Ayrton Senna |
|---|
|
| Topic Navigation |
|---|
|
Wikipedia: Ayrton Senna
Page Sections Biography Reference Desk Article Index |
Died: 1 May 1994 in Bologna, Italy 
due to accident at the Italian Grand Prix
Biography
The following section is an excerpt from Wikipedia's Ayrton Senna page on 1 August 2016, text available via the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Ayrton Senna da Silva was a Brazilian racing driver who won three Formula One world championships for McLaren in 1988, 1990 and 1991 and is regarded as one of the greatest Formula One drivers of all time. He was killed in an accident while leading the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix for Williams.
Senna began his motorsport career in karting, moving up to open-wheel racing in 1981, and winning the British Formula 3 championship in 1983. He made his Formula One debut with Toleman-Hart in 1984 before moving to Lotus-Renault the following year and winning six Grands Prix over the next three seasons. In 1988, he joined Frenchman Alain Prost at McLaren-Honda. Between them, they won all but one of the 16 Grands Prix that year and Senna claimed his first World Championship. Prost claimed the championship in 1989, and Senna his second and third championships in 1990 and 1991. In 1992, the Williams-Renault combination began to dominate Formula One. Senna nonetheless managed to finish the 1993 season as runner-up, winning five races and negotiating a move to Williams in 1994.
Senna has often been voted as the best and most influential Formula One driver of all time in various motorsport polls. He was recognised for his qualifying speed over one lap and from 1989 until 2006 held the record for most pole positions. He was also acclaimed for his wet weather performances, such as the 1984 Monaco Grand Prix, the 1985 Portuguese Grand Prix, and the 1993 European Grand Prix. He holds a record six victories at the Monaco Grand Prix, and is the fifth-most successful driver of all time in terms of race wins. Senna courted controversy throughout his career, particularly during his turbulent rivalry with Prost. In the Japanese Grands Prix of 1989 and 1990, each of which decided the championship of that year, collisions between Senna and Prost determined the eventual winner.
Reference Desk
The Crittenden Automotive Library's "Reference Desk" is a collection of materials that cannot be shared due to copyright restrictions. Information from these resources, however, can be shared. Go to the Reference Desk page for more information.
| Type | Title |
|---|---|
1991  Book | Ayrton Senna: The Hard Edge of Genius by Christopher Hilton; Corgi Books |
| Date | Article | Author/Source |
|---|---|---|
| 21 March 2005 | Ayrton Senna wäre 45 geworden  | Wikinews |
| 3 February 2013 | Mansell v Senna GIF. Yes, it's THAT overtake  | Matt Hubbard, Speedmonkey |