By: Farah Saleh
Hey Besties,
Did you miss me? I know you did because I have missed you as well. I know you were waiting for me to teach you a formula 1 rule. But if you allow me, today I would like to teach you about a person, a formula 1 driver and a legend lost to speed 30 years ago. And his name was Ayrton Senna da Silva.
Ayrton Senna is a Brazilian driver born on the 21st of March 1960. His love for cars was visible from a very young age that his father got him a mini go-kart when he was only 4 years old. Later on, he won his first karting race at the age of 13.
In 1984, he made his formula 1 debut with Toleman-Hart and he was able to show the magnificent talent he possessed. If I’m going to be more specific then I’m going to mention Monaco, where he got his first podium after he started from P13.
Senna was able to draw attention to himself when he reached P9 by the end of Lap1 and of course when he finished in P2 behind Alain Prost. He might have won, they say, if it weren’t for the Monaco race organizers stopping the race due to heavy rain.
In 1985, Senna moved to Lotus where he was able to snatch his first win at the Portuguese Grand Prix, and for 2 years he proved himself more and more with a total of 6 wins, 22 podiums and 16 pole positions.
In 1988, the Brazilian driver went to McLaren where he dominated the season with his colleague Alain Prost whose rivalry became the most famous in the history of Formula 1. Eventually, Senna ended up winning 3 world championships with McLaren in 1988, 1990, and 1991.
Ayrton Senna was willing to risk his life in order to save another driver in 1992. It was during the Belgian grand prix, when Erik comas hit the barriers during the practice and one of his tires hit his head resulting in him losing his consciousness in a fuel leaking car. The Brazilian champion was the first to reach him, and while the rest of the drivers passed by them, Senna abandoned his own car and raced on foot towards Coma’s car where he turned off its engine preventing it from the risk of exploding and held the unconscious driver’s head until help arrived.
In 1994, Ayrton Senna left McLaren for Williams where his life ended in a tragedy during the San Marino grand prix at the Imola Circuit.
It was actually a weekend full of crashes that started on Friday with Rubens Barrichello hitting the curb at 225 km/h and he was about to lose his life due to his tongue blocking his airway. Luckily, he survived.
On Saturday, Roland Ratzenberger hit the wall at 314 km/h. He was taken immediately into an ambulance then he was announced dead.
The two accidents broke Senna causing him to withdraw from the rest of the qualifying session.
It is said that Senna had the Austrian flag prepared in his car, so that if he won the race, he would raise it as a tribute to the Austrian late driver Roland Ratzenberger.
Unfortunately, Ayrton Senna did not have the time to do so, as he himself crashed into a concrete wall at 211 km/h during lap 7.
Reports say that the impact of the crash caused the right front tire of his car to hit his helmet shoving his head back which caused severe skull fractures that led to his death.
Senna may have died but his memory is going to live forever, carved on the history wall of motorsports.
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