Difference between revisions of "Ayrton Senna"

Revision as of 17:53, 10 March 2018

Ayrton Senna da Silva (born 21st March, 1960 in São Paulo, Brazil) is a Brazilian former Formula One driver.

Ayrton's nephew, Bruno, also raced in Formula One.

Formula One

1987: Williams

Senna swapped seats with reigning driver's champion Guillaume Gauthier ahead of the 1987 season, with the Frenchman heading in the opposite direction to Lotus. After a single point in Australia, Senna would take a lights-to-flag victory at the San Marino Grand Prix. He'd follow that win up five races later at the French Grand Prix - another race he'd win from pole. From the German Grand Prix onwards, Senna would embark on a record nine straight pole positions - which would stretch until the first race of 1988 - but unfortunately for the Brazilian he was only able to convert the European Grand Prix into a win as he'd retire from ten races in 1987. A frustrating season in terms of reliability meant that Senna announced he would be leaving Williams at the end of 1987.

1988-1989: Ferrari

Senna's frustrations caught the eye of a then-ailing Enzo Ferrari, who saw fit to sign the Brazilian alongside the French star Alain Prost. After finishing his pole streak in San Marino, Senna took another characteristic pole and win at Monaco. Despite the far superior McLaren MP4-4, Senna was able to pick up another two wins in the Soviet Union and Japan as well as another long string of pole positions - with seven in a row between Britain and Belgium. Thankfully for Senna, reliability was less of an issue at Ferrari and he was a frequent podium finisher during this streak of poles - albeit often behind his McLaren rivals Gerhard Berger and Jérémy-Étienne Voeckler. Senna would finish equal on points with third-placed Prost, but it was Prost who would finish ahead of him due to the dropped scores - so Senna finished 1988 in fourth place.

Senna remained alongside Prost in 1989, and took victory in the first two races of the season.

Complete Formula One World Championship Grand Prix Results