Ayrton Senna to be remembered in Imola 20 years after his death

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/apr/26/ayrton-senna-remembered-imola-death

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Ayrton Senna never drove for Ferrari, the most passionately supported of all Formula One teams, but in the northern Italian town of Imola, where the great champion perished 20 years ago, they are putting aside such petty prejudices.

Five days of events to mark Senna's death will commence on Wednesday, for the last man to die in a grand prix is remembered like no other.

Senna was one of the three or four greatest drivers in history, and very possibly the finest; his sheer speed, high intelligence, utter dedication, ruthlessness and good looks placed him apart from his rivals, and his early death added lustre to the legend.

The figures are incredible enough – three world championships, 41 wins and 65 poles – but it was the ferocity of his will outside as well as inside the car that separated him from the others in his sport. This was a man who walked away from his wife, his country and his friends in order to devote himself to Formula One.

Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso are not always in agreement, as anyone who worked at McLaren in 2007 would ruefully agree, but in their grief for the loss of their hero they are united.

Sitting beside each other shortly before the last grand prix in Shanghai, Hamilton said: "When I was a kid I had all the books, all the videos ... Ayrton was the driver I looked up to, way before I even started racing.

"He inspired me to be a driver and on the day of his passing, his death was ... it was very difficult for me to show my emotions in my family, so I went off to a quiet place and it was very difficult for several days ... your hero's gone.

"He is an incredible legend. You can still learn things from how he approached racing and how he drove. You like to think that one day you may be recognised as someone that was able to drive similarly to him. He was always my favourite driver."

Alonso said: "It's the same for me. He was an inspiration. I remember some of the races that we could see in the news in Spain, because we didn't have the TV coverage of Formula One.

"I remember I went to school and on my book I didn't have pictures of girls, but I had Ayrton there, and the same in my room. I had a big poster of Ayrton and even my first go-karts were in the colours of Ayrton's McLaren because my father also liked him.

"It was a very sad moment [when he died]. I know there is something happening at Imola in Italy in the next weekends and I intend to be there, just to be close on this unfortunately important day."

He was first known as Ayrton da Silva, then Ayrton Senna da Silva and finally Ayrton Senna. His first F1 team was Toleman, and his aggression – he would drive straight at competitors rather than yield – upset everyone. "I could maybe forgive him if I liked him, but I don't," said one of his rivals, Michele Alboreto.

But Toleman knew exactly how good he was. The engineer Pat Symonds, who is now with Williams, told Christopher Hilton, in Memories of Senna: "There was one area at Dallas where just about everyone hit the wall. He hit it there too. When he got back to the pits he said: 'I just cannot understand how I did that. I was taking it no differently than I had been before. The wall must have moved.'

"We thought: 'Yeah, right, sure the wall's moved.' He was very insistent on this so after the race we went out and had a look. The wall had moved. It was concrete blocks and someone had clipped it, moved it, moved it just a few millimetres – and I mean just a few millimetres – and he had been judging it that perfectly."

His last employer in F1 was Frank Williams, who said: "My abiding memory of Ayrton is not his world-class ability as a racing driver but as an intellectually unbeatable businessman. Throughout the several meetings that took place between me and Ayrton regarding his joining Willams, it became apparent that he arrived for each and every meeting fully prepared on every point for discussion.

"He had prepared in his mind at least three counter moves to every possible counter move by myself. He was gifted with a propensity for extraordinarily clear thinking and an outstanding ability to out-guess, out-think and out-manoeuvre his business opponent."

When the president and CEO of Formula One Management Bernie Ecclestone was asked about the great Brazilian he said: "The trouble with asking for good memories of Ayrton is that I do not have any bad ones. Perhaps my very vivid memories are of his strong opinion, and most of the time he was right."

Back to Hamilton, who said recently: "Sebastian Vettel always runs over the astroturf and over the kerb a little more than he should, going beyond the white line, which you're not actually allowed to do but they let you get away with it.

"In Senna's day, if he went one foot over that kerb, it would be grass and he would spin, and be penalised. He would be right on the limit, rather than over the limit, and I respect that style of driving more.

"Now you can go beyond and get back because modern tracks have run-off areas. They used to be gravel. Hit that, and your car was damaged or stuck. Now you can push beyond, go wide and come back on.

"If I could choose an era, I would love to have driven in Senna's time, 1988, 1989. The cars were dangerous then. When I went around Silverstone in his car, I went flat out and my head felt so exposed. I thought to myself: 'Jeez ... those guys.'"