had banned electronic driver aids, such as active suspension, traction control and ABS.

At the third race of the season, the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola, Senna, having not finished the two opening races of the season, declared that this was where his season would start, with fourteen races, as opposed to sixteen, in which to win the title. Senna again placed the car on pole for the 65th and final time, but he was upset by the serious accident the day before of his protégé Rubens Barrichello, and much more so by the death in qualifying of   Austrian driver Roland Ratzenberger.

Senna spent his final morning meeting fellow drivers, determined after Ratzenberger's accident to take on a new responsibility to re-create a drivers' safety group, the Grand Prix Drivers' Association, to increase safety in Formula 1. As the most senior driver, he offered to take the role of leader in this effort.

The race was interrupted by an accident and safety car, on the restart Senna immediately set a quick pace. As Senna entered the high-speed Tamburello corner on the next lap, the car left the track at high speed, hitting a concrete retaining wall at around 135 mph (217 km/h). Senna was removed from the car by Sid Watkins and his medical team and treated by the side of the car before being airlifted to Bologna hospital where 34 year old Senna was later declared dead.

It is widely assumed that the right front wheel had shot up after impact like a catapult and violated the cockpit area where Senna was sitting. It impacted the right frontal area of his helmet, and the violence of the wheel's impact pushed his head back against the headrest, causing fatal skull fractures. A piece of upright attached to the wheel had partially penetrated his helmet. In addition, a piece of the upright assembly had penetrated the helmet visor just above his right eye. Any one of the three injuries would probably have killed him. As track officials examined the wreckage of his racing car they found a furled Austrian flag--a victory flag that he was going to raise in honour of Austrian Roland Ratzenberger.

Senna's death was considered by many of his Brazilian fans to be a national tragedy, and the Brazilian government declared three days of national mourning. An estimated three million people lined the streets to offer their salute.

For the next race at Monaco, the FIA decided to leave the first two grid positions empty and painted them with the colours of the Brazilian and the Austrian flags, to honour Senna and Ratzenberger.

Many safety improvements were made in the sport following Senna and Ratzenberger's deaths. Improved crash barriers, redesigned tracks and tyre barriers, higher crash safety standards, and higher sills on the driver cockpit are changes due to Senna and Ratzenberger's deaths. 

After Senna's death it was discovered that he had donated millions of dollars of his personal fortune (estimated at $400 million at the time of his death) to children's charities.