Ayrton Senna was a superbly talented, fast and intelligent driver, one of the all time F1 greats. Like many F1 drivers his career began in Karts, he won the Brazilian championship 3 times, before moving to Britain to compete in the FF1600 and FF2000 series. He made meteoric progress, winning the British FF1600 title in 1981, and the British and European FF2000 championship in 1982. He graduated to F3, the breeding ground of champions, and took the British F3 title in 1983. In 1984 he was signed by Toleman for F1, and came very close to taking his 1st GP win at a very wet Monaco. He was about to take Prost for the lead, when the race was red flagged as unsafe. Senna moved to Lotus in1985 staying for 3 years, and scored his 1st GP win in the wet at Estoril in 1985.A further 5 wins for Lotus followed, before a move to McLaren in 1988. During his 6 years with McLaren, Ayrton was World Champion 3 times and took an incredible 35 GP wins, including a legendary win at a wet Donington in 1993. Senna's qualifying performance was electrifying, and he left the sport having secured a record 65 pole positions, unsurpassed today. For 1994 Ayrton moved to Williams to partner Damon Hill, tragically he lost his life whilst leading the San Marino GP at Imola that year, in a high speed crash at Tamburello, a true genius was lost forever.
Nationality - Brazilian
Born 21 March 1960
Died 01 May 1994
First GP Brazil 1984
Total GP's 161
Wins 41
Poles 65
Fastest laps 19
Total points 614
Teams
Lotus
McLaren
Toleman
Williams
Claim to fame
Triple World Champion
1988, 90, 91
