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Ayrton Senna Would've Been 62 Years Old Today, His Memory Lives On Forever

Ayrton Senna would have turned 62 years old today. The legendary Brazilian racing driver was born on March 21st, 1960, and went on to become a legend of motorsport, despite tragically losing his life at age 34, on May 1st, 1994. While the latter is Senna Day, or the day when we honor the Brazilian idol, it does not hurt to remember him on his birthday.
Collage of Ayrton Senna moments with McLaren 15 photos
Photo: McLaren
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Senna’s career in open-wheel racing started with Toleman, but he went on to race for Lotus, McLaren, and Williams. During his time in Formula 1, Ayrton Senna won three World Champion titles, all with McLaren.

Despite winning all his titles with McLaren, Ayrton Senna had impressive moments with all the teams he raced with.

It would be an understatement to say that Senna made his mark on the sport, as the FIA decided to implement numerous safety measures in F1 after losing two drivers in the same race weekend, Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna.

The Brazilian legend who inspired numerous existing racing drivers entered 162 Formula 1 races and started 161 of them. The exception was the 1984 San Marino Grand Prix, where a combination of factors, along with a fueling problem, led to a malfunction of his Toleman TG184, which did not allow him to make the grid that race.

Sadly, the San Marino Grand Prix of 1994 was also the other exception in Ayrton Senna’s career, which is a tragic coincidence. During Senna's time at McLaren, the Brazilian racing driver had Alain Prost as his teammate, who shared all the wins with him in their first season together except for a single race.

The rivalry between Senna and Prost is legendary in motorsport, but it only happened on the track. It is a known fact that Ayrton Senna had great respect for all competitors, and this can be seen today in Alain Prost’s stories about the Brazilian champion.

Rubens Barichello, a fellow Brazilian racing driver who is contemporary with Senna, had a crash at the Imola track on the 1994 San Marin Grand Prix during the Friday practice sessions. As Barichello noted, he does not remember his crash.

Instead, Rubinho remembers the first face he saw when he woke up in the medical center right after the wreck. It was Ayrton Senna, who had tears in his eyes. That is the kind of person that Ayrton Senna was, and this is the kind of thing that made him more than the sum of the results of his racing career.



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Editor's note: The photo gallery features several images of Ayrton Senna from his career, as well as memorabilia.

About the author: Sebastian Toma
Sebastian Toma profile photo

Sebastian's love for cars began at a young age. Little did he know that a career would emerge from this passion (and that it would not, sadly, involve being a professional racecar driver). In over fourteen years, he got behind the wheel of several hundred vehicles and in the offices of the most important car publications in his homeland.
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