Ayrton Senna will always be remembered for his successes with McLaren, a team with which he won his three world titles in the highest category of motorsport.
After the Brazilian’s death at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, the Williams team, for which he was racing at the time, continued to carry his name and the famous Senna-S on the nose of their car.
However, before the 2022 season, Williams decided to remove the Senna brand from its car.
Referring to it, team principal Jost Capito said that the team’s new owners wanted to go ahead and change the way they honored the Brazilian.
“The decision was that we want to move forward in the future,” Capito said.
“We have a new era, we have a new car. And we have also reformed our museum, where we have a special area dedicated to Ayrton.”
“I think we have to look to the future now and not show the drivers the ‘S’ every time they get in the car so they remember what happened.
“The time has come for the team to move on and continue to be very honored with Senna, but not as before, but with a space very dedicated to him in our museum.”
Once landed in Monaco, McLaren wanted to continue to honor the Senna name by adding his logo to the side of the MCL36’s halo.
In a short video released by the team on Friday morning, the Woking team paid tribute to Senna, making it clear that they were delighted to have his name on the car.
“We are honored to carry Ayrton Senna ‘s name from the Monaco GP onwards,” he said. “His courage, commitment and ingenuity continue to set the standard for our team to this day.”
The placement of Senna’s name on the papaya team car is fully supported by the Senna Foundation charity.
McLaren CEO Zak Brown said: “I can’t think of a better race than the Monaco Grand Prix to begin with this recognition of Ayrton’s life. Having won this race six times, more than any other driver, Ayrton showed that his skill behind the wheel of an F1 car was very difficult to match.”
“This tribute to our F1 cars will be permanent, and has been done with the support of the Senna family. It will serve as a constant reminder of the sensational talent that Ayrton Senna was and his importance to us as a team and to all of our fans.” .
Senna was with McLaren from 1988 to 1993, winning the 1988, 1990 and 1991 titles. He won 35 races in his 96 appearances for the Woking outfit, taking his last Formula 1 win at the 1993 Australian GP.
