Ayrton Senna is widely regarded as one of the greatest drivers of all time and, in the eyes of many, no one has surpassed his incredible speed and will to win.
The Brazilian made his debut in 1984 and immediately caused a sensation, with a wet masterclass at the Monaco Grand Prix that gave him his first podium finish in his sixth F1 race.
Over the next decade, Senna racked up 41 wins and 80 podium finishes, winning the World Championship three times with McLaren. After his debut season, he never finished lower than fourth in the drivers’ championship, and was twice runner-up to Alain Prost .
Had he not been killed in an accident at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix , Senna would undoubtedly have added to his tally of wins and championships. His move to Williams that year coincided with the British team’s era of dominance, in which it won the constructors’ title five times between 1992 and 1997.
Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost, Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve took the drivers’ crown with Williams in those years: but if Senna had been around, they might not have had the chance.
Twenty-eight years after the Brazilian legend’s death, Motorsport.com takes a look at his F1 results car by car.
1984 – Toleman
TG183B: 4 races
TG184: 11 races, 3 podiums
Ayrton Senna, Toleman TG184-Hart
Senna could hardly have come to F1 with a better resume: he was Formula Ford 1600 champion in 1981, Formula Ford 2000 champion in 1982 and British Formula 3 champion in 1983, winning the Macau Grand Prix that same year.
His junior career earned him a shot at F1 with Toleman in 1984, after the team lost Derek Warwick (he went to Renault) and parted ways with Bruno Giacomelli . The team started the season with the same chassis used the previous year, and Senna scored his first points in that car by finishing sixth at the South African Grand Prix in his second race. Three weeks later, he repeated the feat in Belgium .
The team introduced the updated TG184 after four grands prix, and it was with this car that Senna introduced himself to F1 as the huge driver he was. After qualifying 13th for the Monaco Grand Prix , heavy rain on race day gave the young Brazilian a chance to show off his skill before the eyes of the entire world. As several older drivers spun and crashed, Senna dazzled and battled his way to second place, chasing leader Alain Prost.
Controversially, a red flag stopped the race after 32 laps following Prost’s complaints about track conditions, and Senna passed his slowing-down rival just before the finish line. But the rules determined that the final classification should be based on the previous lap, giving Prost the victory.
The Toleman was a dodgy machine and Senna only finished three other races that season, though two of those were podium finishes at Brands Hatch and Estoril.
1985 – Lotus 97T
7 pole positions, 16 races, 2 wins, 6 podiums
Ayrton Senna, Lotus 97T
Senna signed for Lotus for 1985, earning him a one-race suspension from Toleman for failing to inform the team of the negotiations he was involved in, as required by his contract.
Senna’s first F1 victory came at the Portuguese Grand Prix at Estoril in the second race of the season, and he also took his first pole position the day before. From pole position , Senna built up a sizeable lead from the start, with the gap to second even widening as the heavy rain began to fall.
As Prost had done the year before, Senna signaled from the car that the race should be stopped, but the red flag did not appear and the race continued in dangerous conditions . But as the two-hour limit was exceeded, only 67 of the scheduled 70 laps were completed, and Senna saw the checkered flag more than a minute ahead of Michele Alboreto, with the Ferrari the only driver he did not lap that day. .
Senna’s teammate, Elio de Angelis , won the next race and Senna racked up a number of DNFs throughout the season, but was back on top of the podium at the Belgian Grand Prix. The Brazilian star finished fourth overall that year, in which Prost won his first title.
1986 – Lotus 98T
8 pole positions, 16 races, 2 wins, 8 podiums
Ayrton Senna, Lotus crosses the finish line ahead of Nigel Mansell, Williams FW11
In 1986, Lotus brought Senna to the side of British driver Johnny Dumfries , a fellow Scotsman who was officially invested off-track as Earl of Dumfries and went on to win the 1988 Le Mans 24 Hours.
Despite the Scotsman’s talent, he was no match for the team’s number one, Ayrton Senna. With the Lotus 98T the Brazilian took his first victory of the season at the Spanish Grand Prix in one of the closest finishes in F1 history, and when he added his second in Detroit two months later, he left the United States with the championship lead.
Although the position was promising, five DNFs in the remaining nine races dashed Senna’s aspirations. His 55 points were surpassed by Nelson Piquet, Nigel Mansell and the champion, Prost , while Dumfries only finished in the points twice.
1987 – Lotus 99T
1 pole, 16 races, 2 wins, 8 podiums
Ayrton Senna, Lotus 99t
Renault left F1 at the end of 1986 and Lotus replaced the French firm’s engine with a 1.5-litre turbocharged V6 engine made by Honda . That was the birth of Senna’s successful relationship with the Japanese brand and, with that agreement, Satoru Nakajima replaced Dumfries in the second seat of Lotus. The 99T used electronic active suspension, which gave the car more stability and a higher top speed at the cost of more weight.
Not surprisingly, both of Senna’s victories in 1987 came on street circuits, where the intelligent suspension had a greater impact. Senna’s in Monaco was his first in the Principality, and his triumph at the Detroit Grand Prix at the next round gave him his first consecutive wins.
After Detroit, he was again leading the championship, and was still in contention when two-thirds of the season had been played, but eight podium finishes were not enough to keep pace with champion Piquet .
1988 – McLaren MP4/4
13 pole positions, 16 races, 8 wins, 11 podiums (first world champion title)
Ayrton Senna, McLaren MP4-4 Honda
Senna moved to McLaren in 1988, joining double world champion Alain Prost, who was entering his fifth year with the team. Senna’s arrival from Lotus coincided with Honda ‘s departure from Williams, with whom the Japanese firm had won the previous two constructors’ championships as an engine supplier.
The McLaren-Honda partnership proved unstoppable, with the MP4/4 winning all but one race that season, as well as all but one of the year’s pole positions .
That left Senna and Prost in their own battle for the drivers’ title: the Brazilian won eight races to the Frenchman’s seven, but Prost outscored him more consistently. That would have been enough to give the Frenchman his third world championship, but F1 rules at the time dictated that only a driver’s best 11 results counted for the championship. Thus, Senna added three more points, achieving his first title with one of his best victories at the Japanese Grand Prix .
1989 – McLaren MP4/5
13 pole positions, 16 races, 6 wins, 7 podiums
Alain Prost, McLaren, Ayrton Senna, McLaren
Turbocharged engines were banned in 1989, so Honda provided McLaren with a naturally aspirated 3.5-litre V10 for the new season. Once again designed by Steve Nichols , the MP4/5 ensured that the drivers’ championship was also a civil war between Senna and Prost for the second season in a row.
The car won 10 of 16 races in 1989, with Senna taking six of those victories to Prost’s four. The contentious relationship between the two drivers reached a peak in the middle of the season and, after accusing Honda of favoring Senna, the Frenchman announced his departure to Ferrari for the following year.
Despite taking fewer wins, it was Prost who won the championship: Senna took three of the first four races, but a combination of poor reliability and an accident with Mansell while leading the Portuguese Grand Prix cost the Brazilian dearly.
Prost and Senna then touched in the penultimate race of the year in Japan, in an incident that caused Prost to retire and from which Senna recovered to win. That result would have prolonged the title battle to the end, but the Brazilian was controversially disqualified, making the Frenchman a triple world champion.
1990 – McLaren MP4/5B
10 pole positions, 16 races, 6 wins, 11 podiums (second world champion title)
Ayrton Senna, McLaren MP4-5B Honda
McLaren opted to modify last season’s car rather than completely overhaul it, believing that base would remain competitive despite rivals reducing their performance advantage. Gerhard Berger was brought in to replace Prost, although the Austrian driver was too tall to fit properly into the MP4/5 when he first got the chance to test it.
Among the changes to the MP4/5 were alterations to suspension geometry, updates to the transverse gearbox, redesigned sidepods and radiator ducts, plus a larger fuel cell and a monocoque made from a new material that could better resist impacts and shocks. The windshield design was also changed and a diffuser was added to improve aerodynamics at the rear.
Evolving, rather than revolutionizing, proved to be the right choice, as Senna racked up 10 pole positions and six wins on his way to a second drivers’ title.
Once again, it was Prost who proved to be his main rival, and the duel seemed to drag on to the end, once again with Senna just nine points clear with two races to go. At the penultimate Japanese Grand Prix, Senna only needed Prost to retire to secure the crown, so the Brazilian went after the Frenchman at the first corner.
1991 – McLaren MP4/6
8 pole positions, 16 races, 7 wins, 12 podiums (third world champion title)
Ayrton Senna, McLaren MP4-6 Honda
Honda introduced a new V12 engine for 1991 with an official output of 720 hp. Senna and Berger were unconvinced of the new unit at first, but their fears were put to rest when the Brazilian won the first four races of the championship.
The MP4/6 closely resembled its predecessor, but designer Neal Oatley oversaw significant changes to the chassis, interior, and suspension. The V12 was also a much thirstier car: so much so that Senna ran out of fuel at the British and German Grands Prix, costing him significant points.
Mansell , driving the Williams, narrowed the championship gap midway through the season, but Senna responded from Hungary onwards, securing the title with one race to go. At the penultimate grand prix, in Japan, Senna let team-mate Berger pass him on the final lap to give the Austrian his first victory with McLaren.
McLaren claimed its fourth consecutive constructors’ championship and sixth in eight seasons since 1984.
1992 – McLaren
MP4/6B: 2 races, 1 podium
MP4/7A: 1 pole, 14 races, 3 wins, 6 podiums
Ayrton Senna, McLaren MP4-7A Honda
1992 saw a changing of the guard at the top of F1, as Williams took the lead in his Adrian Newey-designed FW14B. McLaren started the season with a modified version of the previous year’s chassis, but opted to introduce a new platform earlier than planned in a bid to catch up with leader Williams.
The MP4/7A was built around a carbon composite monocoque and featured a semi-automatic transmission that allowed riders to change gear without taking their foot off the accelerator. Despite his innovation, Senna was only able to get three wins all season, while Berger managed two. Both finished fourth and fifth in the drivers’ championship, separated by a single point.
Senna’s victory at the Italian Grand Prix would be his last with a Honda engine up to that point, as the Japanese manufacturer decided to leave F1 at the end of the season.
1993 – McLaren MP4/8
1 pole, 16 races, 5 wins, 7 podiums
Ayrton Senna, McLaren MP4/8 Ford
Following Honda’s departure, McLaren contacted Ford in search of an engine and eventually struck a deal for a lighter, but less powerful 3.5-litre V8 than the Renault V10 used by Williams. McLaren hoped to make up for the power deficit with a series of innovations, so it set about building the most sophisticated car it had ever created.
The MP4/8 featured electronic engine management software , chassis control and telemetry systems designed exclusively for McLaren by TAG Electronic Systems . There was also an electronic control panel in the cabin, while the chassis, suspension and traction control were upgraded.
The advances were impressive, but in the end they were not enough to beat Williams , now led by Prost, Senna’s old rival. To his credit, the Brazilian managed to win five times that year and finished second in the championship, while teammate Michael Andretti managed only one podium finish before being sacked. He was replaced with three races to go by Mika Hakkinen, who would later become McLaren’s next world champion.
1994-Williams FW16
3 poles, 3 races
Ayrton Senna, Williams FW16
Prost rocked F1 at the 1993 Portuguese Grand Prix when he announced he would not defend his newly won fourth world title in 1994. His departure paved the way for Senna to join Williams that season, and on paper It seemed like an unbeatable combination, with the best driver in the most dominant car.
The FW16 evolved from the FW15C that had won the Constructors’ championship the previous year, with minor aerodynamic changes, a revised suspension and an upgraded engine for 1994. However, many of the electronic aids Williams had pioneered, such as Active suspension and traction control were banned in 1994.
The season did not start well for Senna. Although he started from pole in the first two races, he retired from both after incidents and immediately found himself 20 points behind Benetton ‘s Michael Schumacher, who won both grands prix.
At the San Marino Grand Prix, Senna again took pole for the third race of the season, an event that had already been marred by the death of Simtek’s Roland Ratzenberger in the final qualifying session. Despite the tragedy, Senna decided to keep racing, but after seven laps the three-time champion crashed at the Tamburello corner , becoming the second driver to lose his life that weekend.
The season was overshadowed by the events at Imola, and Williams continued with Damon Hill as the de facto team’s benchmark, as reserve driver David Coulthard and Nigel Mansell shared Senna’s vacant seat for the rest of the year.
Although Schumacher won the drivers’ championship, it was Williams who beat Benetton in the constructors’ championship, with the FW16 taking seven wins and a further six podium finishes in 1994.
