This Moment in Time........... (Senna related)

This Moment in Time……………

……exactly 10 years ago 6:40 pm European time/12:40 pm US Eastern Central Time we lost the greatest F1 driver ever to sit behind the wheel of a racecar.

I couldn’t possibly begin to write anything about him that hasn’t already been said a million times or covered to the smallest detail. We will never know exactly what happened despite the millions of pages of material covering all facets of the crash.

I started following F1 around the time Gilles Villeneuve died and mainly rooted for the red cars and whomever was driving them at the time. I didn’t really have a strong feeling for a particular driver as Ferrari was at the time switching drivers nearly every season. No one made a lasting impression upon me.

One thing was for sure I was no fan of the red and white cars of McLaren. I rooted against them with a vengeance. I did however start to notice a young driver named Ayrton Senna driving for the tiny Lotus team. He seemed blazingly quick over a single lap but at times a bit wild. I remembered reading that as a young F3 racer he had bested reigning world champion Keke Rosberg’s best lap time of the day in a Williams at a 40-lap test at Donington a few years earlier. That day said much about how great a potential Ayrton possessed.

Before I got a chance to really become a fan of his he signed with McLaren. Oh well I thought, I would have to pick another driver to root for……maybe Mansell??

As hard I as I tried to root against McLaren and Senna, he mesmerized me with his speed and talent. He won me over half way through the 1988 season and though I became no McLaren fan, I did become a Senna fan. What struck me most was watching his concentration in qualifying. Other drivers were tightening their belts, checking their safety gear, looking good for the camera shots or motioning to the mechanics for this or that.

But when Ayrton got in the car it’s as if everything around him disappeared. He was in a trance and would stare into space with a cold calculated look of such intensity you had to wonder what was going through his mind. He spoke to no one and his eyes didn’t seem to move. I remember one time, I believe it was at Monza, while he was sitting in the car concentrating, a mechanic approached his car. Before he could get to Senna three other mechanics nearly tackled him to keep him from distracting Senna (perhaps a new mechanic?).

The two or three moments etched in my mind, other than Imola, are of course the most famous moments in Senna’s F1 career. His qualifying performance at Monaco in 1988 is the stuff of legends. Against then world champion Alain Prost, whom everyone in F1 at the time would be measured against, Senna in an equal car annihilated Prost by a second and a half, continually besting each lap with a new lap record. It was from this point on, that GP drivers were no longer measured against Prost, but against Senna.

It wasn’t the actual laps that stuck in my mind but that of Ron Dennis laughing uncontrollably on the pit lane wall (Ron has that permanent smirch etched on his face and this was the first time to this day I have ever seen the man laugh).And the reaction of Prost, at the time the best driver and world champion shaking his head in utter disbelief. (See video clip below with this scene).

The other of course is Donnington and the most famous lap in F1 history. Ayrton went from the middle of the grid to the front in less than one lap in the pouring rain and made Prost look like he was missing three gears on his much superior Williams. Senna won the race with ease that day.

My other, less famous moments were Senna’s performances at Spa, most of them in the rain. I remember seeing video footage of Senna and Mansell coming into Eau Rouge. Mansell clearly backing off and struggling with the car, while Senna looked as if he never lifted and drove the car through Eau Rouge with the tail twitching all the way to the top.

The worst part of that fateful weekend at Imola was that I had no one to talk to about this terrible event. I saw the race on TV live in Germany and had flown back to the states that evening, not knowing until I arrived in the States that he had died.

Of course most of my college friends had never heard of him and he was barely mention in the US press. I just remember being stunned more than anything. I hadn’t seen GV’s death and really only started to tune into F1 at the end of 82 season. How could this happen? No one died in F1? Especially not the greatest driver in F1 history?

To get an idea of the scope of sorrow and shock that was felt around the world, just mention the name Dale Earnhardt to any Nascar fan……..now multiply that effect ten times. That was Senna’s impact all over the world.

The ironic thing is what was found in the shattered remains of Senna's car. They discovered a furled Austrian flag. Aryton Senna had intended to dedicate his 42nd Grand Prix victory to Roland Ratzenberger's memory. This says much about the type of person Ayrton was and what he stood for.

Much debate has been made over Schumacher vs. Senna and I am not here to argue who is greater. Ultimately the records books will say Schumacher and it may be hard in a few years time to argue that he isn’t the greatest F1 driver ever, but I still am not convinced.

I think in the end what separates Schumacher and Senna is the way they went about winning. Schumacher is a more calculated driver. He backs off when in the lead to conserve the car. At Suzuka last year he did what was required of him to win the title. He came in 8th and scored the winning point. That was his goal to secure 8th spot. Senna never had any goal other than 1st place.

At Austria, Barrichello handed Schumacher a victory at the last corner. It still baffles me that Schumacher would accept this outcome. It is well documented that Senna couldn’t handle loosing. But I think he would have been appalled to accept a victory from another driver slowing down in the last few laps. I think to someone like Senna that would be a monumental insult. He wanted to win because he was the best, not because someone else wanted to decide the outcome of a race.

Anything less than a hard fought 1st place was never an option for Senna. He wanted to win no matter what the cost and he wasn’t out to just win, he wanted to annihilate people, especially Prost. He had only one speed and it was 100% at the limit, 100% of the time.

Witness his loss to Prost at Monaco in 88 when he crashed while leading the race by a wide margin. Ron Dennis and McLaren told him to back off and he resisted for many laps but finally gave in and two laps later crashed. He didn’t know how to race at 9/10ths, it was totally foreign to him and it cost him a win. It was the last time he would ever back off.

Senna only knew one way to win and second place to him was the same as finishing last or not finishing at all. He didn’t care about scoring points; all he cared about was winning the race! AND he didn’t want to win by a mere 3 seconds; he wanted to lap the entire field.

Senna never smiled on the podium when he garnered a 2nd or 3rd place finish. To him this was an empty result no different than the wayward backmarker coming in 14th.

Schumacher and others may eventually best all your records, but no one will ever match your level of commitment and tenacity on the racetrack and you willingness to never commit anything less than 100% at the limit. There is a saying “Live every day like it’s you last day, because one day it will be…” Senna lived his life this way every day!

Senna probably never heard of Vince Lombardi, but I think they shared a lot in common. As Lombardi once said “Winning isn’t everything, IT’S THE ONLY THING” I think Ayrton would agree.

Some will say that it’s a tragedy that Senna’s fierce determination to win at all costs and his unwillingness to accept defeat may have cost him his life, but I think Senna would rather have died trying to win than live a life of second best. In the end he died doing what he did best, namely driving a grand prix car at 100% maximum in 1st place !!

He led the last lap of his racing career and the last lap of the game of life!!

A few moments ago I said a small prayer for Ayrton and his family. I have this notion that the great man himself, Enzo Ferrari is there as well, and gesturing to Ayrton “….you know its not too late, you can still finish your career up here………. in a FERRARI!”

Farewell my friend you are greatly missed!!

http://flatoutracing.net/movies/cd2/Senna.mpg (Tribute to Senna, author unknown)


http://flatoutracing.net/movies/cd2/mon1988.mpg (Senna’s qualifying lap at Monaco and Dennis and Prost’s reaction)

NOTE: I have limited bandwidth so please right click and download to your computer to replay the video

Regards,

Jon P. Kofod
www.flatoutracing.net
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Senna
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A few more pictures from the BBC
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Martin Brundle ! Senna and Brundle had several run ins during F3.