On the 1st of May in 1994, Ayrton 'Magic' Senna laid down his life for Grand Prix
On the 1st of May in 1994, Ayrton 'Magic' Senna laid down his life for Grand Prix. In many ways, he is one of the greatest drivers the sport has ever seen.
What makes a sportsman great? One mark of greatness could be the legacy that he leaves behind. Today, even 15 years after his death, Senna is still the man with the greatest number of victories in the Monaco Grand Prix.
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The legend: Aryton Senna with one of his trophies and famous yellow helmet (background) on the cover of a video game by Sega, named after the racer's famous Monaco runs. Racing game enthusiasts can check out Aryton Senna's Super Monaco GP II |
Even the illustrious Michael Schumacher has won only five times here, while Senna has won six times at Monaco. This is one of the things that makes Senna great.
To make the comparison more reasonable, let's also consider another fact Senna was only active for ten years (from 1984 to 1994) but won six times, while Schumacher only won five times at Monaco despite being active for 15 years (from 1991 to 2006). Though Schumacher's victories are more impressive he has won 91 times out of 250 as opposed to Senna, who has won 41 times out of 162 we need to consider Monaco separately because it is one of the most dangerous places to race.
But statistics are just one way of analysing a player. The biggest thing about Grand Prix is that it is an exceedingly dangerous sport as somebody who holds cricket in tolerant contempt once said the difference between cricket and Grand Prix is that you only need one ball for cricket. And Senna is one the greatest sportspersons who was willing to die for the sport that he believed in. As the noted writer Graham Greene once wrote, one proof of a belief is that you are willing to die for it. Death is a form of sincerity. This is one of the things that makes Senna great.
One of Senna's biggest competitors, Alain 'The Professor' Prost, said that Senna was a dangerous madman who drove with the belief that God Himself was his co-pilot and sometime last year, while I broke my left hand's little finger and was forced to chuck my motorbike and instead ride my sister's moped with just my right hand, with my left hand uselessly cocooned in a plaster of Paris cast, I realised that, at one level, this is one belief that keeps you going.
Apart from being a great racer, Senna was also a religious man it's hard to be an atheist in the cockpit of a car that is moving at upward of 200 kmph and in today's day and age, when people donate to charities to get mentioned on page three, he donated millions to children's charities and never spoke about it as long as he lived. This is one of the things that makes Senna great.
