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Ayrton Senna Da Silva nasce il 21 marzo 1960 nel distretto di Santana nella parte settentrionale di San Paolo, secondogenito di Neide F. Senna e Milton Da Silva. La sua famiglia gode di uno stile di vita superiore alla media delle famiglie brasiliane e Ayrton ricorderà sempre l'importanza della tranquillità, anche economica, e dell'affetto ricevuto per la sua crescita e la sua maturazione umana e sportiva. Sarà sempre molto legato ai genitori, al fratello Leonardo e alla sorella Viviane. Il padre, nella sua officina meccanica, gli costruisce un piccolo go-kart e Ayrton inizia a guidare già all'età di quattro anni.
La sua più grande passione per tutto il periodo della giovinezza diventano proprio i go-kart; impara sia l'arte del meccanico che quella del pilota: molte sue vittorie adolescenziali sono dovute alla profonda conoscenza del suo kart.
Ayrton fa il suo debutto in una gara ufficiale nel 1973 sulla pista di Interlagos: vittoria nella prima corsa. Corre con un casco giallo dipinto da Sid Mosca, inizialmente con una striscia verde alla quale poi aggiunge una banda blu, i colori della bandiera brasiliana, simbolo del suo paese e della sua gente.
Il padre intuisce le potenzialità del ragazzo e lo affida a "Tche", il miglior preparatore disponibile, che ricorda: "Non esistevano altri concorrenti per lui. Gareggiava sempre per vincere. Doveva essere vittoria o niente. Era un individualista, e mirava costantemente alla perfezione. Era attento a ogni dettaglio. Per esempio, non avrebbe mai tollerato una gomma graffiata, tutto doveva essere perfetto."
A soli 17 anni vince il suo primo titolo internazionale.
Ayrton Senna rimane nella storia perchè segnò profondamente il modo di correre in kart, e la sua tecnica è tuttoggi adottata universalmente: da sempre i piloti, nei lunghi rettilinei, bloccano il condotto del carburatore con la mano destra per arricchire la miscela e lubrificare meglio il cilindro con più benzina, poi mettono di nuovo entrambe le mani sul volante per affrontare le curve. Ayrton invece era in grado di farlo anche in curva, sfruttandone i vantaggi in uscita.
Il passo successivo sulla scena internazionale è la partecipazione al campionato del mondo del 1978 a Le Mans in Francia. Al primo test sul circuito Parma-San Pancrazio con i fratelli Parilla, proprietari della famosa fabbrica di motori DAP, situata nella periferia industriale di Milano, Ayrton è più veloce dell'irlandese Terry Fullerton, pilota ufficiale DAP e campione del mondo nel 1973.
Ayrton firma un contratto da secondo pilota, l'inizio di un lungo e leale legame con i fratelli Parilla, che alla fine lo avrebbe deluso, perché non riuscì mai a conquistare il titolo mondiale di categoria.
Ayrton non aveva dubbi, per diventare un pilota di F1 doveva lasciare il Brasile, la sua famiglia, i suoi amici, per trasferirsi nella patria dell'automobilismo: l'Inghilterra. La scelta sulla categoria cadde sulla Formula Ford, eccezionale nel mettere tutti i piloti sullo stesso piano grazie al motore unico. Questa categoria consente ad un giovane pilota di imparare tutto ciò di cui ha bisogno sulle monoposto da competizione e di affinare il controllo della vettura, molto critico a causa della mancanza di appendici aerodinamiche. Fu il primo pilota a vincere entrambi i campionati Townsend Thorensen e RAC al debutto.
Nonostante il successo Ayrton non era felice. Sua moglie Lilian aveva difficoltà a sostenere la pressione delle gare ogni settimana, la famiglia non era felice di averlo lontano da casa, lui stesso non riusciva a adattarsi a quel paese così diverso dal suo caldo Brasile; e in più la stampa brasiliana non mostrava grande interesse per i suoi risultati. Il sostegno della stampa era vitale per ottenere sponsorizzazioni e Ayrton doveva competere con Moreno e Bosel, allora al vertice della Formula 3 e con Nelson Piquet, protagonista in Formula 1.
Con 2 titoli di FFord 2000 in mano, Ayrton Senna ha solo 23 anni quando passa alla Formula 3. E' il 1983 il suo anno: nel campionato inglese stabilisce il record di dieci vittorie nelle prime dieci gare disputate, con nove pole position e restando al comando per 185 giri su 187 totali.
A metà stagione la superiorità dimostrata in pista, il ritmo impossibile che imponeva nei primi giri, i sorpassi all'esterno compiuti con facilità imbarazzante non lasciavano spazio a dubbi, il titolo non poteva che essere suo.
Le porte della Formula 1 da lì a poco si sarebbero finalmente aperte.
Ayrton Senna era il quattordicesimo pilota brasiliano a entrare a far parte del prestigioso mondo della F1. Questo lo caricava di enormi responsabilità, il Brasile aveva già avuto due campioni del mondo, Piquet e Fittipaldi, e lui stesso si era costruito la fama di vincente ovunque.
E' il 1984 e la sua macchina è una Toleman; è un anno di importanti esperienze e di qualche significativa soddisfazione: basti ricordare la splendida gara a Montecarlo sotto la pioggia dove arrivò addirittura a sfiorare la vittoria che, sarebbe senz'altro giunta se l'allora direttore di gara Jacky Ickx, non avesse interrotto la corsa proprio mentre Senna era nel mirino della McLaren di Prost. In quell'anno concluse il mondiale in nona posizione.
L'anno successivo Senna passa alla Lotus-Renault, vettura senz'altro competitiva, ma non ancora a livello delle migliori, tuttavia in quell'anno arrivano le prime due vittorie nel mondiale, la prima sotto l'acqua dell'Estoril in Portogallo, la seconda a Spa in Belgio. Senna rimane alla Lotus fino al 1987 vincendo altre quattro gare (Spagna, Monaco e due volte negli USA) e classificandosi quarto nel nei mondiali 1985, 1986 e terzo nel 1987.
Nel 1988 passa alla McLaren: Senna coglie 8 vittorie e il suo primo titolo mondiale in F1.
Il 1989 è l'anno della grande battaglia con Alain Prost che sfocerà nell'incidente provocato dal pilota francese a Suzuka e che costerà ad Ayrton il titolo mondiale, tolto a tavolino per squalifica. Ayrton si rifà l'anno seguente: sempre a Suzuka avviene un incidente tra la Ferrari di Prost e la McLaren del brasiliano; questa volta il titolo va al brasiliano.
Nel 1991 il suo rivale è Nigel Mansell ma è Ayrton Senna che a fine campionato scriverà per la terza volta il suo nome nell'albo d'oro.
Nel biennio 1992-1993 la McLaren è molto inferiore alla Williams e per Senna non ci sarà possibilità di vincere il mondiale.
Il 1994 segna il passaggio di Ayrton alla Williams: Senna dispone di una monoposto superiore alla concorrenza, ma lo stesso pilota alle prime prove smentisce e sorprende tutti avvertendo di incontrare difficoltà nella gestione della nuova vettura; la scuderia rivale in quell'anno è la Benetton, rappresentata dal giovane talento tedesco Michael Schumacher, che alla fine della stagione sarà campione.
Alle prime tre gare Senna conquista la Pole Position, quasi a ribadire una superiorità indiscussa in qualifica, ma alla prima gara in Brasile finisce in testacoda; nella seconda ad Aida in Adelaide si ritira per un incidente alla partenza.
La terza gara si corre ad Imola, nel GP di San Marino: tutto l'ambiente è già fortemente scosso dalla morte del pilota Roland Ratzenberger avvenuta il giorno precedente durante le prove. Al settimo giro, per la probabile rottura del piantone dello sterzo, Ayrton Senna esce di pista alla curva del Tamburello: lo schianto della sua Williams contro il muretto a 300 chilometri orari è terribile.
Il campione brasiliano viene subito soccorso e portato al vicino ospedale di Bologna in elicottero.
Nonostante lo sforzo dei medici nel tentativo di salvarlo, Senna muore alle 18:30 per le gravi contusioni riportate alla nuca.
E' il 1 maggio 1994.
E' il triste giorno in cui il grande campione, all'età di 34 anni, scompare tragicamente entrando di fatto come un mito e - per il suo talento, la sua serietà e la sua umanità - una leggenda, nella storia dello sport mondiale.
Fonte
Stagioni: 11 (1984-1994)
Mondiali F1 vinti: 3 (1988-1990-1991)
GP Disputati: 162 (161 partenze)
Vittorie: 41
Podi: 80
Pole position: 65
Giri veloci: 19
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Emerson: Ayrton Senna, from the heart
By Emerson Fittipaldi - Posted on Saturday, 23 Nov 2013 10:15 (GMT)
As you read these words, in the lead-up to the 2013 Brazilian Grand Prix, which will be run at my beloved Interlagos, the circuit on which I learned to race as a boy, I find myself thinking of my great friend Ayrton Senna, who was killed nearly 20 years ago and whom I loved and admired in equal measure.
I think of Ayrton whenever I go to Interlagos, not least because it was at Interlagos that I first met him, in 1976, when he was just 16. I was testing my Copersucar Formula 1 car there, and he and his father, Milton, were watching.
Ayrton had been racing his kart on the Interlagos kart track next to the F1 circuit that day, and as usual he had won. He had been winning everything in Brazilian karting recently, and I had therefore heard all about him. I knew his dad, too. Milton was a successful man, who owned factories in and around Sao Paulo.
Milton approached me and asked me for some advice, and I answered straight away. "Get in touch with Ralph Firman," I said. I did not mean Ralph Firman junior, the driver who drove 15 grands prix for Jordan in 2003. No, I meant his father, Ralph Firman senior, who in 1973 founded Van Diemen, the legendarily successful manufacturer of Formula Ford cars based near the Snetterton circuit, in Norfolk (UK), and who had been my mechanic when Jim Russell had invited me to race his Lotus 59 F3 car in the 1969 Guards Trophy at Brands Hatch – my first ever F3 event. I was unclassified in heat one, but I won heat two and I finished third in heat three: not a bad F3 debut.
So I knew Ralph pretty well, and I rated him very high, and I was certain that he would be the right guy for Milton and Ayrton to get in touch with in their efforts to take the next step, namely the all-important stride from Brazil to Europe, the giant leap that I myself had tentatively trailblazed seven years before. It was good advice, by the way: Milton duly contacted Ralph, they did a deal, and Ayrton drove successfully in Van Diemen’s cars for some years, winning the British Formula Ford 1600 Championship in a Van Diemen RF81 in 1981.
But I already knew that Ayrton was special long before he had become a champion of Formula Ford, and for some time I had been meaning to find a way to help him further. In 1980 I got my chance. At the Osterreichring that year I was racing in F1 and Ayrton was racing in the Formula Ford 2000 support race. He was 20 by now, but still very shy. I was in my last year of F1, driving my and my brother Wilson’s own Fittipaldi car.
Anyway, one day that weekend, I walked Ayrton from one end of the Osterreichring pitlane to the other, introducing him to every single team boss. "This young man will be world champion; maybe he’ll be world champion many times," I told them all. Perhaps they thought I was crazy – or, more likely, they thought I was simply offering biased support to a fellow Brazilian – but I knew already that what I was saying was the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
People often ask me who I think was the greatest racing driver of all time, and they frequently suggest that my answer should be Ayrton. It is extremely difficult – maybe impossible – to compare drivers across different eras, which is why I do not really like doing it.
My heroes are guys like Tazio Nuvolari, the so-called ‘flying Mantuan’ of the 1920s and 1930s, whom Ferdinand Porsche once described as "the greatest driver of the past, the present, and the future", and who drove so imperiously for Bugatti, Alfa Romeo, Maserati and finally Auto Union; Achille Varzi, Nuvolari’s great friend and rival, who won more than 30 races for the same four marques during the same period; Rudolph Caracciola, who triumphed in the European Drivers’ Championship (the precursor to the F1 Drivers’ World Championship) for Mercedes-Benz in 1935, 1937 and 1938; Bernd Rosemeyer, who was almost unbeatable for Auto Union at the daunting Nurburgring in the 1930s, once winning there at high speed in thick fog; Juan Manuel Fangio, who took 24 grand prix victories and won five F1 world championships in the 1950s, from only 51 grand prix starts; Jim Clark, who won two world championships and 25 grands prix for Lotus between 1962 and 1968, but finished second in only one grand prix, a telling numerical tribute to his and my future boss Colin Chapman’s incredible win-or-bust culture at Lotus; Jackie Stewart, who won three world championships and 27 grands prix from 99 starts, and whom I would name as the rival I held in highest esteem during my own F1 career; Michael Schumacher, who won 91 grands prix and seven world championships, a magnum opus that may or may not be beaten by Sebastian Vettel, F1’s current megastar, who must also now be ranked with the greats I have just enjoyed listing for you.
Undoubtedly, Ayrton also belongs on that list – and, perhaps because he was a Brazilian, like me, and perhaps because he was my friend, I am happy to name him as, yes, in my opinion the very best of all time.
He was unbelievably good. He is famous for his incredible natural speed, and understandably so, but his prodigious work ethic is often under-rated. He trained assiduously, he was therefore extremely fit, he studied data with his engineers with infinitesimal care, and he thought deeply about his craft. Yes, he had been gifted by God with a sublime ability, but he knew that that alone would not be enough, so he worked on that talent, polished it and perfected it, and that is why I use the term ‘craft’ about his driving rather than ‘skill’ or ‘art’.
Yes, he was skilled; yes, his driving was artistic; but the reason he was so supremely successful was that he was a craftsman in and out of the cockpit, leaving no stone unturned in his efforts to be the best. He suffered to earn his successes, make no mistake about that.
Which was his greatest ever race? I cannot say, but the one that springs most readily to my mind is the 1993 European Grand Prix at Donington (UK). He had qualified his comparatively underpowered Cosworth-engined McLaren MP4-8 only fourth, behind Michael Schumacher’s Benetton B193 in third and the all-conquering Williams FW15Cs of Alain Prost and Damon Hill, who had locked out the front row; but on race day, in torrential rain, Ayrton was untouchable.
The Search for The Perfect Lap
03.11 2013
I watched the race on TV in my house in Miami (USA), and I was utterly mesmerised by Ayrton's first lap. He made a poor start, dropping back to fifth place, but over the next 45 seconds what I saw on my TV screen was pure genius. There is no other word.
If you have never seen it before, type ‘Ayrton Senna’s greatest lap in F1’ into YouTube and prepare to be truly amazed. He found grip where no-one else even knew that it was there to be looked for, and he stormed past Karl Wendlinger (who had pipped him at the start), Schumacher, Hill and Prost, one after another, and was leading the field comfortably by the end of lap one.
The next day I telephoned him. "Ayrton, that was just unbelievable! You’ll never drive another lap quite like that ever in your life!" I told him. In my mind’s ear I can still hear his reaction, an embarrassed but happy chuckle, as I write.
Just over a year later, he was gone. On May 1st 1994, the day he died while leading the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola, I was testing my Penske-Mercedes Indycar at Michigan. I had just begun a flat-out full-tanks run, which consisted of 28 laps of that wonderful super-speedway, where average lap speeds of 230mph-plus were the norm in those fantastic 1000bhp single-seaters. I was focused, pumped, doing what I was put on Earth to do, on the limit, in the zone, happy.
And then my crew chief suddenly came on the radio: "Emmo, come in," he said.
That was a very unusual instruction, especially during a flat-out full-tanks run, so I asked, "Why, is there something wrong with the car?"
"No, no, no, just come in now please," he repeated.
So I backed off, drove down the pitlane, brought the car to a stop in front of the Penske garage, and said, "What’s the matter, guys?"
"Your wife wants to speak to you on the phone," my crew chief said.
I felt a terrible coldness in the pit of my stomach. I assumed that something dreadful must have happened to one of our children – I could think of no other reason why my wife’s call was being treated by the crew as so urgent. So I jumped out of the car and sprinted across the pit apron to the garage, where one of the guys was holding the phone in his extended hand, ready for me to take the handset from him.
"What is it? Is it one of the kids?" I asked my wife.
"No," she said, "it’s Ayrton. He’s been killed at Imola today."
I had no words then. In truth I have no words now, no words at all.
But I will try, now, nearly 20 years later, to express what I felt, then. I felt the most profound sorrow, the most intense sadness. Okay, I knew racing was dangerous, of course I did, but, other than poor Roland Ratzenberger, who had been killed at Imola the day before, F1 had not suffered a fatality since Elio de Angelis had been killed in testing at Paul Ricard in 1986, and no-one had died during a grand prix since Riccardo Paletti had perished in a startline accident in Montreal in 1982.
Moreover, the chassis of 1990s F1 cars were already of super-tough carbonfibre construction, and I guess perhaps we had been lulled into a false sense of security. We expected drivers nonchalantly to climb out of their wrecked cars after even big shunts, and usually they did just that, as indeed they do now. But, as I say, racing is dangerous, in our hearts we knew that then and know it still, and even a driver of Ayrton's brilliance was and always will be powerless to prevent himself being injured in an accident as freakish as the one that befell him at Tamburello corner at Imola in 1994.
I looked at the Penske crew, lined up in sheepish sorrow in the garage at Michigan, and I said, "I can’t continue, guys. Sorry. Not now. Not today."
They understood. Ayrton had tested a Penske-Mercedes Indycar just a year before, so the guys I was standing among knew Ayrton, because they had crewed his test. That helped me. I felt lonely but not alone. Others around me shared my sadness, even if their loss was not as grievous as mine was, coping as I was with the news of the death of a man whom, as I say, I both loved and admired.
I called Roger Penske. "I’ve got to go home, Roger," I said.
"I understand, Emmo," he replied, and I flew back to Miami that evening. On the flight home, I felt numb.
The memory of Ayrton’s funeral, which took place in Sao Paulo a few days later, and which followed three days of national mourning, as ordained by the Brazilian government, will stay with me for ever. Three million grieving Brazilians lined the Sao Paulo streets through which his cortege passed – many of them openly weeping – and I am told that it is still the largest single gathering of mourners in modern times.
I was accorded the honour of being one of Ayrton’s pallbearers – alongside Jackie Stewart, Alain Prost, Gerhard Berger, Damon Hill and Rubens Barrichello. We buried him in the Morumbi cemetery, in Sao Paulo, and on his gravestone is engraved the legend "Nada pode me separar do amor de Deus" ("Nothing can separate me from the love of God").
I have never been able to bring myself to visit his grave since that fateful day.
I loved Ayrton, I admired him, and I was proud of him, too: proud that Brazil had produced such a champion. In 1969 I had arrived in England from Brazil, and I had achieved success relatively quickly, winning F1 world championships in 1972 (for Lotus) and 1974 (for McLaren).
My greatest tracks
20.08 2013
I retired from F1 in 1980, and my ‘Brazilian champion’ mantle was immediately inherited by Nelson Piquet, who won world championships in 1981 and 1983 (both times for Brabham) and in 1987 (for Williams).
And then, no sooner had Nelson’s star begun to fade, than onto the F1 stage had marched the greatest of us all. Ayrton won all his world championships for McLaren, in 1988, 1990 and 1991, and his name and aura will always be synonymous with those superb red-and-white machines.
The result – the legacy – is a culture of Brazilian F1 awareness that I hope will never die. The three of us won eight world championships in just 20 seasons, which is an extremely impressive strike-rate, and my brother Wilson and our friend Carlos Pace, who died in 1977 and after whom the great Interlagos circuit was then named, should also be honoured for their contributions early on. Ditto: Rubens Barrichello and Felipe Massa, who won 11 grands prix apiece, and in Felipe’s case may yet add to that tally; I hope he does.
But, as I say, Ayrton was the greatest of us – and, nearly 20 years after he was taken from us, he is still loved with frenzied devotion in Brazil. And, on race day this weekend, as I walk into Interlagos, and as I wave to the cheering crowd, I will be waving not only for myself but also for Ayrton, who won two grands prix at Interlagos, in 1991 and 1993, both times for McLaren: two of the proudest days of his life.
I feel Ayrton’s presence every day. I pray for him often. One day I know we will meet again.
www.mclaren.com/formula1/blog/emers...from-the-heart/. -
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adepto nel 1° post sarebbe il caso di ampliare il discorso sulle sue annate in F1 visto che è molto meno approfondito degli inizi di carriera nelle formule minori . -
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Guarda io mi son limitato a fare copia incolla, tanto quello che ha fatto lo san tutti, e lo scopo del topic non è poi quello. Magari se trovo qualcosa di più esaustivo lo sostituisco. 
1^ gara
primo punto.
jps vomita
qui contro Terry Fullerton, da Ayrton definito il più forte rivale affrontato.. -
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Il Biechissimo Imperatore che opprime le genti
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- Biechissimo Imperatore del Biechissimo Impero
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- qui, quo, qua
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Which was his greatest ever race? I cannot say, but the one that springs most readily to my mind is the 1993 European Grand Prix at Donington (UK). He had qualified his comparatively underpowered Cosworth-engined McLaren MP4-8 only fourth, behind Michael Schumacher’s Benetton B193 in third and the all-conquering Williams FW15Cs of Alain Prost and Damon Hill, who had locked out the front row; but on race day, in torrential rain, Ayrton was untouchable.
ho come l'impressione che Emmo abbia una definizione un po' strana di pioggia torrenziale. -
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