Ayrton Senna

Twenty-five years ago this week the world lost a motor racing legend, three-time Formula 1 World Champion, Ayrton Senna.

Born on 21 March 1960 in São Paulo, Brazil, Ayrton Senna da Silva cut his racing teeth in the 1981 British Formula Ford championship, aged just 20.

He drove his Van Diemen 1600 to a fifth-place finish during his debut at Brands Hatch in early March, then a week later secured his first podium with a third place at Thruxton. Senna’s first Formula Ford victory came the following week at a soaking wet Brands Hatch; he went on to win 12 out of 19 races that season to take outright victory in the championship.

Senna returned to Britain in 1982, stepping up to the Formula Ford 2000 category. Again he won the two most important championships, the Pace British FF2000 and the European FF2000 Championship, and the following season claimed the British Formula 3 title.

Senna’s Formula 1 career began with the Toleman team just three seasons after his Formula Ford debut and he claimed his first Grand Prix victories with Lotus in 1985. The first of three World Championship titles followed with McLaren in 1988.

Senna would go on to become one of the greatest Formula 1 drivers of all time, with 65 pole positions and  41 wins from 161 starts. His final victory came in the Austrlian Grand Prix in 1993 in a McLaren-Ford. It was his fifth win of the season.

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