Ayrton Senna facts for kids
Formula One World Championship career | |
---|---|
Nationality | Brazilian |
Active years | 1984 - 1994 |
Teams | Toleman Hart, Lotus, McLaren Honda, Williams |
Entries | 162 |
Championships | 3 (1988, 1990, 1991) |
Wins | 41 |
Podiums | 80 |
Pole positions | 65 |
Fastest laps | 19 |
First entry | 1984 Brazilian Grand Prix |
First win | 1985 Portuguese Grand Prix |
Last win | 1993 Australian Grand Prix |
Last entry | 1994 San Marino Grand Prix |
Ayrton Senna da Silva (March 21, 1960 – May 1, 1994), better known as Ayrton Senna, was a Brazilian Formula 1 driver who won the championship three times, in 1988, 1990 and in 1991. He died in an accident that took place on the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, better known as Imola, in the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix. He is considered by many people to be the most skilled driver in the history of motor racing.
Contents
Life before Formula 1 Racing
Senna was born in São Paulo, a city in Brazil. When he was four years old, he first got into a kart. When he was 13, he entered a karting competition for the first time. A fun fact is that he started his first kart race on pole position. The start places were written on pieces of paper and put in a driver's helmet, and he drew number one. Because he was a lot lighter than the other racers, he was much faster than all of them. He won the South American Kart Championships in 1977 and was runner-up in the World Championship, but he never won it.
In 1981 he raced in the British Formula Ford 1600 championship, and won it as well. He also changed his name to Senna, since da Silva is used a lot in Brazil.
In 1982 Senna won two European championships; the European and the British Formula Ford 2000. After testing with Williams, McLaren, Brabham and Toleman, he got a place within the Toleman team for the 1984 Formula One season.
Into Formula One
The Toleman team was a very small team compared to other famous teams like Williams, McLaren and Brabham. Even though, the team built a car good enough to let Senna impress with his talents. Ayrton Senna scored his first championship point on April 7, 1984 at the South African Grand Prix. Three races later, Senna impressed at the Monaco Grand Prix, where it was raining. Senna started on the 13th position, but right after the race started, he soon was gaining position after position on the track that is known for its small roads. On the 19th lap, he took second place from Niki Lauda and was making up a lot of time to the race leader, Alain Prost. It started to rain harder and the race was stopped on the 31st lap. Even though almost everyone agrees Senna should have won the race, Senna had a result to be proud of. In the rest of the season he would finish third place in two races, the Britisch and the Portuguese Grand Prix. He finished his first year in Formula One racing on a shared 9th position and 13 points, sharing his 9th position with Nigel Mansell.
Senna did not just race in Formula One that year. He also co-drove a Porsche 956 with Henri Pescarolo and Stefan Johansson in the 1000km Nürburgring race. He also raced in a race to celebrate the opening of the new Nürburgring. He won this race.
Ayrton's Years With Lotus
The following year, joined the Lotus team, and many thought he would be able to meet his potential. The other driver for Lotus was Elio De Angelis. Ayrton scored his first of 65 pole positions in his career during the Brazilian Grand Prix, but was not able to win the race. He retired with an electrical problem after 48 laps. He did not had to wait a long time for his first ever victory in Formula 1, however, because he won the next race, the Portuguese Grand Prix starting off from pole position again. He showed his true talent driving in such bad weather which even later champion Alain Prost could not race in (he spun into a wall). The rest of the season was not too good for Senna though. He scored a lot of points but often retired because of mechanical problems. He won the Belgian Grand Prix in another wet race and finished 4th at the end of the season, scoring 38 points total. He also took two first places, two second places, two third places and seven pole positions.
His second season with Lotus, in 1986, was better than his first. The Lotus Car was a lot more reliable. He finished second in the Brazilian Grand Prix, with only Nelson Piquet being faster than Ayrton. He even took the lead in the World Championship standings during the Spanish Grand Prix after managing to keep Nigel Mansell away from stealing the victory. The gap between both drivers was only 14 thousand of a second. He did not have a lot of time to enjoy his lead, however, because his Lotus did not have the reliability Ayrton needed to chase after the title.
Complete Formula One results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Year | Team | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | WDC | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1984 | Toleman Group Motorsport | Toleman TG183B | Hart 1.5 L S4 T | BRA Ret |
RSA 6 |
BEL 6 |
SMR DNQ |
9th | 13 | ||||||||||||
Toleman TG184 | FRA Ret |
MON 2 |
CAN 7 |
DET Ret |
DAL Ret |
GBR 3 |
GER Ret |
AUT Ret |
NED Ret |
ITA |
EUR Ret |
POR 3 |
|||||||||
1985 | John Player Special Team Lotus | Lotus 97T | Renault EF15 1.5 L V6 T | BRA Ret |
POR 1 |
SMR 7 |
MON Ret |
CAN 16 |
DET Ret |
FRA Ret |
GBR 10 |
GER Ret |
AUT 2 |
NED 3 |
ITA 3 |
BEL 1 |
EUR 2 |
RSA Ret |
AUS Ret |
4th | 38 |
1986 | John Player Special Team Lotus | Lotus 98T | Renault EF15 1.5 L V6 T | BRA 2 |
ESP 1 |
SMR Ret |
MON 3 |
BEL 2 |
CAN 5 |
DET 1 |
FRA Ret |
GBR Ret |
GER 2 |
HUN 2 |
AUT Ret |
ITA Ret |
POR 4 |
MEX 3 |
AUS Ret |
4th | 55 |
1987 | Camel Team Lotus Honda | Lotus 99T | Honda EF15B 1.5 L V6 T | BRA Ret |
SMR 2 |
BEL Ret |
MON 1 |
DET 1 |
FRA 4 |
GBR 3 |
GER 3 |
HUN 2 |
AUT 5 |
ITA 2 |
POR 7 |
ESP 5 |
MEX Ret |
JPN 2 |
AUS DSQ |
3rd | 57 |
1988 | Honda Marlboro McLaren | McLaren MP4/4 | Honda RA168E 1.5 L V6 T | BRA DSQ |
SMR 1 |
MON Ret |
MEX 2 |
CAN 1 |
DET 1 |
FRA 2 |
GBR 1 |
GER 1 |
HUN 1 |
BEL 1 |
ITA 10 |
POR 6 |
ESP 4 |
JPN 1 |
AUS 2 |
1st | 90 (94) |
1989 | Honda Marlboro McLaren | McLaren MP4/5 | Honda RA109E 3.5 L V10 | BRA 11 |
SMR 1 |
MON 1 |
MEX 1 |
USA Ret |
CAN 7 |
FRA Ret |
GBR Ret |
GER 1 |
HUN 2 |
BEL 1 |
ITA Ret |
POR Ret |
ESP 1 |
JPN DSQ |
AUS Ret |
2nd | 60 |
1990 | Honda Marlboro McLaren | McLaren MP4/5B | Honda RA100E 3.5 L V10 | USA 1 |
BRA 3 |
SMR Ret |
MON 1 |
CAN 1 |
MEX 20 |
FRA 3 |
GBR 3 |
GER 1 |
HUN 2 |
BEL 1 |
ITA 1 |
POR 2 |
ESP Ret |
JPN Ret |
AUS Ret |
1st | 78 |
1991 | Honda Marlboro McLaren | McLaren MP4/6 | Honda RA121E 3.5 L V12 | USA 1 |
BRA 1 |
SMR 1 |
MON 1 |
CAN Ret |
MEX 3 |
FRA 3 |
GBR 4 |
GER 7 |
HUN 1 |
BEL 1 |
ITA 2 |
POR 2 |
ESP 5 |
JPN 2 |
AUS 1 |
1st | 96 |
1992 | Honda Marlboro McLaren | McLaren MP4/6B | Honda RA122E 3.5 L V12 | RSA 3 |
MEX Ret |
4th | 50 | ||||||||||||||
McLaren MP4/7A | BRA Ret |
ESP 9 |
SMR 3 |
MON 1 |
CAN Ret |
FRA Ret |
GBR Ret |
GER 2 |
HUN 1 |
BEL 5 |
ITA 1 |
POR 3 |
JPN Ret |
AUS Ret |
|||||||
1993 | Marlboro McLaren | McLaren MP4/8 | Ford HBE7 3.5 L V8 | RSA 2 |
BRA 1 |
EUR 1 |
SMR Ret |
ESP 2 |
MON 1 |
CAN 18 |
FRA 4 |
GBR 5 |
GER 4 |
HUN Ret |
BEL 4 |
ITA Ret |
POR Ret |
JPN 1 |
AUS 1 |
2nd | 73 |
1994 | Rothmans Williams Renault | Williams FW16 | Renault RS6 3.5 L V10 | BRA Ret |
PAC Ret |
SMR Ret |
MON |
ESP |
CAN |
FRA |
GBR |
GER |
HUN |
BEL |
ITA |
POR |
EUR |
JPN |
AUS |
NC | 0 |
Images for kids
-
Senna's Toleman TG184 from 1984 on display in the Donington Grand Prix Collection
-
Senna won the saloon exhibition race to celebrate the opening of the new Nürburgring in 1984.
-
Senna driving the Team Lotus 97T at the 1985 European Grand Prix
-
The Lotus 99T raced by Senna in 1987
-
Senna won his first world title in 1988 driving that season's dominant McLaren MP4/4.
-
Alain Prost and victor Ayrton Senna at Grand Prix Molson du Canada at Montreal, Canada, in 1988
-
Senna driving the McLaren MP4/5 in 1989
-
The McLaren MP4/5B raced by Senna in 1990
-
Senna came from the back of the field to finish fourth at the 1993 German Grand Prix at Hockenheim in his McLaren MP4/8.
-
A statue of Ayrton Senna at the Parco delle Acque Minerali by the Tamburello corner of the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Italy
-
A monument dedicated to Senna's Formula 1 racing, located at the entrance of the tunnel under Ibirapuera Park in São Paulo, Brazil
-
Ayrton Senna's statue in Wałbrzych, Poland
See also
In Spanish: Ayrton Senna para niños