Ayrton Senna: Faith, Imola 1994 and the Legacy He Left

First published May 5, 2019.

Ayrton Senna won three Formula One world championships, in 1988, 1990 and 1991, and many still rank him as the fastest driver the sport has seen. He died on 1 May 1994 after crashing at the Tamburello corner during the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola, a day after Austrian driver Roland Ratzenberger was killed in qualifying. Brazil declared three days of national mourning, and crowds estimated in the millions lined the streets of São Paulo for his funeral.

His story is often told through big numbers and bigger legends. Below is what the record supports: the races that shaped him, the faith he spoke about openly, the weekend that ended his life, and the legacy that still carries his name.

Monaco 1988: the mistake that changed him

Born in São Paulo on 21 March 1960, Senna joined McLaren in 1988 as team-mate to Alain Prost, the reigning standard-setter of the sport. At Monaco that May he produced one of the most famous qualifying laps in history, taking pole by 1.427 seconds over Prost. He later likened that lap to an out-of-body experience.

In the race he built a lead of close to a minute. Then, on lap 67, with the win all but certain, he clipped the barrier at Portier and crashed out. He was so shaken that he walked back to his apartment and did not contact the team until late that night. Senna later described the error as the turning point of his season, saying it woke him up psychologically. He went on to win the 1988 title.

A driver who spoke openly about God

Senna grew up in a Catholic family and became more openly religious as his career progressed. He read the Bible, often while travelling, and spoke in interviews about feeling close to God at the wheel. He reportedly said he had a vision of God during the race at Suzuka that clinched his first championship in 1988, a remark that drew both admiration and unease from rivals who worried a driver might believe he was protected.

His faith was personal rather than a performance. His grave in São Paulo carries a line from St Paul's letter to the Romans: "Nada pode me separar do amor de Deus" (Nothing can separate me from the love of God). Whatever readers believe, the comments are best understood as Senna's own experience, not as evidence for or against anything supernatural.

Senna in a Van Diemen Formula Ford car in 1981, the year he raced in British junior single-seaters and won both of the season's Formula Ford 1600 titles in his first year in Europe. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

Interlagos 1991: winning on one gear

For all his success, Senna had never won his home race until 24 March 1991. Starting from pole at Interlagos, he led comfortably until his McLaren's gearbox began to fail. He lost fourth gear, then fifth and third, and for the final laps he was left holding sixth gear through slow corners, nearly stalling several times. Riccardo Patrese, troubled by gearbox problems of his own, finished about three seconds behind.

The effort cost Senna dearly. He suffered muscle cramps and a fever, had to be lifted from his car, and could barely raise the trophy on the podium. The crowd's roar that day remains one of the most emotional moments in Brazilian sport. He went on to claim his third and final world title later that year.

Senna at the 1991 United States Grand Prix in Phoenix, the opening round of his third championship season. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

Safety on his mind

Formula One in the early 1990s was far more dangerous than it is today. In qualifying for the 1990 Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez, Northern Irish driver Martin Donnelly survived a horrific crash in which his Lotus broke apart and he was thrown onto the track. Senna is said to have gone to the scene before returning to his car and taking pole position, a contrast that says much about how drivers of that era coped with fear.

By 1994 Senna was openly concerned about safety. The San Marino Grand Prix weekend began badly: on Friday Rubens Barrichello crashed heavily and was saved partly by the quick work of FIA doctor Sid Watkins. On Saturday, 30 April, Ratzenberger, 33, was killed when a damaged front wing failed at around 314 km/h. On Sunday morning Senna talked with his former rival Prost about reviving the Grand Prix Drivers' Association to campaign for safer racing.

1 May 1994: the crash at Tamburello

The race began with another accident. JJ Lehto's Benetton stalled on the grid and was hit by Pedro Lamy's Lotus; a wheel and debris flew into the grandstand, injuring eight spectators and a police officer. An Opel Vectra safety car, driven by Max Angelelli, led the field for five laps at a slow pace, which is thought to have let the tyres cool and lose pressure.

When racing resumed, Senna set a quick pace with Michael Schumacher close behind. On lap 7 his Williams left the racing line at Tamburello, a fast left-hand curve, at about 309 km/h. Telemetry showed he braked hard, but the car still struck the concrete wall at roughly 211 km/h. Different sources give slightly different speeds. Investigators concluded that the fatal injuries came when the right front wheel and part of the suspension struck his helmet.

Senna in 1988, the year he joined McLaren and won his first world championship. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

Watkins performed an emergency tracheotomy at the trackside before Senna was flown to Maggiore Hospital in Bologna. His death was announced that evening. Italian prosecutors later charged Williams team figures with manslaughter; after years of trials and appeals, Italy's highest court concluded in 2007 that a failure of the modified steering column caused the crash, though no one was punished because the limitation period had passed.

What changed after Imola

The two deaths forced rapid reform. Within weeks, pit lane access was controlled, downforce was cut, cockpit sides were raised, minimum weights increased and the Tamburello curve was turned into a chicane. Over the following years crash tests, stronger survival cells and wheel tethers became standard. No driver died from injuries in a Formula One race for twenty years, until Jules Bianchi crashed at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix.

Mourning, charity and the $400 million claim

Brazil treated Senna's death as a national tragedy. Television schedules were interrupted, more than 200,000 people filed past his coffin as he lay in state, and the government declared three days of mourning. Estimates of the crowd at his funeral on 5 May vary, from more than a million to around three million along the procession route.

Online tributes often claim he gave more than $400 million to charity. No reliable source supports that figure, and it seems to blur his private giving with the later work of the Instituto Ayrton Senna. His family founded the institute in November 1994, led by his sister Viviane, after he had discussed the idea with her shortly before Imola. Focused on education for young Brazilians, it reports having invested around US$80 million in social programmes. That is a remarkable legacy without any need for inflated numbers.

A still credited to footage shared on YouTube. Images of Senna circulated around the world after his death, and his yellow helmet remains one of the most recognised in motor racing.

Sources: Wikipedia: Ayrton Senna; Wikipedia: Death of Ayrton Senna; Wikipedia: Roland Ratzenberger; Wikipedia: 1991 Brazilian Grand Prix; Wikipedia: Instituto Ayrton Senna; PlanetF1: Senna's 1988 Monaco Grand Prix data. Photos via Wikimedia Commons. Story first shared via the Greek site Mixanitouxronou.gr.