Latest Autosport magazine dedicated to Senna

If you are a Senna fan you should get this, I have and I'm not as passionate about Senna as some of you.

A couple of interesting points:

1. Before McLaren choose the useless Peugeot engine Senna and Hakinen tested a Lamborghini powered McLaren and both were positive about the car. Now that would have changed many of our views on Lamborghini if that marriage had happened ... and may have kept Senna at McLaren, maybe?

2. Ron was not 100% happy, der, with Senna leaving and going to Williams, especially because as he stated it was the huge $ rate that Senna required to keep him at McLaren that caused the team to not be able to spend enough on R&D and caused their downturn at that period! I personally always thought it was because of the F1 road car and the company loosing focus on what the core function is.

Anyway, thoughts?
Pete
ps: This magazine also supports my belief that Senna simply lost control of his Williams on that fateful day while under enormous self pressure. It is very obvious, and this was discussed, that Senna had lost his love of the sport and should have retired if not before the season started after Rubens and Rolands accidents. Sid Watkins tried very hard to keep him out of the car but the fact that he was being beaten by Schumacher and thus not able to retire on top meant he simply could not let it go. Very bloody sad.

You can read also that not winning the karting world championship always irked him, and retiring from the supposedly all conquering Williams (especially after Prost won so easily the previous year) after getting spanked by Michael (in the rumoured way down on power Benetton) was just way too much for this most competitive person that had to top every single session that he competed in. Even in karts he had to be the fastest in every session, and would use up his best engines in practice for this ... and thus of course Fulleton would be faster when it counted because he saved his best gear for the races.

 

The extended version of the senna movie offers a much more detailed explanation of his decision to leave McLaren. Ron Dennis told him after the last race of the 93 season "It's never too late to change your mind". Most who knew him insist it was because he wanted a 4th world championship and knew the McLaren could never beat the Williams with it's active suspension. There was also some discussion about how he regretted the switch once he saw the car was crap without the active suspension.
He also knew that Schumacher still had the traction control enabled on his car which is worth a mention.

 

Interesting perspective, that he went from a Customer McLaren Ford in 1993 which he won 5 races including the last race, and Schumacher who had a Factory Ford Benetton won 1 race, to becoming a has been in the Williams in 1994. Truth of the matter is, we will never know if it was the steering column or tires that were not up to temperature. But to think that a Driver of Senna's Caliber could have gone off at that corner, where he had driven many time before and other GP DRIVERS said was that Driver Error was not an issue at Tamburello is ludicrous at best.

Fact is the 94 Williams which Senna put on Pole on all 3 Races, had some issues during the races, i.e. Williams who started the whole active suspension was not up to speed on creating a Passive Car well. In all reality no matter how talented Schumacher was, he did not become that much better from 93 to 94 than Senna. The fact that the Grand Prix's with a V8 Ford he was able to out accelerate a V10 Renault should bring up some questions marks.

In addition, if Journey Man drivers the Caliber of Hill and J Villeneuve won championships in the Williams, imagine what Senna could have done.

 

I never said this .

I said he had lost motivation and did not want to be a racing driver anymore, not that he was slow. The Williams was slow, not Senna (but a 100% still loving motor racing Senna would be faster than a Senna who wanted to retire). I also believe the Benetton was better than we all thought back in '94.

This put the pressure on Senna because he did not like not being competitive, so we have a driver that does not want to be a racing driver anymore and also is pushing himself too hard ... a very dangerous situation. An accident was always going to be the result, whether at Imola or somewhere else ... unless Williams suddenly sorted the car out, BUT we know from other reports that the Williams mechanics did not gell well with Senna and were reluctant to make the setup changes he suggested.

All in all a very unhappy situation for Senna to end up in ... and yes even the very best drivers make mistakes. Senna had already spun off in the '94 Brazilian GP, so yes Senna was not the master of this terrible unbalanced Williams.

And it took Damon Hill many years to sort the Williams out, so while obviously Senna could have done the same, I don't think he would have stayed at Williams post 1994. The car was a dud, the move was not right for the emotional Senna and he would have either retired or gone to another team.
Pete

 

Pete, I didn't mean you, as you know how much I respect you and your posts. It was directed at the article not you.

I just find it amusing how Senna who won the final race in 93 in Australia went to losing his motivation at Williams according to the article. This is a prime example of Senna less than a year earlier at his best.

http://m.youtube.com/index?desktop_uri=%2F&gl=US#/watch?v=5MAvSZPHSZ4

 

I think when we are discussing motivation it's very complex. As far as I am aware Senna was never happy at Williams, the car was a dud, and I think when that Imola race started Senna should not have participated.

He was over F1 and should have walked away right then and there.

Not the same but I lost my motivation for the sport during a test session when I had just confirmed that the suspension upgrade I had completed for my car reduced my lap times by a couple of seconds! I found I was distracted and not able to focus fully on the job at hand ... I actually spun due to this.

One race meeting later I gave it away.
Pete

 

Very interesting movie, have watched it 3 times already. We may never know what really happened, but still a tragedy for all his many fans all over the world, especially in Brazil.

 

All of these things are pretty well documented. As far as he just losing control of his car, I seriously doubt it, not at that corner and not in that way. If anyone who saw the film of his last lap in the movie would have noticed his steering wheel moving quite unusually before he hit the wall.

 

autosport magazine? it doesn't say anything about a senna special launched recently...

there is however the following:

http://www.motorsportmusings.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/senna_autosport.jpg

but it was published in October 2011...

 

I'll watch the film again as of course I have it.

Anyway the sadest part for me, and to me the film really hit on this, is that Senna should have retired. Nobody (other than it appears MS) can continue to drive around in circles and find that rewarding.

Just think how Senna could/might have helped his beloved Brazil if he could have done that full time, heck he might have ended up with the top job.
Pete

 

Nothing in my electronic subscription to Autosport recently that I can see...

 

+1

Good post. The problem is, as perfectionist as he was, as fast, talented as he was, Senna didn't want to retire by beaten by MS. He wanted to retire as the best. Sad. He should have walked away.

 

Well, if you think about it, Senna´s F1-career was one of great success but also one of many frustrations.

Starting with that 1984 Monaco GP being cut short. Then, late eigthies, there was J.M. Balestre who seemingly did everything in his power to make life difficult for Senna. Early nineties were no picnic either. Of course he did take the crown in 1990 and 1991, but in both occassions it wasn´t without obstacle.

In 1990 there was of course Prost in his Ferrari 641/2 and the frustrations concerning the startinggrid at Suzuka. If Prost would have managed to win that race, there was every chance he would eventually have taken the title. Senna knew that but saw his chances being ruined by a surprise move by the powers that be to alter the pole position. We all know what happened next. Senna´s title, but one that will remained tainted. 1991 was not much better. Senna quickly realized that the Williams-Renault package was better than his McLaren-Honda package. Mid season Senna was constantly pleading to his team to up their game. In stead they send him out with to little fuel in both Silverstone and Hockenheim. He had to drive the wheels of that thing to take the title, and eventually he did. But again many frustrations along the way.

1992 was a lost season anyway. The Williams-Renault FW14B was untouchable in the hands of Nigel Mansell. Sometimes qualifying over a second faster than the number two, usually his teammate who was in turn considerably faster than the rest of the competition, including Senna. 1993 brought us perhaps Senna´s best season in terms of driving, but yet, frustrations grew even bigger being stuck with a costumer Ford-engine and the failure that was Michael Andretti as a teammate didn´t do much for his motivation either. Senna couldn´t even bring himself to sign a contract for the full season and started the season on a race-to-race base before eventually signing that final McLaren contract. Again, he was no contention for the title, but at last Senna seemed to be at peace with the situation and from then on seem to be enjoying himself more then ever, taking some great wins in the proces. And of course, in 1994 it all fell apart. Finally he had that desired drive at Williams, but with the ban on driveraids, the car had lost it´s advantage and turned out to be somewhat of a dog in terms of handling. Frustration rose again and his conviction that Schumachers Benetton was not in compliance with the regulations, yet took victory after victory, did not help either.

It makes a lot of sense that Senna, in those circumstances, came to count his blessings with three titles. Formula 1 was his life. It was his passion and he was made for it, but that doesn´t mean that life in F1 wasn´t difficult for Senna. One could even assume he didn´t even enjoy himself all that much. At some level I have always felt sorry for him.

 

If just about ANYONE would know a thing about tires and temp, it would be Senna, he wasn't stupid. And if he had a problem with tire temps, he would not be the only one with tire temp issues.

Life is made up of 'what ifs', it's the same here.

 

I think this is the one (special issue). Saw it at Barnes and Noble.

www.autosport.com/senna/

 

Well said.

The problem with having one thing as your only passion is the idea of stopping that one thing is terrible and you often end up hanging on to it for too long, when you should have instead gone looking for a new passion in life.
Pete

 

Thanks.

 

Very good point Franco, I am just mentioning some of the Hypothesis about what caused the crash, frankly some of the people that I have met in Brazil who knew Senna believe it was a broken steering column.

 

Yes but we do need to remember that not everybody else (other than Hill, who was miles slower at that stage if not always than Senna) was driving the very same unbalanced Williams.

Again Senna was just a human like the rest of us and had already spun off the very same car just the race before. The car was a disgusting PIG and a complete embarrassment to the design team of Williams. Senna was performing miracles in qualifying and by even being able to lead any race at all. While Senna was awesome, you cannot continue to perform miracles every single lap of a race and I watched that race and Senna was right on and over the ragged edge and absolutely hammering that car. He was trying his all to break away from MS, but this was simply not happening. The car was not good enough for him to pull the gap he wanted and so Senna in this pressure situation of no points yet for the season just kept finding more pace from himself. He was never going to finish that race unless MS slowed. I'm not saying he was going to have an accident, but I believe he would have spun or lunched an engine soon. What he needed was the calming voice of a friend, Ron Dennis, down the mic telling him "mate its alright, we all know its the car, you are amazing as usual, even if we bag second we can recover the season from there, time to cool it a bit and think of the race distance", but instead he had Frank Williams and a team that for some completely strange reason (to me) did not rate Senna (heck they were even challenging his setup suggestions). Frank Williams, like Enzo Ferrari, is a complete bastard to his drivers and does not offer them any support whatsoever. I would not say he goes as far as Enzo did by comparing each driver to each other to cause them to try harder, but a driver to Frank is but a driver and not somebody to build a relationship with. Hardly an environment that an emotional Brazilian would survive in, especially somebody that was questioning his passion for the sport.

Anyway nothing we say will change the outcome ... unfortunately.
Pete