Personal memories of Ayrton Senna
05/01/2019
25 years ago today, Ayrton Senna crashed just one day after Roland Ratzenberger. A quarter of a century has passed since "the sun fell from the sky".
The incredibly talented Brazilian racing driver Ayrton Senna had a fatal accident in Imola on May 1, 1994. The Brazilian was not the only one to lose his life on that black F1 weekend; the Austrian debutant in the premier class, Roland Ratzenberger, also fell victim to a technical problem in his Simtek. Both had problems with their cars in the fastest section of the track between the start and the Tosa corner and were unfortunately unable to avoid the accidents due to the high speed.
But that is sad history and we all remember exactly what happened back then. Most people who are now over thirty years old, and not just the die-hard F1 freaks, still remember where they were standing, sitting or lying that Sunday when the news of Senna's death reached them. It felt as if the sun had fallen from the sky at that moment.
He became a legend not only in his native Brazil, but the Japanese also worshipped him like a god. And I would say that the entire globe showed its great sympathy. The name "Senna" alone became a worldwide brand, even for those who had never seen a racing car in action. This is evidenced by the fact that even today, a quarter of a century after the death of the two racing drivers, almost all of the world's leading newspapers have more or less given space to some kind of reminiscence of the tragic Imola weekend of 1994. If there was one racing driver who divided the racing community during his lifetime and reunited it in his death, then it was Ayrton Senna alone.
I would also like to share my favorite Senna memory today: The year was 1991, when the second race of the season after Phoenix (Arizona) took place in Interlagos (Brazil). The then newly founded Senna Foundation (Senna's foundation for needy Brazilian children) invited us to an aperitif in the middle of Sao Paulo.
We were all given invitation cards, which we had to put in a collection box when we entered the room. Little did we know that there was a competition attached to it. Ayrton was there in person and it was an extremely successful evening. However, as we still wanted to go out for dinner, we said goodbye at some point, but at the exit I happened to hear my name clearly over the loudspeaker. My colleagues were just as surprised as I was as to what was going on. So I went back again to find out what was going on.
Ayrton was standing on stage in a suit with his helmet in his hand. I was asked to join him on stage, where he ceremoniously handed me the helmet. My ticket was drawn third. The first prize was an enduro bike, the second a racing bike and I received the helmet signed by him.
For once I was glad not to have won the first prize. However, it was not easy to get this coveted piece, in the national colors of Brazil, safely through Sao Paulo without falling victim to a robbery. We organized a simple, harmless plastic bag and stayed together in the group the whole way.
It wasn't just the helmet that gave me great pleasure; almost more importantly, Senna really knew me from then on. So it happened months later in Montreal, on the Monday after the race in the famous shopping street, the "Rue Catherine", that someone in the queue for coffee suddenly tapped me on the shoulder and said: "Hi Daniel, how are you". It was the man who shaped F1 for many years and is still unforgotten today, a full 25 years later, and will probably always remain so for me, as for many others.
