numbers, records and feats of the Brazilian star who became a Formula 1 legend

Ayrton Senna was (and still is) a legend of the Formula 1. Absolute idol in his country and a reference for great drivers who followed in his footsteps, like the seven-time champion. Lewis Hamilton, ran eleven seasons in the premier category. She won three titles, all with McLarenin 1988, 1990 and 1991. He reaped 41 victories and climbed to 80 podiums. And he established several records, some of which are still in force, thirty years after his death after the very serious accident he suffered during the event. San Marinoin Imola, on May 1, 1994.

Four of those marks that the Brazilian established during his time at the Great Circus, where he debuted in the Brazilian Grand Prix 1984 in Rio de Janeiro, still no one could improve.

Senna is one of the two drivers with the most consecutive victories in the same Grand Prix, with the five he won in Monacobetween 1989 and 1993. Hamilton equaled that achievement in 2021, when he won his fifth consecutive victory in Spain.

In the Principality’s event, one of the most traditional and glamorous on the calendar, no one won as much as him. There he celebrated for the first time in 1987 aboard a Lotus and later he got the other five with McLaren.

He still holds the record for the most pole positions followed, with the eight that added between Spain 1988 and United States 1989 aboard a McLaren.

He is also one of the four who share second place on that list, since he also achieved seven between Spain 1990 and Monaco 1991. The others are the French Alain Prost (between South Africa and Canada in 1993); the German Michael Schumacher, first seven-time champion of the category, (between Italy 2000 and Brazil 2001); and Hamilton (between Monaco and Italy in 2015).

He is the driver who has taken pole position in the same Grand Prix the most consecutive times, with the seven he won between 1985 and 1991 in San Marino, driving for Lotus, first, and McLaren, later.

In total, he finished as the fastest in the classification on that circuit eight times, which was also at the time an unprecedented mark in the same race. The last one in 1994, before the test in which he suffered his fatal accident. Schumacher equaled that achievement in 2004 by reaching eight at Suzuka. And Hamilton improved it in 2023 by reaching nine in Hungary.

And he is the one who started a premier class race from the front row the most consecutive times. He did it 24 times between the 1988 German Grand Prix and the 1989 Australian Grand Prix. Who is second to him in that statistic? The British Damon Hillwho added 17 between the Australian event in 1995 and the Japanese event in 1996, and Prost, with 16 in 1993, from the South African event to the Australian event.

For 35 years, Senna was one of the owners of an impressive brand. It’s just that in 1988, Together with his teammate Prost, he gave McLaren eleven consecutive victories. The streak began with the Frenchman’s victory in Brazil, on the first date of the season, and extended until the Brazilian’s victory in Belgium. There were seven celebrations for the South American and four for the European.

Thus they surpassed the eight that the same team had achieved with Niki Lauda and Prost in 1984 and set a record that was recently surpassed Red Bull last year. With 13 of Max Verstappen and two of Sergio Perez Between Abu Dhabi 2022 and Italy 2023, the Austrian team scored 15 victories in a row.

Senna also set some records that were later improved by some drivers with whom he shared the track or others who entered the scene years after his death.

In 1988 he scored six consecutive pole positions at the start of the season, an achievement that the British equaled Nigel Mansell in 1992 and which Prost improved a year later, with seven.

Throughout his career, The Brazilian won 19 Grand Prix, leading from start to finish. The first, Portugal 1985 with Lotus; and the last, Australia 1991 with McLaren. Hamilton was, again, responsible for leaving that record in the past, when in 2020 he reached 20 in Great Britain. The Mercedes driver then added three more (the last in Qatar 2021) to stretch his mark, still in force, to 23.

The pole he held in San Marino, hours before his death, was the 65th of Senna’s career, a figure that no one could improve for twelve years, until in 2006, on that same circuit, Michael Schumacher scored the 66th of his career. trajectory.

The German added two more that season, in the United States and France, and retired with 68. And then Hamilton shattered that record: he has achieved the best time in qualifying for 104 Grand Prix races.

The three also share the podium for the most consecutive seasons with at least one pole. The British lead with 15; the German follows, with 13; and Senna closes with 10.

While, Sebastian Vettel, Mansell and Prost join Ayrton among the best with the most “first positions” in the same championship. The German four-time champion scored 15 in the 19 races of 2011. The Briton scored 14 in the 16 races of 1992. And Senna scored 13 on two occasions, in 1988 and 1989, the same times the Frenchman achieved in 1993.

It is not necessary to resort to statistics to confirm this, but in case anyone needs it, the numbers and records of the career of Ayrton Senna -some still valid three decades after his death- make it clear that the Brazilian is a Formula 1 legend.