Aryton Senna: Interesting Insights Into His Character

A friend that Knew Senna personnaly just called me to ask what year did Senna have his fatal accident, 1992, 0r 1994? I could only remember where, Imola, and my feeling when watching the accident on television. So I quickly did some research to determine it was 1994. I continued and found many interesting bits of information about Senna I did not previously know.

For example, I did not know that Ayrton carried with him that day at Imola in his race car, an Austrian flag, which he intended to wave if he won the San Marino GP, in honor of Roland Ratzenberger. RR died in a practica accident the day before. I also forgot that Rubens had a serious accident in Friday practice.

Some very interesting Ayrton Senna quotes:

(1988 qualifying at Monaco): “ ...the last qualifying session. I was already on pole, then by half a second and then one second and I just kept going. Suddenly I was nearly two seconds faster than anybody else, including my team mate with the same car. And suddenly I realised that I was no longer driving the car consciously. I was driving it by a kind of instinct, only I was in a different dimension. It was like I was in a tunnel. Not only the tunnel under the hotel but the whole circuit was a tunnel. I was just going and going, more and more and more and more. I was way over the limit but still able to find even more.
Then suddenly something just kicked me. I kind of woke up and realised that I was in a different atmosphere than you normally are. My immediate reaction was to back off, slow down. I drove slowly back to the pits and I didn't want to go out any more that day. It frightened me because I was well beyond my conscious understanding. It happens rarely but I keep these experiences very much alive inside me because it is something that is important for self-preservation."

(His 1990 Suzuka first turn accident with Prost): "I think what happened in 1989 was unforgivable, and I will never forget it. I still struggle to cope with it even now. You know what took place here: Prost and I crashed at the chicane, when he turned into me. Afterwards, I rejoined the race, and I won it, but they decided against me, and that was not justice. What happened afterwards was... a theatre, but I could not say what I thought. If you do that, you get penalties, you get fined, you lose your licence maybe. Is that a fair way of working? It is not...At Suzuka last year I asked the officials to change pole position from the right side of the track to the left. It was unfair, as it was, because the right side is always dirty, and there is less grip — you sweat to get pole position, and then you are penalised for it. And they said, "Yes, no problem". Then, what happened? Balestre gave an order that it wasn't to be changed. I know how the system works, and I thought this was really s***. So I said to myself, "OK, whatever happens, I'm going to get into the first corner first — I'm not prepared to let the guy (Alain Prost) turn into that corner before me. If I'm near enough to him, he can't turn in front of me — he just has to let me through." I didn't care if we crashed; I went for it. And he took a chance, turned in, and we crashed. It was building up, it was inevitable. It had to happen." So you did cause it then, someone said. "Why did I cause it?" Senna responded. "If you get f***** every time you try to do your job cleanly, within the system, what do you do? Stand back, and say thank you? No way. You should fight for what you think is right. If pole had been on the left, I'd have made it to the first corner in the lead, no problem. That was a bad decision to keep pole on the right, and it was influenced by Balestre. And the result was what happened in the first corner. I contributed to it, but it was not my responsibility".


"Winning is like a drug, I cannot justify in any circumstances coming second or third."

"Being second is to be the first of the ones who lose."

"On a given day, a given circumstance, you think you have a limit. And you then go for this limit and you touch this limit, and you think, 'Okay, this is the limit'. And so you touch this limit, something happens and you suddenly can go a little bit further. With your mind power, your determination, your instinct, and the experience as well, you can fly very high."

"One particular thing that Formula-1 can provide you, is that you know you're always exposed to danger. Danger of getting hurt, danger of dying. This is part of your life, and you either face it in a professional, in a cool manner, or you just drop it, just leave it and don't do it anymore really. And I happen to like too much what I do to just drop it, I can't drop it."

"Racing, competing, it's in my blood. It's part of me, it's part of my life; I have been doing it all my life and it stands out above everything else."

"There are no small accidents on this circuit." - talking about the Imola circuit before the fatal 1994 race.

"It's going to be a season with lots of accidents, and I'll risk saying that we'll be lucky if something really serious doesn't happen." - pre-season 1994.

"I continuously go further and further learning about my own limitations, my body limitation, psychological limitations. It's a way of life for me."

"Of course there are moments that you wonder how long you should be doing it because there are other aspects which are not nice, of this lifestyle. But I just love winning."

"If you have a target in your life, a real target, doesn't matter if you are very poor or rich people, if you work hard and believe in God, you can get the success, success in the life."

"I know that it is impossible to win always. I just hope that defeat doesn't come this weekend."
"I don't know driving in another way which isn't risky. Each one has to improve himself. Each driver has its limit. My limit is a little bit further than other's."

"If I ever happen to have an accident that eventually costs me my life, I hope it is in one go. I would not like to be in a wheelchair. I would not like to be in a hospital suffering from whatever injury it was. If I'm going to live, I want to live fully. Very intensely, because I am an intense person. It would ruin my life if I had to live partially." (January 1994, 4 months prior to his death)




In 2005, Italian singer Cesare Cremonini released a song entitled, "Marmellata #25", and in the chorus he has part of a line that reads in Italian "Ahh! Da quando Senna non corre più... non è più domenica!", which translates to: "Oh! Since Senna doesn't race anymore...it's not Sunday anymore.

(Sad that only after death we discover the important elements of a man's character. I do not wish to know these things about any other driver, I am glad that Schumacher retired. Even though for me, F1 hasn't quite been the same on Sundays since his retirement)

 

I read once that AS was a big believer in visualization as a means of prepapration for a race. He would play and replay all aspects of the race in his mind beforehand, down to the deteriorating tires, pit stops, etc. He would do this several times, hundreds of laps in his head coupled with the many actually in the car on the weekend.

IMO, still the best ever. EVER.

 

Senna was incredible, and these quotes prove it. Had that terrible weekend not occured, history would've been much different. Michael Schumacher, I think, would be tied with Juan Manuel Fangio (spelling?) for 5 world championships, Mika Hakkinen would be a 1 time champion and Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve never. Senna would be the 7 time world champion, with more poles and more victories. Michael Schumacher would be number two all time.

 

He had a ruthless streak his achievements are staggering whichever way you consider them, quite simply the greatest of them all IMO.

 

Ron where's your hair gone ..

 

Exactly.

 

+100

 

Great post about Senna. Let's not spoil this thread by bring in other drivers and get into another one of those "discussions". Just remember what a great driver Senna was and how fortunate we were to have witnessed his greatness. There is little doubt that he was one of the greatest driver to ever sit inside a F1 cockpit.

 

i bought this book on New Year's day i think....

 

Senna was deeply affected by Roland's death. He called his girlfriend in Brazil on that Saturday and told her he wasn't sure if he would even race the next day.

Barrichello had an enormous shunt, ending up in the catch fencing. There was also a problem in the pits that led to a couple of crew members being injured at the start of the race. All I can remember about that day is that the race seemed to have a pall over it even before the start.

F1 has never been the same for me with the loss of Senna.

 

Amazing.
Does anyone know if Senna ever raced GV. ? Its been awhile.
Where do you guys go to get research information. ?

 

Most of those quotes come from a Senna DVD I have but a couple I hadn't heard before. An amazing man, flawed in many ways but that just made him human when sometimes he did superhuman things in a race car.

Senna never raced Gilles Villeneuve (I assume thats who you mean by GV). GV died in 1982 and Senna made his debut in...84 for Toleman I believe.

 

Thanks.

 

I love the fact that you love Senna as he was great. You do however have to look back at the races in a detached way and you will see that he was no better than MS or if even as good. Ok, I'm off to look for the fire extinguisher as the flames are about to come.
The BBC did several comparisons and some are still on Youtube where the showed lap by lap the driving styles and MS always came out ahead. Was it bias on their part? I don’t know.

There are F1 Gods and F1 drivers. IMHO both Senna and MS fall into the former.

 

That's because your first name is Michael! Just kidding, I like what Anthony C. wrote about admiring Senna and not getting into one of those discussions.

 

Ya, what's your point? Actually that is why I ended it the way I did.

 

Fire.

But the doctors said it looks like most of it is growing back.

 

Senna was racing at Zolder in one of the lower formula the weekend Villeneuve died. Would've been great to see those two go wheel to wheel in the rain.

 

there was also that time in '93 where senna was doing a qualy lap (at jerez, I think), came into the pits and said something was wrong with the engine. it didn't sound right to him.
the engineers used their computers to take a look at the engine and came back and said that everything was fine. but senna insisted on having it changed. and they did. the next morning, upon further inspection they noticed a fine hairline crack in one of the engine components (i think it was one of the cylinder heads).

crazy!

 

That was what was incredible about the guy, ask Montezmelo about his thoughts on Senna...

 

It was with reference to your Avatar! glad your on the mend..

 

I think each generation learns from the accumulated knowledge of the previous generations.
The last guy on today's starting grid would whoop the first guy 20 years ago. IMO.
I compare the driver to his peers of the time.
Fangio would not have a chance in one of today's cars not just in terms of technology but in physical traits and driving styles.

 

The guy knew Senna personally, but not the year he died?

Anyway, Ayrton was definitely one of a kind. Whenever we talk about our sports heroes/stars, it's natural to start comparing statistics as some universal measuring stick by which to prove my driver is and always will be better than yours. Today's sports culture has gone stat crazy due in large part to their tangibility, which eliminates the need for understanding nuance. But rather than arguing about whether Fangio was better than Clark or Stewart or Lauda or Villeneuve or Prost or Senna or Schumacher, we should look at who continues to merit discussion over the years. This May, it will have been fourteen years since we lost Ayrton Senna and twenty six since the departure of Gilles Villeneuve. And they are discussed almost as much or more as any current racing driver. And a tragic end doesn't guarantee automatic entry into this club, as the sport has lost legions of champions and potential champions that are always glossed over (Rindt, Hill, Cevert, Peterson, Depailler, DeAngelis, etc.).

So in my opinion, the greatest compliment to a man like Ayrton Senna is the fact that so many of us still care so much about him that we devote time to talking about him. When we do, it makes us feel good. We're re-visiting all those moments and characteristics of his that made him so special. And we feel fortunate to have been there to witness them for ourselves.

 

Jack, I can not remember the year either of my parents died. Some things we do not wish to think about.

As for my friend, every time Senna came to Miami, he stayed at the Grand Bay Hotel. He would then call my friend Nino, the owner of the most popular restaurant in Miami, and Nino would drive over to the hotel, pick up AS, take him back to the restaurant for dinner together, then drive him back to the hotel. Nino's two hero's have been Pele and Senna.

 

Understandable. I jumped a little quickly at that point--my bad. But Pele and Senna are definitely two worthy heroes.