Growing Up
Senna grew up in a wealthy family, with his father building him his first kart using a lawnmower engine. It was here that he discovered his love of racing and entered his first competition when he was just 13 years old. His father saw the talent straight away, so helped nurture the boy until he was old enough to take on some seriously tough competitors.
Joining Formula One
Senna wasn’t sure about continuing in motorsport, despite having several karting and single-seater tournament wins under his belt. However, it seemed as though everyone was keen to have him on board and in 1983 he tested for four Formula One teams. He made his debut at the 1984 Brazilian Grand Prix, but it wasn’t the start he had hoped for after he had to retire.
Winning
Luckily, not all was lost for Ayrton Senna. This driver went from strength to strength, winning his first World Championship with Lotus-Renault in 1988. In 1990 and 1991, Senna claimed his second and third World Championship titles before moving to Williams in 1994. According to various polls, he was the most influential Formula One driver of all time.
We definitely lost Artyon Senna too soon – it would have been amazing to see just how many titles he could have got before he retired. However, for the ten years that we did have Senna in the F1, it was one of the greatest decades for motorsport ever.