Ayrton Senna | Top Gear Tribute

[Applause] anyway anyway slight change of mood had he lived Ayrton Senna would have celebrated his 50th birthday earlier this year I was talking about the other day if you'd seen his funeral you'd know it was a bit more than that country has declared three days of mourning I think I was nine years old and I was resting that weekend I just came in from the heat or practice session and my dad's working away on the car and I remember him telling me I remember going around to the back of the car and just bawled my eyes out and nine years I remember it like it was yesterday I remember exactly where I was what spot I could take you there right now in Brazil they remember Ayrton Senna is a sporting hero who gave away millions to help underprivileged children elsewhere in the world though we remember him best for this [Music] can cannot be sounding true but I start with four years old in go-kart [Music] twenty-two-year-old Sena did race in Formula One from 1984 to his death a Tim Allah in 1994 and in that time he won the world championship three times the figures suggests that Schumacher and Fran Gio were better but the people who know they tell a different story from ESET say hey is there a number one [Music] for me Ayrton Senna undoubtedly was the number one in number one you know it was definitely greatest driver if you ask me Martin Brundle who raced against the Brazilian for eleven years is well-qualified to explain why Senna was the ultimate drivers driver he had a god-given talent that I haven't witnessed anywhere else a sixth sense of where the grip was before he turned into a corner look at this Lotus here even when it's going in a straight line it is dancing nice to live and there you look at these and you think I can't do that I think centers ability to be able to drive completely on the limit some of the laps he did we know were unbelievable Senna was so good at bands I last-minute qualifying laps the ladies Formula One career he won an incredible 65 pole positions he had this gift to just go and find we could all find a tenth or two and the really great drivers can go and find a half a second or three-quarters of a second however sanika do even better than that in Monaco in 1988 he out qualified his teammates the great Alam Prost by scarcely believable than one and a half seconds [Music] nobody in the end wanted to spoil cenis poll lap and when you saw the day-glo McLaren and they're very bright helmet of Ayrton Senna he would come through and we literally jumped out of the way if you didn't want to be the one they all talked about having blown the lap that the whole of the Grand Prix venue was looking forward to but it wasn't just out now speed that made Senna special he was he was so good because he was working so hard on details i proofed the car also there and there but he went in the fine details that's what was fantastic because like this second chicane is and if I think back when I was his test driver beginning of the 94 season after the second day at a small incident and tweaked his neck and that was a test was over as far as he was concerned I came in the following day and he was there in the morning I thought oh he must have made a miraculous recovery but actually fine he was just there to listen to what I was saying to the engineers to work out whether he could trust my feedback and when I compare that to Nigel Mansell when I was this test driver he would set a lap time and any would bugger off to the golf course another weapon in Senna's armory was his utter ruthlessness trying to take it and Senator see if the Brazilian moved across he often used to put us in a position that you were gonna have an accident and he would leave it up to you to decide whether to have that accident or not Martin experienced this psychological warfare first of all when racing against Center in Formula three and he launches in from nowhere and then he's rolled on my shoulder I couldn't get out of the car till they lifted his car off the top of mine so when he wants to overtake he'd go on the inside and put the car in a place if you tried to take the corner you're going to hit him yes he would put you in a compromising position and then leave you to make the decision and if you didn't run into him then psychologically you were buried and finished he would then know that every time after that he showed you will you jump out of the way even the Giants in Santa zerah respected his toughness I don't think there was any qualifying session or any race he went into that he wasn't prepared to put it on the line was the toughest driver and the most ferocious driver to protect his area or space [Music] [Music] this will to win reached its peak at the Japanese Grand Prix in 1990 here Senna would be world champion providing his archrival Alain Prost now at Ferrari failed to finish so at the first corner he made sure Frost failed to finish he doesn't even try to break I mean at that point when they're back there Senna if he wanted to stay in the race you'd have seen two puffs of blue smoke from his front tires and where he that gap was always going to disappear he was driving into a disappearing wedge after the crash he showed absolutely no contrition when there is a gap you either permit yourself as a professional racing driver that is designed to win races are you come second or you consider from fifth and I'm not designed to come third for the people I race to win and if you no longer go for a gap that exists strangely Senna had a big heart he was a devout Christian capable of extraordinary compassion when fellow racing driver érik comas crashed a spar in 1992 Senna stopped and risked his own life running across the track to help you see that's the paradox of Ayrton Senna isn't it in that he was clearly a fantastic human being and he cared about people in Brazil he cared about Mireille Singh drivers I mean he was mortally hurt when Ratzenberger died the day before he died but then he would crash Alain Prost off the racetrack and put both their lives at risk as a man then Senna was hard to fathom but when it rained it was easy to spot his talents as a driver [Music] this is Donington in 1993 the track is wet and Senna in an inferior McLaren is in trouble at the start and Senna tremendous stuff he muscled his way back into contention at red gate he's going inside into second place already and that was it one fifth to first yeah if you want to have 40 seconds of what is it instead of the racing driver all about and there it is in inertia yeah after the race though he was completely calm driving with slick slippery conditions was was tremendous conditions like this is gambling and he's taking chances what that pays off and I think we gamble good and of course you have to remember that Senna was doing his gambling in cars that were like wild ferocious animals this McLaren mp4 4 in which he won 8 races Andy's first World Championship had very little downforce and manual gearbox and 1,200 horsepower 450 more than the f1 cars of today it is the last of the turbocharged monsters one of the greatest racing cars ever made and today it's going to rumble again in the hands of Senna's number one fan you've just got back from the Canadian Grand Prix this morning yeah I can't sleep I couldn't sleep because you guys yeah we just can't imagine what its gonna be like I just have this I have this sound in in my head of the car roaring and going through Monaco streets when he's with one handed I'm just gonna go one handed round and just see what's right round although the cornice let's go let's go can I go [Music] [Music] the racing back in the mid eighties it was I mean there's a there's an incredible scene I think with Nelson Piquet overtaking Senate on full opposite not I mean very little in the way of safety very little in the way of aerodynamic grip manual gearbox 1200 horsepower yeah and that's the coffee you could almost punch through it you know you'd be driving around of those speed your wheel falls off and the current makes a mistake you did it's phenomenal and I can't even contemplate what it would have been like but so that's why I think you have even more respect for the guys that did it back then to be back in the eighties crazy you know you'd put your Mansell's PK's procced the drivers are incredible and do you think that shining out from all of those drivers in that great era yeah senna rose to the top in arrestor top I love the fact that he was doing fight for his own what he truly believed in it's just everything come he puts everything into getting that laughs and he had no fear that's what I loved about it [Music] I love it come on that's amazing it's so much it's nothing like the car drive nowadays but just to know the commitment and to get used to driving this car and on the on the limit I just I just can't imagine it [Music] it's one of the best days in my life I just feel so blessed you know I dream my whole life was driving that car my whole my whole life I just said just take it off one of the my dreams you know I'll be honest with you I was never a Senna fan I always thought govt owner was the greatest racing driver of them all but to make this film I've watched hours and hours and hours of footage and the thing is viel nerve was spectacular on a number of occasions Senna he was spectacular every single time he got in a car [Music] there's an amazing film coming out on Hanson and exterior urge you all to go and see it it's it's fantastic but for now good night

Channel: tz17's Motorsport Videos

Views: 4,089,118

Rating: 4.9450355 out of 5

Keywords: Aryton Senna, Senna, Top Gear

Id: 9U_K76vPGYo

Length: 16min 19sec (979 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 30 2017

Reddit Comments

[u/acosmichippo]

My favorite part of this is Optimistic dropping in when hamilton is driving. TG always had amazing music selection.

[u/nirmal495]

One of the best films made on Senna... The on track clips gives me goosebumps every time

[u/Patrickl_001]

God i miss Top Gear. GT is nice but its not the same.

[u/BaggySpandex]

Adore this feature. One of my favorites of all time.

Also, this introduced me to Bat for Lashes (the song at the end, "Siren Song"). Her voice is haunting.

[u/doohy]

This video is the reason I am an F1 fan today

[u/karnivoorischenkiwi]

Seeing (and hearing) Hamiltion in "kid in a candystore" mode is fun :D

[u/Melbourne199999]

This piece is what got me back into F1, I took a break after 2008 since I didn't like the 2009 regulations, but this was great and I really started to learn more about Senna, I donated money to his charity and had a massive enthusiasm again towards F1 again.

[u/Mught]

I'm lucky enough to remember that race in 93 there's two things I miss, watching senna drive in the rain and Murray Walker's voice.

[u/motasticosaurus]

"He would put you in a position where it was up to you if you would have that accident or not"... gives me Max Verstappen vibes.