Question to Longtime F1 fans about Senna?

It is amazing that you have all of the answers that 24 years of investigations and theories have not conclusively determined. Thank you for solving it for the world. Saying Hamilton and Vettel are better says it all.

 

So I saw Senna in the day. Starting in 84 when he was at Toleman then Lotus.

He was spectacular and clean in his Lotus days as he was learning 1400 bhp to control was tough

When he went to McLaren it all changed and the raw aggression came out and he made mistakes

He was very good and has been well liked all his time but the movie has helped him become greater in death then in real life


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I became a Jean Alesi fan at Phoenix in 1990. He passed Senna twice, what audacity!

 

I watched Senna in practice/qualy at Montreal in 1986--in the rain. The car looked about as wieldy as a dragster, his car control was unbelievable.

 

I'm happy to say I was at the Montreal race when Alesi got his only victory. You would have thought he would have gotten a lot more than that.

 

Had he gone to Williams . . .

 

'Makes sense....

 

Normal tifosi logic .... you're just upset you're dead and not driving for Ferrari any more

 

Of course....what was I thinking???

 

Senna when he was in the Lotus was spectacular. he was able to take a mid field car and make it run at the front. in 86 - arguably the season that had cars with the most power ever in F-1 ( current cars are close but at 1500 - 1600 bhp like in 86) he was a true master. He had the habbit of stabbing the throttle mid corner while down shifting to keep boost pressure up, allowing him to use a higher gear on exit and minimizing turbo lag.... it worked well with the Renaults but not as well with Honda in 87.

 

BTW I was at that race as well. in 86 I saw Senna at 6-7 Gp's ... usually I had a FIA pass or Photo Credential, so back then you could literally stand at the side of the track just a couple of feet away from the cars... stand at the entry of Cynges at Paul Ricard on the inside, when they were braking from 200+mph... that is something else. you could smell the brakes and turbo overrun... those were awesome days!

 

lol these turbo era tall tales get taller every year. they never had 1600 HP

 

He absolutely would have. Absolutely. If you read Sid Watkins' book, or any Senna biography (the best one is in Portuguese) you'll see that Ayrton snuck into the Hospital to see Barrichello after his practice accident in Imola, and was very impacted by what Ratzenberger's death. He may have been irritatingly stubborn to get his way in competition, but he had a weird sense of honor which made him respect even those he hated.

I'm Brazilian, and young compared to many of you, but I remember Senna's last few years, and I remember his death and the impact it had on my country. there is a Brazilian GP to this day because of Senna. If he hadn't had the impact he did, we would be out of the F1 playing field looooong ago. Seems inevitable that it will begin to happen after next year.... Anyway, like I said, I'm Brazilian, so the answer to the original question within my context is that he was the most popular Brazilian person ever to have lived, probably. Perhaps only Pelé is more popular, and even still, that is debatable, as surviving ironically makes immortality harder.

 

Wish I could have. I'm sure it was a spectacle.

 

Alain Prost, no question. I like seeing intelligent racing rather than setting up massive collisions and leaving it up to the other drivers to avoid them.

All the best,
Andrew.

 

Crikey, that's a heck of a vision of ayrtons driving style! I'd rather Ayrton, he had better models hanging around the pits with him, and he drove with the force, Luke

 

babe-age and the force.....nice.

 

Alain with lose one of his strongest points wich was to develop a car better than Senna....i would perhaps go with ayrton...

 

Ayrton...it takes 11/10ths driving to make a pass on track and I think Ayrton was far stronger in that category.

 

Not sure how genuinely interested he was in the models.

 

Less competition for me to play with them then!

The other thing is, if you want Alain to slow down, just spray a little water on his visor as he circulates past the pits! Terrified of a spot of rain Alain, too many times he'd be the first in for new tyres in the rain, that's fine, but Ayrton would try to keep going on slicks as long as he could, and it made the difference a lot of times

 

The BMW M12/13 F1 engine with 5.5-6.0 bars boost could push out up to 1400 BHP for qualifying runs, but the engines never lasted more than 10 laps.

In race trim the engines were tuned for a more relaxed 1100 BHP @ 11200 RPM output.

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/motorsport/10793721/Ayrton-Senna-remembered-by-Martin-Brundle.html

I have watched Ayrton live in FF1600/2000/F3 and quite a few F1 races including Donington etc etc.A couple of memories:

I was down at Thruxton one weekend and listened to a him talking to Dick Bennetts about how the car was handling (F3) etc. Detailed would be the understatement of the year,this was just after putting it on pole

Another time i was standing on the grass banking during F3 practice,alongside the braking zone into Becketts.He was in class of his own,you had to see to believe how he handled that car.Hair was standing up on the back of my neck ,i won't even go into recalling the faster corners.

So,there have been some great drivers since him of course,however for me he is still No1.I can't say wether he is more popular or worshipped today.

 

yes those are the numbers I have always heard