Ayrton Senna

Senna's Toleman TG184 from 1984 on display in the Donington Grand Prix Collection

In 1983, Senna tested for Formula One teams Williams, McLaren, Brabham, and Toleman. Peter Warr of Lotus, Ron Dennis of McLaren, and Bernie Ecclestone of Brabham made offers for testing in 1984 and presented long-term contracts that tied Senna to driving later on. During his test for Williams at the 3.149-km (1.957-mi) Donington Park circuit, Senna completed 40 laps and was quicker than the other drivers, including Williams's reigning World Champion Keke Rosberg.[25] Neither Williams or McLaren had a vacancy for the 1984 season.[25] Both Williams boss Frank Williams and McLaren boss Ron Dennis noted that Senna insisted that he got to run their cars before anyone else (other than their regular drivers such as Rosberg) so that he would have the best chance of a good showing by having a fresh car.

Peter Warr actually wanted to replace Nigel Mansell with Senna at Lotus, but their British-based title sponsor, Imperial Tobacco (John Player & Sons), wanted a British driver. Senna, however, was determined to drive that season and certainly on his own terms. Senna's test for Brabham occurred at Circuit Paul Ricard in November 1983. Senna impressed the Brabham team and was linked to their second seat. However, the team's main sponsor, Italian dairy company Parmalat, wanted an Italian driver. Brabham's second car was eventually shared by brothers Teo and Corrado Fabi, while Piquet convinced Ecclestone to sign his friend Roberto Moreno as the test driver.[26][27] Consequently, Senna joined Toleman, a relatively new team, using less competitive Pirelli tyres.[28][29] Venezuelan Johnny Cecotto, a former Grand Prix motorcycle racing world champion, was his teammate.[30] In 1984, Senna hired Nuno Cobra to assess his physical condition due to his concern over his low weight.[13]

Senna made his debut at the Brazilian Grand Prix in Rio de Janeiro, where he qualified 17th, but retired when the Hart 415T turbocharger failed on lap 8.[31] He scored his first World Championship point when he finished 6th in his second race at the South African Grand Prix at Kyalami with severe cramp in his neck and shoulders, and replicated that result two weeks later at the Belgian Grand Prix.[31][32]

A combination of tyre issues and a fuel-pressure problem resulted in his failure to qualify for the San Marino Grand Prix, the only time this happened during his career. Toleman decided not to run both cars during Friday qualifying at Imola due to a dispute with tyre supplier Pirelli (Toleman were in the process of switching from Pirelli to Michelin). Senna then suffered a fuel-pressure problem in the wet Saturday session at Tosa (the furthest point on the circuit from the pits) and did not have enough time for it to be fixed to allow him to make the grid.[33] Senna's best result of the season came at the Monaco Grand Prix, the first wet-weather race of the season. Qualifying 13th on the grid, he made steady progress in climbing through the field, passing Niki Lauda for second on lap 19. He quickly began to cut the gap to race leader Alain Prost, but before he could attack Prost, the race was stopped on lap 31 for safety reasons, as the rain had grown even heavier. At the time the race was stopped, Senna was catching Prost by about 4 seconds per lap (while the Tyrrell-Ford of Stefan Bellof was catching both at the same rate, although he was later disqualified due to weight restrictions broken by Tyrrell).[34]

Senna was renowned throughout his career for his capacity to provide very specific technical details about the performance of his cars and track conditions long before the advent of telemetry; this skill led Senna's first F1 race engineer, Pat Symonds, to regard the Dallas Grand Prix in the United States as the initial highlight of Senna's debut season, instead of Monaco. Symonds recalled in an interview:[35]

The car was reasonably competitive there, so we expected to have a good race, but Ayrton spun early in the race. He then found his way back through the field in a quite effective way and we were looking for a pretty good finish, but then he hit the wall, damaged the rear wheel and the driveshaft and retired, which was a real shame. The real significance of that was that when he came back to the pits he told me what happened and said "I'm sure that the wall moved!" And even though I've heard every excuse every driver has ever made, I certainly hadn't heard of that one! But Ayrton being Ayrton, with his incredible belief in himself, the absolute conviction, he then talked me into going with him after the race to have a look at the place where he had crashed. And he was absolutely right, which was the amazing thing! Dallas being a street circuit, the track was surrounded by concrete blocks and what had happened – we could see it from the tyre marks – was that someone had hit at the far end of the concrete block and that made it swivel slightly, so that the leading edge of the block was standing out by a few millimetres. And he was driving with such precision that those few millimetres were the difference between hitting the wall and not hitting the wall. While I had been, at first, annoyed that we had retired from the race through a driver error, when I saw what had happened, when I saw how he had been driving, that increased my respect for the guy by quite a lot.

Senna won the saloon exhibition race to celebrate the opening of the new Nürburgring in 1984.

That season, Senna took two more podium finishes—third at the British and Portuguese Grands Prix—and placed 9th in the Drivers' Championship with 13 points overall. He did not take part in the Italian Grand Prix after he was suspended by Toleman for being in breach of his contract by entering talks with Lotus for 1985 without informing the Toleman team first. Although Senna did have a £100,000 buyout clause in his contract, the team had to be informed before discussions with another team started.[36][37] Senna became the first driver Lotus had signed not personally chosen by team founder Colin Chapman, who had died in 1982.

At the end of the year, Senna had developed Bell's palsy, possibly from a virus. One side of his face had become completely paralysed, Sid Watkins gave Senna steroids to preserve the possibility of recovery.[38]

1985

Senna driving the Team Lotus 97T at the 1985 European Grand Prix

Senna was partnered in his first year at Lotus-Renault by Italian driver Elio de Angelis. He had dominated testing times at Rio, although he retired with electrical issues during the race weekend. Although the Renault-powered Lotus 97T was quick and nimble, particularly on tight and bumpy circuits and perhaps had the best suspension of any car that year, the car was unreliable and Senna made a few mistakes out of inexperience. At the second round of the season, the Portuguese Grand Prix, Senna took the first pole position of his Formula 1 career. He converted it into his first victory in the race, which was held in very wet conditions, winning by over a minute from Michele Alboreto[39] in the Ferrari and lapping everyone up to and including 3rd placed Patrick Tambay. The race was the first 'Grand Slam' of Senna's career, as he also set the fastest lap of the race. He would later argue it was the best drive of his career,[40] an opinion shared by race engineer Steve Hallam, who recognised Senna's "truly special" talent.[41]

Senna led at the San Marino, Monaco, British and German Grands Prix but retired from all these races either from engine failure or running out of fuel, and he had a huge accident at the French Grand Prix at the Paul Ricard circuit's fastest corner after engine failure in the middle of the corner. He did not finish in the points again until coming second at the Austrian Grand Prix, despite taking pole three more times in the intervening period. (His determination to take pole at the Monaco Grand Prix had infuriated Alboreto and Niki Lauda; Senna had set a fast time early and was accused of deliberately baulking the other drivers by running more laps than necessary, a charge he rejected, though the accusations continued in Canada when drivers accused him of running on the racing line when on his slow down lap forcing others on qualifiers to move off line and lose time).[42] Two more podiums followed in the Netherlands and Italy, before Senna added his second victory in wet-dry conditions, at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium.[43] Senna's relationship with De Angelis soured over the season, as both drivers demanded top driver status within Lotus and, after spending six years at the team, De Angelis departed for Brabham at the end of the year, convinced that Lotus were becoming focused around the Brazilian driver.[44] Senna and De Angelis finished the season 4th and 5th respectively in the driver rankings, separated by five points. In terms of qualifying, however, Senna had begun to establish himself as the quickest in the field: his tally of seven poles that season was far more than that of any of the other drivers (Renault's V6 qualifying engines were reported to be producing over 1,000 bhp (746 kW; 1,014 PS)).[45]

1986

Senna driving the Lotus 98T at the 1986 British Grand Prix

De Angelis was replaced at Lotus by Scotland's Johnny Dumfries after Senna vetoed Derek Warwick from joining the team, saying that Lotus could not run competitive cars for two top drivers at the same time. Senna allegedly pushed for his former flatmate and fellow Brazilian Maurício Gugelmin to join the team as a pure number two driver, but the team's major sponsor John Player & Sons (JPS) insisted on a British driver which led to the signing of Dumfries. Senna later admitted "It was bad, bad. Until then I had a good relationship with Derek."[46] Senna started the season well, coming second in Brazil behind the Williams-Honda of fellow countryman Nelson Piquet, and winning the Spanish Grand Prix by just 0.014s from Piquet's teammate Nigel Mansell in one of the closest finishes in Formula One history to find himself leading the World Championship after two races.[47] Although the 98T was like the 97T which came before it, a quick car with superiority on tight, bumpy circuits but plagued with poor reliability, particularly in the second half of the season it saw him drift behind the Williams pairing of Mansell and Piquet as well as defending and eventual champion, Alain Prost. Nonetheless, Senna was once more the top qualifier with eight poles, with a further six podium finishes included another win at the Detroit Grand Prix, thus finishing the season fourth in the driver's standings again, with a total of 55 points. The 1986 F1 cars were the most powerful cars in history, with Senna's 98T producing over 1,300 bhp (969 kW; 1,318 PS) in qualifying and 850 bhp (634 kW; 862 PS) in the race.[48]

After winning the Detroit Grand Prix from Frenchmen Prost and Jacques Laffite – which took place one day after Brazil was eliminated from the 1986 FIFA World Cup by France - Senna asked a trackside supporter for the Brazilian flag and he drove one lap waving it. Thereafter, he repeated this ritual every time he won a race. During an interview on American television, he used English curse words to express his frustration of having to go into the pits earlier than expected due to a deflating rear tire.[16] Senna also had a brief foray into rallying where he tried out a Vauxhall Nova, a MG Metro 6R4, a Ford Sierra RS Cosworth and a Ford Escort on a stretch of land closed to the public.[49]

1987

The Lotus 99T raced by Senna in 1987

Team Lotus had a new engine deal in 1987, running the same turbocharged Honda V6 engines as Williams had used to win the previous year's Constructors' Championship, and with them came a new teammate, 34-year-old Japanese driver, Satoru Nakajima, who was a test driver employed directly by Honda. The team guaranteed Senna contractually preferential treatment over Nakajima in the allocation of equipment.[50] Senna started the season with mixed fortunes: a podium at the San Marino Grand Prix was tempered by controversy at the following race at Spa-Francorchamps, where he collided with Mansell, and afterward in the pits an irate Mansell grabbed Senna by the throat and had to be restrained by Lotus mechanics.[51][52] Senna then won two races in a row, which helped him take the lead in the World Championship: the ensuing Monaco Grand Prix (the first of his record six victories at the Principality) and the Detroit Grand Prix, his second victory in two years at the angular Michigan street circuit[53] and the first ever for an active suspension F1 car.[54] As the championship progressed, however, it became evident that the Williams cars had the advantage over the rest of the field, the gap between the Honda-engined teams made most obvious at the British Grand Prix, where Mansell and Piquet in the superior Williams cars lapped the Lotuses of Senna and Nakajima who finished 3rd and 4th respectively. Senna became dissatisfied with his chances at Lotus and at Monza it was announced that he would be joining McLaren for 1988.[55] Senna finished the season strongly, coming second in the final two races in Japan and Australia, however post-race scrutineering at the final race found the brake ducts of his Lotus to be wider than permitted by the rules and he was disqualified, bringing his last and most successful season with Lotus to a sour end.[56] Senna was classified third in the final standings, with 57 points, six podium finishes and only one pole position. This season marked a turning point in Senna's career as, throughout the year, he built a deep relationship with Honda, which paid big dividends, as McLaren had secured Williams's supply of Honda's V6 turbo engines for 1988.[57]

Senna won his first world title in 1988 driving that season's dominant McLaren MP4/4.

In 1988, due to the relationship he had built up with Honda throughout the 1987 season with Lotus, and with the approval of McLaren's number-one driver and then-double world champion, Alain Prost, Senna joined the McLaren team.[58] The foundation for a fierce competition between Senna and Prost was laid, culminating in a number of dramatic race incidents between the two over the next five years.[59] However, the experienced pair also quickly realized, despite their personal rivalry, they had to work together, especially in testing, to keep ahead of their main opposition from Ferrari, Williams, Benetton and Lotus.

The Honda RA168E engine, which powered Senna to his first world championship

One notable incident of the year was at the Monaco Grand Prix, where Senna out-qualified Prost by 1.4 seconds and led for most of the race before crashing on lap 67.[60] Instead of returning to the pit lane, Senna was so distressed by his own mistake that he went back to his apartment and did not contact the team until he walked into the pit garage as they were packing up later that night. After team manager Jo Ramirez called him through his Monaco apartment's cleaner hours after he had crashed, Senna was still devastated by his own mistake. As the television cameras had not captured his crash, team boss Ron Dennis did not know what had caused his DNF until then, though Prost speculated that judging from the tyre marks, it appeared as though Senna had clipped the inside barrier at Portier, which pitched him into the outside guard rail. At the Portuguese Grand Prix, Prost made a slightly faster start than Senna, but the Brazilian, as he would a number of times- dived into the fast first corner ahead. Prost responded and went to pass Senna at the end of the first lap. Senna swerved to block Prost, forcing the Frenchman to nearly run into the pit wall at 290 km/h (180 mph). Prost kept his foot down and soon edged Senna into the first corner and started pulling away. Prost, normally a calm individual was angered by Senna's manoeuvre, and the Brazilian got away with a warning from the FIA. At the post-race team debrief, Prost voiced his anger at the move which prompted Senna to apologize to Prost for the incident. Ultimately, the pair won 15 of 16 races in the dominant McLaren MP4/4 in 1988 with Senna coming out on top, winning his first Formula One world championship title by taking eight wins to Prost's seven. Prost scored more points over the season, but had to drop three-second places as only the 11 best scores counted, meaning that Senna bested Prost by 3 points.[61]

Alain Prost and victor Ayrton Senna at Grand Prix Molson du Canada at Montreal, Canada, in 1988

However, the biggest incident of the year happened at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza. With two laps remaining, Senna held a five-second lead over the Ferraris of Gerhard Berger and Michele Alboreto, who were closing in on the McLaren (Prost had earlier retired with a badly misfiring engine). Going into the Rettifilo Chicane, Senna closed on the Williams of Jean-Louis Schlesser (standing in for the unwell Nigel Mansell). Schlesser steered wide, attempting to give Senna room to lap him, losing then regaining control to avoid going into the sand trap, and the two collided; Senna's car was beached on top of a curb and had stalled. Ferrari went on to finish 1–2, the first in an Italian Grand Prix since the death of the team's founder Enzo Ferrari. This proved to be the only race McLaren did not win in 1988.

During the season, Senna rewrote the record books. His eight wins beat the old record of seven jointly held by Jim Clark (1963) and Prost (1984). His 13 pole positions also beat the record of nine held by Nelson Piquet (1984).

Senna driving the McLaren MP4/5 in 1989

The following year, the rivalry between Senna and Prost intensified into numerous battles on the track and a psychological war off it.[62] Some controversy also arose after the French GP press conference when Ron Dennis declared that they found consistent differences between the Honda engines from Prost and Senna in the detriment of Prost.[63] Tension and mistrust between the two drivers increased when Senna overtook Prost at the restart of the San Marino Grand Prix, a move which Prost claimed violated a pre-race agreement (Senna denied the existence of any agreement, though Prost's story was backed up by John Hogan of the team's major sponsor, Marlboro). A discussion between the two drivers and Dennis during a test session at the Pembrey circuit in Wales effectively confirmed to Dennis and the team of Senna and Prost's personal animosity. Senna took an early lead in the championship with victories in San Marino, Monaco, and Mexico. Senna also achieved the feat of leading every lap of those races which was not equalled until Sebastian Vettel in 2012.[64] Senna also managed to win in Germany, Belgium, and Spain. However, unreliability in four consecutive races in Phoenix, Canada, France and Britain, and further unreliability in Italy, together with collisions in Brazil and Portugal, swung the title in Prost's favour.[65]

Prost took the 1989 world title after a collision with Senna at the Suzuka Circuit in Japan, the penultimate race of the season, which Senna needed to win to remain in contention for the title. Prost had managed to leave the grid faster than Senna by removing the gurney flap from his car, which was unbeknownst to Senna.[66] This reduction in aerodynamic downforce made Prost's car faster on the straights, but slower through corners—a clever choice to make it even harder for Senna to pass on a circuit already difficult on which to pass. On lap 46, Senna had finally come next to Prost and attempted a pass on the inside at the tight last chicane. Prost turned right into the upcoming corner, cutting Senna off and tangling wheels with him. The collision caused both McLarens to slide to a standstill into the escape road ahead. Prost abandoned the race at that point, whereas Senna urged marshals for a push-start, which he received, then proceeding with the race after a pit stop to replace the damaged nose on his car. He took the lead from the Benetton of Alessandro Nannini and went on to claim victory, only to be disqualified following a stewards meeting after the race. Senna was disqualified for receiving a push start, cutting the chicane after the collision with Prost, and for crossing into the pit lane entry which was not part of the track.[67][68] A large fine and temporary suspension of his FIA Super License followed in the winter of 1989, and an irate Senna engaged in public criticism with the FIA and its then-president, Jean-Marie Balestre, whom he blamed for his disqualification in Japan. Senna claimed that Balestre had forced the race stewards to disqualify him so his fellow Frenchman Prost could win the championship, though the stewards of the meeting denied that Balestre forced their decision, claiming that he was not present when the decision was made.[69] Senna finished the season second with six wins and one second place. Prost, who could not stand working with Senna in what he felt was a hostile environment, left McLaren for rivals Ferrari for the following year. Prost had burned bridges even with Ron Dennis after a trophy-related incident in Italy.[70]

The McLaren MP4/5B raced by Senna in 1990

In 1990, Senna took a commanding lead in the championship with six wins, two second-places, and three thirds. With Prost gone to Ferrari, he also had a new teammate in Austrian driver and friend Gerhard Berger. Among his victories were the opening round on the wide streets of Phoenix, in which he diced for the lead for several laps with Jean Alesi's Tyrrell before coming out on top, and in Germany, where he fought Benetton driver Alessandro Nannini throughout the race for the win. Senna won six races, including another Monaco win, and as the season reached its final quarter, however, Alain Prost in his Ferrari rose to the challenge with five wins, including a crucial victory in Spain where he and teammate Nigel Mansell finished 1–2 for the Scuderia. Senna had gone out with a damaged radiator, and the gap between Senna and Prost was now reduced to 9 points with two races remaining.[71]

At the penultimate round of the championship in Japan at Suzuka, where Senna and Prost collided the previous year, Senna took pole ahead of Prost. Before qualifying, Senna had sought assurances from the organisers to move pole position left onto the clean side of the racetrack, but after qualifying, FIA president Balestre denied Senna's request, leaving Senna to start on the dirty right side, thus favouring Prost on the left. In addition, as revealed by F1 journalist Maurice Hamilton,[72] the FIA had warned that crossing the yellow line of the pit exit on the right to better position oneself at the first corner would have not been appropriate, further infuriating Senna. At the beginning of the race, Prost pulled ahead of Senna, who immediately tried to repass Prost at the first corner. While Prost turned in, Senna kept his foot on the accelerator and the cars collided at 270 km/h (170 mph) and went off the track, went through the gravel trap and slammed into the tire barrier, making Senna world champion.[73][74]

Following the second championship-deciding collision in two years, Jackie Stewart interviewed Senna at the subsequent race in Australia (where Senna won pole and led for 61 laps before gearbox trouble forced him to slide off into a tyre barrier) and brought up a number of controversial collisions in which Senna had been involved over the last few years, stating that Senna had made more contact with other cars and drivers in the last four years than all the champions before him. An irritated Senna questioned how someone like Stewart, himself a triple world champion, could ask questions like he did, knowing the pressure under which drivers raced and famously said: "Being a racing driver means you are racing with other people, and if you no longer go for a gap that exists, you are no longer a racing driver."[75]

A year later, after taking his third world championship, Senna admitted that he has deliberately crashed into Prost at the previous year's Japanese Grand Prix, and he then explained to the press his actions and motives at Suzuka that year. He maintained that prior to qualifying fastest, he had sought and received assurances from race officials that pole position would be changed to the left, clean side of the track (where the racing line was), only to find this decision reversed by Jean-Marie Balestre after he had taken pole.[76] Senna said that he was not going to accept what he saw as unfair decision-making by Balestre, including his 1989 disqualification and the incorrect pole position in 1990.[77] Senna stated that no matter what happened, he would not yield the corner and that Prost taking his normal racing line would result in an accident. Prost later went on record criticising Senna's actions as "disgusting", saying that he seriously considered retiring from the sport after that incident. During an interview with Eurosport at the Australian Grand Prix Prost revealed that he had seen the Honda engine telemetry at Suzuka and that it showed that Senna had kept his foot absolutely flat through the 4th gear corner when he had hit Prost- Senna had not even taken his foot off the accelerator to change down to 4th for this corner, revealing that Senna had taken Prost out on purpose.[58]

Senna won the season-opening United States GP with the new Honda V12-powered MP4/6.

In 1991, Senna became the youngest ever three-time world champion, taking seven wins and increasing his pole position record to 60 from 127 events. Prost, because of the downturn in performance at Ferrari, the likes of which littered the team's history, was no longer a serious competitor. In preseason testing, Senna made public misgivings about the car's competitiveness with the new Honda V12, stating that the engine was not as powerful as the prior year's V10.[78] Senna won the first four races in Phoenix, Brazil, Imola and Monaco as his rivals struggled to match his pace and reliability. By midseason, Nigel Mansell in the quick Adrian Newey designed Williams-Renault was able to put up a challenge later in the season, having only scored 6 points by the time Senna had 40 points. Before the Mexican Grand Prix, Senna was injured in a jet-skiing accident near São Paulo for which he required stitches on the back of his head. During qualifying for that Grand Prix, he attempted to take the banked 180-degree Peraltada corner (Mexico City circuit's fastest corner) faster than normal, ending up spinning off the track and rolling over the car after crashing into a tyre barrier.[79] At the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, Senna's car had come to a halt on the final lap, but he was not left stranded out on the circuit, as race-winner Mansell pulled over on his parade lap and allowed the Brazilian to ride on the Williams side-pod back to the pits. Senna then had an enormous accident during testing at the very fast Hockenheim circuit in Germany where his car flew 15 feet into the air after a tyre failure, and turned over several times upon coming down onto the track. The car was destroyed and Senna had to spend the night in hospital in nearby Mannheim. But he was able to compete in the German Grand Prix at the forested Hockenheim circuit soon after, but ran out of fuel mere laps before the end. At the Spanish Grand Prix, Senna and Mansell went wheel-to-wheel with only centimetres to spare, at over 320 km/h (200 mph) down the main straight, a race which the Briton eventually won.

Though Senna's consistency, the car's competitiveness, and the Williams' unreliability at the beginning of the season gave him an early advantage, Senna insisted that Honda step up their engine development program and demanded further improvements to the car before it was too late. These modifications, including modifications introduced at Hungary and variable inlet trumpets introduced at Belgium enabled him to make a late-season push, and he won three more races to secure the championship, which was settled in Japan when Mansell (who needed to win), went off at the first corner while running third and beached his Williams in the gravel trap. Senna finished second, handing the victory to teammate Gerhard Berger at the last corner as a thank-you gesture for his support over the season.[80] Senna was planning to move to the Williams team for the 1992 season, but Honda's CEO, Nobuhiko Kawamoto, personally requested that he remain at McLaren-Honda, which Senna did out of a sense of loyalty; in addition to Alain Prost's recommendation Honda had played an important part of bringing Senna with them to McLaren.[81]

That year, as had been the case in 1988 and 1990, Senna won the "International Racing Driver Award" granted by British magazine Autosport annually. The award was presented by Stirling Moss and Senna was interviewed on stage by Formula 1 commentator, Murray Walker. During the interview, Senna confirmed that at the Fédération Internationale du Sport Automobile (FISA) gala dinner in Paris the day before, under the auspices of Jackie Stewart, Senna had given one of his helmets to his renowned foe, Jean-Marie Balestre, because of the sincere atmosphere that presented itself and as an insulting psychological gesture.[82]

Senna won the 1992 Monaco Grand Prix in his McLaren MP4/7A.

In 1992, Senna's determination to win manifested itself in dismay at McLaren's inability to challenge Williams's all-conquering FW14B car.[83] The FW14B, thanks in part to its aerodynamic-enhancing active suspension and powerful Renault V10 engine was much faster than any other car that season. McLaren's new car for the season had several shortcomings. A delay occurred in getting the new MP4/7A model running (it was McLaren's first car with a semi-automatic gearbox and it debuted in the third race of the season, the Brazilian Grand Prix) and in addition to lacking active suspension, the new car suffered from reliability issues and was unpredictable in fast corners, while its Honda V12 engine was no longer the most powerful on the circuit.[84] During practice for the second race of the season in Mexico on a badly maintained and extremely bumpy circuit (thanks to it being located in a geologically active area) Senna and other drivers were heavily critical of, his car hit a bump at one of the circuit's Esses corners that caused a loss of downforce and a hard crash into a concrete retaining wall. He had to be extricated from the car by circuit doctors wearing a neck brace; although he raced the next day, albeit retiring from the race due to gearbox failure. Senna scored wins in Monaco, Hungary, and Italy that year. During qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix, French driver Érik Comas crashed heavily and Senna was the first to arrive at the scene. Senna could hear the stricken car's engine revving at max RPM, and he exited his car and ran across the track to help the Frenchman and shut off the car's screaming engine (which could have blown and started a fire at any moment), disregarding his own safety in an effort to aid a fellow driver. He later visited Comas in the hospital. His actions won universal praise from within Formula One and seemed to soften his hard-nosed image. Senna finished fourth overall in the championship, behind the Williams duo of Mansell and Riccardo Patrese, and Benetton's Michael Schumacher.[85][86]

Senna's relationship with German rising star Michael Schumacher, who was showing exceptional form at every race was never a good one, possibly because Senna saw Schumacher as a threat to his supremacy in F1. At the 1992 Brazilian Grand Prix, Schumacher accused Senna of 'playing around' while attempting to overtake Senna, who had a problem with his engine. At the French Grand Prix, Schumacher collided with Senna, resulting in Senna's retirement. Senna later confronted Schumacher, who admitted responsibility for the accident. At a test session for the German Grand Prix, Senna and Schumacher had a confrontation in the pits, with Senna grabbing Schumacher by the collar and accusing him of endangering him by blocking him on the track.[87]

Questions about Senna's intentions for the upcoming 1993 season lingered throughout 1992, as he did not have a contract with any team by the end of that year. Ferrari had offered him a contract which Senna discussed with Niki Lauda, but decided to decline the offer.[88] He felt the McLaren cars were becoming less competitive than in previous years, especially given Honda's decision to abandon the sport at the end of 1992 due to economic issues and McLaren's lack of active suspension relating to rival Williams.[89]

Given this scenario, Senna secured an IndyCar testing session with the support of compatriot and Penske driver, Emerson Fittipaldi. In December 1992, in fact, Senna visited Firebird International Raceway in Chandler, Arizona near Phoenix in the United States[90] to test a 1992 Penske PC-21 CART Indianapolis car.[91] Unlike the more advanced F1 cars, this IndyCar was powered by a turbo Chevrolet-Ilmor V8, had a traditional transmission with clutch pedal and iron brakes, and was markedly heavier due to its bigger physical size in comparison to a smaller Formula One car; IndyCar teams were run with significantly smaller budgets than F1 teams and did not have to make their own cars. To familiarise himself, Senna initially ran 14 relatively slow laps before completing a further 10 laps on the same tyres and setting a best time of 49.09 seconds. By comparison, Fittipaldi had set a best time of 49.70 seconds, which he later improved to 48.5 seconds, only by using the new 1993 Penske PC-22 at his disposal during this test session.[92] In a 2018 interview, Fittipaldi revealed that Penske boss Roger Penske was ready to enter a third car for Senna to drive at the 1993 Indianapolis 500 - one of the most prestigious and important races in the world and a race that defending champion Mansell was competing at (who had left F1 for CART) - but when McLaren boss Ron Dennis found out it was a very serious deal and he promptly banned Senna from competing at Indianapolis.[93]

Senna won the 1993 European Grand Prix in changing conditions, in what many considered one of the best drives of his career.

For 1993, attempts were made by McLaren boss Ron Dennis to secure a supply of the dominant Renault V10 engines that Williams had found great success with. When these failed, Senna went to Williams himself and sought to take one of their two open rides, as defending champion Nigel Mansell joined the IndyCar Series for 1993 and longtime second driver Riccardo Patrese left to drive at Benetton alongside Michael Schumacher. However, despite Senna going so far as to be willing to forfeit his annual salary just to drive one of Williams' Renaults, this too would fail. Alain Prost was returning to F1 for the first time since the penultimate race of the 1991 season (he had been fired by Ferrari prior to the end of 1991, received a massive severance package as part of a non-compete clause, and took leave for the 1992 season) and filled one of the vacant Williams seats. His contract included a caveat that he had veto power over who he would team with in the other car for 1993; since he still had ill will toward his former McLaren teammate, Prost used that veto to freeze out Senna and force him into what was now a lame-duck season for the Brazilian at McLaren.[94] Faced with this, during the post-race press conference of the 1992 Portuguese Grand Prix at the Estoril Circuit, an infuriated Senna called Prost a coward,[95] leading to some commentators stating that what Prost had done was no different from Senna vetoing Derek Warwick from joining Lotus in 1986, but they did not take into account that Senna's chances of winning the championship were much higher in 1993.[96][97]

By this time, McLaren was forced to take a customer supply of Ford V8 engines, which were two specifications behind that of Ford's then factory team, Benetton.[98] McLaren hoped to make up for the inferior horsepower with mechanical sophistication, including an effective active suspension system – though the system itself proved difficult at times, especially for new teammate Michael Andretti.[99] With this plan, Dennis finally persuaded Senna to stay with McLaren. The Brazilian, however, agreed to do so only for the first race in South Africa, where he would assess whether McLaren's equipment was competitive enough for him to put in a good season. After driving McLaren's 1993 car, the McLaren MP4/8, Senna concluded that the well-balanced new MP4/8 car had surprising potential, albeit with a Ford V8 engine down on power relative to Prost's Renault V10 and less so on the Benetton's factory V8.[100] Senna thus extended his deal with McLaren on a race-by-race basis instead of a full-year contract, ending up staying for the whole of 1993 in any event.[101] Reportedly, this engagement was on a $1 million per race basis[102] and, despite midseason testing with a Lamborghini V12 proved encouraging, with McLaren then signing an engine supply deal with Peugeot for the 1994 season, it all proved insufficient to continue to retain Senna past 1993.

Senna came from the back of the field to finish fourth at the 1993 German Grand Prix at Hockenheim in his McLaren MP4/8.

In the opening race in South Africa, Senna finished in second place after surviving a collision with Schumacher.[103] Senna won in changing conditions in Brazil and Donington. The latter has often been regarded as one of Senna's greatest victories,[104] in the process setting a record for the fastest lap in an F1 race driving through the then speed-unrestricted pit lane. In cold, wet, rainy conditions typical of England in April he was fifth at the first corner and led the race at the end of the first lap going on to lap all but second place in a race where up to seven pit stops were required by some drivers for rain or slick tyres.[105][106] Senna then scored a second-place finish in Spain and a record-breaking sixth win at Monaco, breaking Graham Hill's record of five.[107] After Monaco, the sixth race of the season, Senna unexpectedly led the championship from Prost in the Williams-Renault.[108] As the season progressed, Alain Prost and Damon Hill asserted the superiority of their Williams-Renault cars, while Senna suffered mechanical failures in Imola, Canada, Britain, Hungary, and Portugal, where Prost took his 4th world championship, losing apparently none of the skill he was not able to use during his 1992 sabbatical. Senna won the penultimate race of the season in Japan, which was marked by an incident involving Jordan's rookie Eddie Irvine, twice unlapping himself against Senna. Immediately after the race, Senna angrily stormed into the Jordan team's garage and said to the Irishman "You're driving like a f***ing idiot! You're not a racing driver, you're a f***ing idiot!” before punching him in the side of the head.[109] Following that incident, the stewards gave Senna a two races ban for 1994. However, after a discussion between Senna and the president of the FIA, a compromise was reached by removing the ban, considering the exemplary attitude of Senna towards his fellow drivers.[110] The decision created some polemic back in the day, both amongst drivers and in the press, considering that during all the 1993 season, Prost was under threat of a four-race ban for using words to criticize the president of the FIA, which means that punching a fellow driver in the face was not as bad as criticizing the FIA.[111]

The season concluded in Australia, with Senna's 41st and last F1 career win, as well as the last win for an active-suspension F1 car (ironically, Senna had the first victory for a car with this technology in Monaco 1987). The win in Adelaide was an emotional one due to Senna ending his successful career with McLaren and defeating his biggest rival, Prost, for the last time. Because of the Frenchman's imminent retirement from the sport, Senna surprised the F1 community by openly welcoming Prost on the top step of the podium, which many considered a sign of pacification between the duo. Overall, Senna finished the championship second to Prost.[99][112]

The Williams FW16 was the last F1 car raced by Senna.

For 1994, Senna was able to finally join the Williams team after Prost retired[113] and was reportedly paid a $20 million salary.[114] Senna was assigned car number 2, with teammate Damon Hill running car number 0 due to Prost, who would have been assigned number 1 had he returned, retiring. With Senna's arrival, a new sponsor came as well. Rothmans International came aboard as the primary backer for Williams, with Senna being one of their first drivers in the familiar white and navy livery.

Rule changes for 1994 had banned active suspension, traction control, and ABS. During preseason testing, the new Williams FW16 car exhibited none of the superiority of the FW15C and FW14B cars that preceded it, and Senna found himself in close running with the Benetton B194 of Michael Schumacher. Senna expressed his discomfort with the handling of his car, stating, "I have a very negative feeling about driving the car and driving it on the limit and so on ... Some of that is down to the lack of electronic change. Also, the car has its own characteristics which I'm not fully confident in yet."[115] Senna further added, "It's going to be a season with lots of accidents, and I'll risk saying that we'll be lucky if something really serious doesn't happen."[116]

The first race of the season was at Interlagos in Brazil, where Senna took pole position. He took an early lead, but Schumacher's Benetton was never far behind. Schumacher took the race lead after passing Senna in the pits. While trying for a win, he pushed too hard and spun the car coming out of Junção corner on lap 56, stalling it and retiring from the race.[113] The second race was the inaugural Pacific Grand Prix at Aida, where Senna again placed the car on the pole. However, after being beaten to the first corner by second-qualifier Schumacher, he was hit from behind in the first corner by Mika Häkkinen and his race came to a definitive end when, while spinning backwards into the first corner's gravel trap, the Ferrari driven by Nicola Larini T-boned the Williams. Both drivers retired with front-suspension damage. Hill also retired with transmission problems, while Schumacher took the victory again.[117]

It was Senna's worst start to a Formula One season, failing to finish or score points in the first two races, despite taking pole position both times. Schumacher was leading Senna in the Drivers' Championship by 20 points.[118] In occasion of the 20th anniversary of Senna's death, Ferrari president Luca Cordero di Montezemolo revealed that, on 27 April 1994, he had held discussions at his home in Bologna with Senna about a future Ferrari engagement.[119]

The 1994 season was the subject of sweeping rule changes, most notably banning the use of electronic "driver aids" such as active suspension, anti-lock brakes, traction control and launch control. From the start, suspicion of foul play mainly involving the Benetton team was said to have troubled Senna. For example, instead of returning to the pit area after his first lap retirement at the Pacific Grand Prix, Senna opted to stand near the first corner and watch the cars complete the race to see if he could detect whether any now banned traction control system was being used.[120] He returned to the Williams box after the race suspicious that the Benetton car was illegal.[121] Indeed, in an interview for the 20th anniversary of Ayrton Senna's death, his then teammate, Damon Hill, revealed that Senna had "concluded that there was, what he regarded, as unusual noises from the engine" with "special tweak" giving Benetton an advantage.[122]

The season ended at the Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide, where the first-corner chicane at the Adelaide Street Circuit was renamed the "Senna Chicane". Schumacher went on to win the driver's world championship title controversially after a collision that forced his retirement and that of his rival, and Senna's teammate, Damon Hill. At the official FIA conference after the race, the German dedicated his title to Senna.[123]

Ayrton Senna's resting place at the Morumbi cemetery in São Paulo, with an inscription in Portuguese that reads "Nothing can separate me from the love of God"

Senna's death was considered by many of his Brazilian fans to be a national tragedy, and the Government of Brazil declared three days of national mourning. The Italian Air Force offered to fly the coffin back to Brazil, but the Senna family wished that it return home in a Brazilian plane. Contrary to airline policy and out of respect, Senna's coffin was allowed to be flown back to his home country in the passenger cabin of a VARIG McDonnell-Douglas MD-11 airliner, accompanied by his distraught younger brother, Leonardo, and close friends. The plane was escorted by fighter jets into São Paulo–Guarulhos International Airport on 4 May 1994, where it was met by the Mayor of São Paulo, Paulo Maluf, and the state's governor, Luiz Antônio Fleury. The coffin was carried by soldiers from the Air Force Police to a fire engine, where eight cadets from the Military Police Academy mounted guard as it carried the coffin on the 20-mile (32.2 km) journey into the city. Leading the motorcade were 17 police motorbikes, and 2,500 policemen lined the route to keep the crowds at bay.[134]

An estimated three million people flocked to the streets of Senna's hometown of São Paulo to offer him their salute. This is widely accepted as the largest recorded gathering of mourners in modern times.[135] Over 200,000 people filed past as his body lay in state at the Legislative Assembly building in Ibirapuera Park. After the public viewing, a 21-gun salute was fired by the 2nd Artillery Brigade and seven Brazilian Air Force jets flew in a diamond formation as the funeral procession made its way to Morumbi Cemetery. Many prominent motor-racing figures attended Senna's state funeral, which took place on 5 May, such as team managers Ken Tyrrell, Peter Collins, Ron Dennis, and Frank Williams, and driver Jackie Stewart. The pallbearers included drivers: Gerhard Berger, Michele Alboreto, Alain Prost, Thierry Boutsen, Damon Hill, Rubens Barrichello, Roberto Moreno, Derek Warwick, Maurício Gugelmin, Hans Stuck, Johnny Herbert, Pedro Lamy, Maurizio Sala, Raul Boesel, Emerson Fittipaldi, Wilson Fittipaldi, and Christian Fittipaldi. Neither Sid Watkins nor Jo Ramírez, the McLaren team coordinator, could bear to attend because they were so grief-stricken. Senna's family did not allow FOM president Bernie Ecclestone, a friend of Senna's, to attend the ceremony, after an altercation between Ecclestone and Senna's brother Leonardo at Imola regarding Ecclestone's misconstrued reaction to the news of Ayrton's death and the fact that the race had not been abandoned after his accident.[136] FIA President Max Mosley instead attended the funeral of Ratzenberger on 7 May, in Salzburg, Austria.[137] Mosley said in a press conference 10 years later, "I went to his funeral because everyone went to Senna's. I thought it was important that somebody went to his."[138] Senna's grave bears the epitaph "Nada pode me separar do amor de Deus", which means "Nothing can separate me from the love of God" (a reference to Romans 8:38–39).[139]

A testament to the adulation he inspired among fans worldwide was the scene at the Tokyo headquarters of Honda, where McLaren-Honda cars were typically displayed after each race. Upon his death, so many floral tributes were received, they overwhelmed the large exhibition lobby.[140] This was despite the fact Senna no longer drove for a Honda-powered team. Senna had a special relationship with company founder Soichiro Honda[141] and was beloved in Japan, where he achieved a near-mythic status.[142] For the next race at Monaco, the FIA decided to leave the first two grid positions empty and painted them with the colours of the Brazilian and the Austrian flags, to honour Senna and Ratzenberger.[143]

Italian law requires that accidents resulting in a fatality must be investigated for any criminal culpability, with the associated scene of the accident secured and the activities that led to the fatality, suspended forthwith. Senna's death was thus the subject of criminal proceedings in Italy, which saw key Williams team members investigated and charged with manslaughter. The original trial in 1997 concluded with acquittals on the grounds that the prosecution had failed to prove its case.[144] This prosecution culminated with verdict no. 15050 handed down by the Italian Supreme Court of Cassation on 13 April 2007, which stated: "It has been determined that the accident was caused by a steering column failure. This failure was caused by badly designed and badly executed modifications. The responsibility of this falls on Patrick Head, culpable of omitted control". Head, however, was never arrested because the Italian statute of limitation for manslaughter is 7 years and 6 months, and the final verdict was pronounced 13 years after the accident.[145]

The criminal charges focused on the car's steering column, which was found to have sheared off at a point where a modification had been made. The prosecution alleged that the column had failed, causing the accident, and the Williams team conceded to this failure, but only as caused by the impact at the Tamburello corner. Senna had not liked the position of his FW16's steering wheel relative to the seating position and had asked for the former to be changed. Head and Adrian Newey satisfied Senna's request by having the existing column cut and extended with a smaller-diameter piece of tubing, which was welded together with reinforcing plates. The modification was carried out in this manner as there was no time to manufacture a new longer steering column in time for the race.[146]

Bruno Senna's helmet design is an adaptation of his uncle's (seen here parading the 1985 Lotus 97T at the 2010 Japanese Grand Prix).

His nephew Bruno wore a modified version of his helmet design (a yellow helmet with a green and blue stripe) during his Formula One career, but the stripes are shaped after an S rather than being straight, under the chin area it has a green stripe, and it has a blue rounded rectangle in the top area. Bruno sported a modified helmet design for the final three races of the 2011 season to honour the 20th anniversary of Ayrton winning his last world championship.[246]

At the 1995 Brazilian Grand Prix, Rubens Barrichello incorporated part of Senna's helmet design into his own.[247] For the 2011 Brazilian Grand Prix, another variant of Senna's helmet was used by Lewis Hamilton and by Barrichello too. Hamilton used the design with permission from Senna's sister Viviane and the helmet was later sold in support of the IAS.[248] At the 2015 Brazilian Grand Prix, Hamilton again varied his helmet design (this time, the rear only given FIA restrictions on design changes in force from 2015) accompanied with a Twitter announcement stating "Just for you, Brazil!! A tribute to the greatest".[249]

Outside of motor racing, Brazilian cyclist Murilo Fischer wore a helmet based on Senna's helmet colour scheme of yellow with green and blue stripes on stage 11 of the 2015 Giro d'Italia, which finished on the Imola circuit.[250]

For the 2020 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola, Pierre Gasly wore a special helmet with Senna's colours and the Senna Sempre (Senna Forever) badging on top.

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

^‡ Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed.
^† Driver did not finish the Grand Prix, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Senna holds these Formula One records: