News
28th April 2014, 18:00
In the run-up to the 20th anniversary of Ayrton Senna's passing, we asked those in the current Formula One paddock for their thoughts on the legendary Brazilian driver - some knew him, some worked with him, some even raced against him, while some were barely schoolboys when he died. Here's what they had to say (more quotes will be added throughout the week)...
Martin Brundle, former F1 driver
"Senna was for many a synonym for qualifying. Seeing him on a qualifying lap - either in your mirrors or from the pit wall - was electrifying: his very distinctive helmet colour and his very distinctive style in the car. He had a gift - a sixth sense - for where the grip on the track was. I'd already realised that in F3, because he seemed to already have that understanding before the corner - not in the middle of the corner or after the corner - of where there was going to be grip. He had that special gift of driving a race car - it was natural for him. I raced against him something over 11 years.
"Once in F3 at Silverstone, it was pouring and I was leading into Stowe and he went down on the outside of me. Stowe was a very fast corner back then and he went so fast on the outside that I thought, 'Good, he's crashed I don't have to fight Senna today'. But he went completely around the outside of the corner and came out in front of me and I was really amazed as he must have found some grip out there. That sums up for me the feel that he had.
"But there was also a great paradox about him - something confusing. He could be so aggressive, as I saw in F3 and in F1 - ready to put his car in a position and leave you to decide if you're going to have an accident that day. His mentality was to try psychologically to get ahead of you. But then if a driver was having an accident he was the first guy to run back and help them, whether it was Eric Comas or Martin Donnelly
More... (http://www.formula1.com/news/features/2014/4/15772.html)
Martin Brundle, former F1 driver
"Senna was for many a synonym for qualifying. Seeing him on a qualifying lap - either in your mirrors or from the pit wall - was electrifying: his very distinctive helmet colour and his very distinctive style in the car. He had a gift - a sixth sense - for where the grip on the track was. I'd already realised that in F3, because he seemed to already have that understanding before the corner - not in the middle of the corner or after the corner - of where there was going to be grip. He had that special gift of driving a race car - it was natural for him. I raced against him something over 11 years.
"Once in F3 at Silverstone, it was pouring and I was leading into Stowe and he went down on the outside of me. Stowe was a very fast corner back then and he went so fast on the outside that I thought, 'Good, he's crashed I don't have to fight Senna today'. But he went completely around the outside of the corner and came out in front of me and I was really amazed as he must have found some grip out there. That sums up for me the feel that he had.
"But there was also a great paradox about him - something confusing. He could be so aggressive, as I saw in F3 and in F1 - ready to put his car in a position and leave you to decide if you're going to have an accident that day. His mentality was to try psychologically to get ahead of you. But then if a driver was having an accident he was the first guy to run back and help them, whether it was Eric Comas or Martin Donnelly
More... (http://www.formula1.com/news/features/2014/4/15772.html)