Ayrton Senna

Why he matters

Senna was the obsessive perfectionist of his era: a driver who saw qualifying laps as something approaching meditation, who openly described his fastest moments as “going beyond conscious driving.” He won three championships at McLaren during the late-80s rivalry with Alain Prost, the fiercest intra-team feud in F1 history.

His death at Imola on May 1, 1994, at age 34, remains the sport’s worst tragedy of the modern era. The disaster led directly to a quarter-century of safety reform.

How he drove

Wet weather was his element: Monaco 1984, Estoril 1985, Donington 1993 are referenced like religious texts. In qualifying he was incomparable in low-grip conditions; in the race he was a relentless chaser of any car ahead.

Why to remember him

• The 1988 Japanese GP: clinched his first championship from 14th on the grid in the rain.
• Donington 1993: “the lap of the gods,” passing four cars in a wet opening lap.
• His relationship with Brazil. The country mourned for three days after his death. The Senna Foundation, set up by his sister Viviane, funds children’s education across Brazil to this day.