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Ayrton
Senna
was born on 21 March 1960, the second child of Milton
da Silva, a successful businessman and landowner. The family lived in
Santana, a well-to-do neighborhood of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Growing up Ayrton
was an awkward child and was later diagnosed as having a motor coordination
problem. His doting father, who was a motor racing enthusiast, noticed
how his serious little son was also attracted to cars. The senior da Silva
had amongst his many holdings a car components company and believed that
cars would be the key to reach his son’s potential. At the age of
four Ayrton was presented with a 1-hp kart and getting behind the steering
wheel he was a different boy, no longer awkward but focused and confident.
The key had been found and every weekend the family would go to local
parks where Ayrton could drive his kart. He was an indifferent student
but facing the loss of his "driving" privileges he would apply himself
as best he could while his heart was obviously elsewhere. At the age of
eight he was driving the family car and looked to Europe and the exploits
of Jim Clark and Jackie Stewart as his inspiration. During this time the
first great Brazilian driver Emerson Fittipaldi was beginning to make
a name for himself driving for Colin Chapman’s Lotus. On his tenth
birthday his father gave him new full-size 100cc kart. Since the minimum
age for racing karts in Brazil was thirteen, Ayrton had to settle for
practicing at Parque Anhembi, the local kart circuit. In 1972 Brazil had
its first World Champion in Fittipaldi and the following year it’s
first Grand Prix at Interlagos, just outside of Sao Paulo. The race was
won by the reigning World Champion and all of Brazil celebrated. In the
midst of this excitement was a young boy who dreamed of being not the
next Fittipaldi or Jackie Stewart but the best ever. He was finally thirteen
and could race legally. His first race was that same year and held at
the karting track, which was part of the Interlagos complex. Arrayed against
him were all of the local hot shots including Mauizio Sala. Ayrton displaying
all of the pent up energy he had built up to this seminal moment won the
race. The adult Senna would later relate that karting was the perfect
breeding ground for future racecar drivers. In 1977 Ayrton won the South
American Kart Championship and repeated the following year. The goal for
any aspiring karting driver was Europe and the World Championships at
Le Mans. Against much stronger competition Ayrton managed to finish sixth
overall which was considered sensational for a driver with his experience,
but he came away disappointed in not winning any of the three races which
constituted the final. In 1979 he returned to Europe for further seasoning
and finishes second in the World Championships at Estoril. Nivelles in
Belgium the following year saw another second. He came to England in 1981
to race Formula Ford 1600 for Ralph Firman and his Van Diemen team. Now
married to Liliane Vasconcelos and living in a rented bungalow near Snetterton
he quickly adapted to the 1600 cc cars. Races were held almost every weekend
and at Brands Hatch, Ayrton debuted in eighth place. A week later at Thruxton
he was third. That year there were three series running concurrently,
two of which he contested, and he soon found himself back at Brands Hatch.
Van Diemen seeing the potential in their young driver assigned him their
newest car, which he promptly put on the pole. The race was run under
wet conditions and few could match his skill under these conditions. That
first year in England saw him win both of the series that he contested.
Ayrton was now at a crossroad in his life and to continue his racing career
he would need sponsorship. With several other Brazilian drivers ahead
of him in higher formulas the sponsorship money required was not available.
Frustrated, Ayrton announced his retirement stating that a bad driver
with money could always get the best car but a good driver without the
same was left out. He returned to Brazil and worked in his father’s
building supplies business. After four months the fire that had not been
extinguished continued to burn inside him and he made the decision to
return to motor racing, his wife would not. Having grown up in a life
of luxury Liliane knew that life with Ayrton would be difficult and that
many sacrifices would be necessary as he struggled to move up the ranks.
They mutually decided to separate and his father would provide partial
sponsorship in addition to a Brazilian bank for another year of racing.
In 1982 he won 22 races and the championship for that year. The next stop
would be Formula Three, which was the last step before Formula 1. The
British Formula Three Championship was made up of 20 odd races and proved
the perfect test of man and machine. Two drivers entered 1983 as pre-season
favorites, Ayrton Senna, as he was now known and the great British hope
Martin Brundle. Senna promptly ran up nine straight victories before crashing
out in practice for the next race which was won by Brundle. The series
now became a contest between the two pre-season favorites with neither
driver backing down. The Championship would be decided in the final race
at Thruxton. Senna, showing the determination and attention to details
that would be his hallmark, had his engine re-built and tuned by the master
tuners Novamotor of Italy. Senna took pole and won the race and the title
going away. The end of the year for Formula Three was celebrated in the
Portuguese enclave of Macau at the Macau Grand Prix with drivers from
all of the national series. Senna won and negotiations between him and
a number of Formula One teams became serious. This also became a time
where Senna was introduced to the politics of the senior Formula. After
wanting to go to Brabham but being vetoed by Piquet, Toleman became his
only option. Strictly a second-tier team, Toleman was able to sign the
most promising driver in a generation to a three-year contract. Senna
made his Formula One debut in front of his home country in 1984 driving
for the Toleman team but things were different then Formula Three. Here
even the best driver without the right car and engine would not be able
to make much of an impression on the leader board. The team would eventually
form the basis for the Benneton team but at that time was strictly a back
marker and the best that he could do was qualify eighth. The next race
at San Marino was a new experience for Ayrton; he failed to qualify. After
the initial series of races in his inaugural season the results were slow
in coming. For the French Grand Prix he was given a new car but the results
were the same when he suffered turbo problems and had to retire. The next
race was at Monaco and Senna qualified well back in thirteenth place.
The weather was run under threat of rain and Senna began to feel that
he might have his first real opportunity. Wet weather, as it always was
in racing is the great leveler and by the seventh lap Senna was in sixth
place. On lap eleven he almost crashed when he jumped a curb and the Toleman
became airborne. Prost who was in the lead came upon Teo Fabi who had
spun and stalled in the middle of the track. Just narrowly missing Fabi’s
car he struck one of the track marshals. Not knowing weather he had killed
the poor man, he hadn’t, Prost was shaken by the incident. Mansell,
a much harder fellow saw the opening and assumed the lead. Once ahead
he began to stretch his lead quickly, a little to quickly and spun into
the Armco barrier. Lauda who was in second place made a small error and
also spun out. On lap 20 Prost led the oncoming Senna by 33.8 seconds.
On lap 31 the gap was reduced to 7.4 seconds. The weather conditions continued
to be treacherous and every time that Prost crossed the finish line he
would signal for the race to stop. On lap 31 the race was stopped and
Senna was denied his first victory but the legend was born. Monaco would
prove the highlight of the season but for Senna it wasn’t enough.
It was plain to him that he would need a stronger supporting cast if he
wanted to challenge for the Championship. Senna had been secretly negotiating
with Lotus for the following season and even though he had a three-year
contract with Toleman he did have a buy-out clause. Lotus represented
to the young Senna the pinnacle, the team of Clark and Fittipaldi, but
Lotus had been on the downward slope after the death of their founder
Colin Chapman. To his new team Senna was the man to return them to the
top. After showing the racing world a glimpse of the future at Monaco,
Senna was more determined than ever to break through. Driving in treacherously
wet conditions he would win his first race at Estoril. This was followed
by another win at Spa, Belgium. But even Senna could not return Lotus
to their prior glory and in 1988 he moved to McLaren. Ironically instead
of vetoing Senna as his teammate, Prost initially welcomed the Brazilian.
At last all of the pieces were in place and that year saw him win 8 races
and his first World Championship. In 1989 he came in second to his teammate
Alain Prost despite having more wins. The relationship between the two
had deteriorated to the point where Prost left McLaren to join Ferrari.
In 1990 and 1991 Senna, now joined at McLaren by Gerhard Berger, won back
to back titles while being involved in fierce battles with Prost and Nigel
Mansell. Eventually the loss of Honda power and the rise of Renault would
bring about the decline of McLaren. Only Senna’s brilliance remained
and in 1994 that too left. Joining Williams was a goal that he had long
sought, even offering to drive the Williams for free at one point. The
new season, which began with so much promise for Senna, ended almost before
it began when he crashed fatally at Imola. The Grand Prix world was already
reeling from the death of the young Austrian Roland Ratzeberger and the
serious practice crash of Rubens Barrichello. This final tragedy will
haunt Formula 1 for many years. Ayrton Senna brought with him seemingly
limitless talent and indomitable will to win. On the track he could be
almost belligerent yet off the track he was just beginning to show a more
generous and thoughtful demeanor to the outside world that those who knew
him best had always known was there. Those brief shining years when Ayrton
Senna, Mansell, Prost and Piquet would fight tooth and nail for the slightest
advantage both on and off the track seem like so long ago.
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