It’s been 30 years since we lost Ayrton Senna, one of the greatest Formula 1 drivers of all time. Last weekend at Imola, retired F1 driver Sebastian Vettel paid tribute to the Brazilian hero by driving the McLaren MP4/8 (the car Senna took his last win in) at the track where Senna lost his life.
This weekend, the McLaren F1 team will run a full Ayrton Senna livery at the Monaco Grand Prix in tribute to its most successful driver at the iconic race. Senna won in Monaco on a record six occasions, with five of those for McLaren and coming in consecutive years from 1989 to 1993.
McLaren has unveiled a yellow, green and blue livery, mimicking Senna’s helmet design and the colours of the Brazilian flag. Throughout the Monaco race weekend, the entire team will also wear special Senna tribute garments. although the pit crew will remaining unchanged to ensure continuity for the drivers.
Monaco qualifying starts in less than an hour!
This post sure brought tears to my eyes; it is hard to believe it has been 30 years since we lost Senna.
Weirdly enough, during the time when Senna was winning races and World championships, not all of us were in love with him; Senna was so determined, so competitive that some people couldn’t stand the guy, and I must confess I was one of them. I liked Nelson Piquet better because he was a poor guy who made it without the help of money.
But as the years passed, I realized that Piquet was (and still is) some kind of a jerk, and Senna was not only a superb driver but also a very nice guy, deeply involved with charity and all.
Anyway, after Senna died and Barrichelo and Massa left F-One, it seems that the golden age of the Brazilian drivers is definitely over.
When Senna was driving, he was widely criticized for his on-track tactics (not just the famous ones with Prost). He was very aggressive in a way that hadn’t been seen in top tier racing, and there was plenty of criticism of ‘those Brazilians’.
.
Piquet did turn out to be a bit of a jerk (and the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, Junior) but it’s hard not to like a guy who made himself into something from nothing.
.
Once Senna died, he became a saint, and all that criticism of his driving style got swept under the rug of history. And that’s OK because he isn’t able to defend himself. Same thing with Schumi now; nobody talks about Jerez in ’97 anymore.
You summarized it perfectly. Thanks, brother.