Ayrton Senna

Interesting facts

A devout Christian, he once apologised to Jackie Stewart over a dispute, telling him: 'God won't allow me to live this lie.' His sister Viviane founded the Instituto Ayrton Senna in November 1994, months after his death; it has since channelled tens of millions of dollars into education for Brazilian children. Disqualified from the 1989 Suzuka race after colliding with Prost, he later admitted the move was deliberate: 'it was not how he wanted it to be, but it was how it had to be.' A year later, at the same corner, he intentionally rammed Prost off at the start in revenge, a fact he only confessed publicly in 1991. On 30 April 1994, the day before his own death, he broke down crying on F1 doctor Sid Watkins's shoulder after Roland Ratzenberger's fatal Imola crash; when Watkins urged him to quit, Senna replied, 'there are certain things over which we have no control, I cannot quit, I have to go on.' A furled Austrian flag was found in the wreckage of his fatal crash, he had planned to raise it after the race in tribute to Ratzenberger. His death at Imola triggered the safety reforms that meant no other driver died in a Formula One race until Jules Bianchi in 2014. Around three million people lined the streets of his state funeral in Brazil, and his life and death inspired the acclaimed 2010 documentary 'Senna.' Ayrton Senna made his Formula 1 debut in 1984 and raced until 1994, 11 seasons in total as a Brazilian driver. He won the World Championship 3 times, in 1988, 1990, 1991. He scored a total of 610 championship points over his career.