Ayrton Senna

Ayrton Senna da Silva was born in São Paulo, Brazil, into an upper-middle-class family. His father gave him his first kart at age four, and the young Senna immediately demonstrated an almost supernatural sense of the machine. He worked through the kart racing ranks in Europe in the late 1970s before entering Formula 3 in 1983, where his battles with Martin Brundle announced a future champion.

Senna's Formula 1 debut with Toleman in 1984 was sensational. He ran second in Monaco when race director Jacky Ickx controversially red-flagged the race — the cars in Senna's wake being swept by a downpour while he was catching the leader. Many believe he was stopped from taking his first victory to protect Alain Prost. The episode foreshadowed the complex narrative of his career.

At McLaren (1988-1993), Senna was transcendent. His rivalry with Alain Prost — his teammate for two years (1988-1989) — produced some of F1's most dramatic and controversial moments, including deliberate collisions. Yet it was Senna's unparalleled qualifying pace (65 pole positions) and wet-weather brilliance that defined him. His lap at Monaco 1988 — 1.4 seconds faster than the field — is considered the single greatest lap in motorsport history.

Senna died on May 1, 1994, during the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola when his Williams-Renault hit a concrete wall at 211 km/h after a steering column failure. He was 34 years old. His death triggered the most comprehensive safety revolution in motorsport history. No F1 driver has died in a race since.