(I LOVE SENNA) Ayrton Senna Da Silva
I put this article in a small in www.orkut.com in a Formula One community. Thought i could as well paste it here in my blog. Senna forever....
Back in 1993, the Williams Renault combine was ruling the roost with Prost and Hill at the helm. Thanks to the traction control, active suspensions and Renault's superior engines the team took P1 and P2. P3 in the grid went to Schumacher's benetton which was said to be the next best to the williams-renault's. P4 was Senna, in what i consider to be the worst ever McLaren ever built. P5 was a rookie named Karl,W.The green lights out, Prost and Hill zipped away, retaining their positions at turn 1. Karl in a junk Sauber made a blistering start and grabbed position 3. Michael tried to close Senna from the outside, but Senna pulled back on the inside and went on to P3 ahead of Schumi.A pair of a left-hander, then a right-hander followed. The track was extremely wet, forcing all drivers to take the left-hander moving in the inside, so that they didn’t risk overshooting the turn, while maintaining a correct "racing line" for the right-hander.However, this was not the case for Senna. The Brazilian moved in the outside, taking a line completely different from all the other drivers and, seemingly, completely wrong. However, Senna taking the outside overtook Wendlinger easily, while placing his car in time in the correct position for the right-hander that was coming. It seems that the outside line had much more grip than the inside line; how Senna was the only driver to realise it remains a mystery. Hill and Prost were ahead, in the extremely fast Williams. But the heavy rain was all Senna needed. Driving courageously, he was coming out of the corners much faster than Hill and Prost. Driving "as if the track surface was dry", he passed Hill aggressively, then Prost after an S-bend, Ayrton moving so much faster and smoother through the S, as if the Frenchman was driving an F3. So before lap 1 the Brazilian had grabbed 1st place, in what remains the best opening race lap I have seen. But the show wasn’t over, not for seventy more laps.
Senna started building a gap on the following Williams, dominating in the wet conditions. The Brazilian was in a race of his own, gaining about 1 second per lap on second Prost. However, the odds changed dramatically when the sun started appearing over the wet track. The track started drying out, and by lap 20 Senna ‘s advantage had been reduced to 5 seconds. Then the rain started again, and all drivers started pitting for wet tyres, Prost being the first to make to do so. Senna decided to gamble, driving in slicks for a few more laps before pitting, a tactic that payed out well, as the advantage over Prost increased to 15 seconds. Lap 30, the track started drying again and Prost, being in the superior Williams, started his attack on Senna. The two drivers pitted for slicks, and a problem with Senna’s pit stop handed the lead to Prost. Lap 35, the weather was changing continuously that afternoon, and the rain started once more. Prost pitted for wets, Senna stayed on slicks and managed to record fastest lap in the partly wet track. Senna was pushing hard with slicks, extending continuously his lead over Prost and passing one backmarker after the other, leaving only himself, Prost, Hill and Barichello on the lead lap. Meanwhile, the advantage over Prost continued to extend, so the Frenchman decided to pit for slicks. It proved to be a disastrous pit stop, the car stalled and re-entered the track one lap behind Senna. The show continued, Hill and Barrichello were lapped also and Senna was the only driver on the lead lap. At some time he pit stopped, waved to the pit crew and left. The race ended after 71 laps, Hill being the only driver finishing barely in the lead lap, more than 80 seconds behind Senna.
Stirling Moss once said that Senna was "the greatest 'racer' of all time". And that race at Donnington (plus his 66 pole positions) is probably the best proof of the above statement...Perhaps the finest victory of his career, this was the European GP at Donnington Park, where Senna won after picking up five places in the rain on the first lap, cementing his place in history as the rainmeister.
Back in 1993, the Williams Renault combine was ruling the roost with Prost and Hill at the helm. Thanks to the traction control, active suspensions and Renault's superior engines the team took P1 and P2. P3 in the grid went to Schumacher's benetton which was said to be the next best to the williams-renault's. P4 was Senna, in what i consider to be the worst ever McLaren ever built. P5 was a rookie named Karl,W.The green lights out, Prost and Hill zipped away, retaining their positions at turn 1. Karl in a junk Sauber made a blistering start and grabbed position 3. Michael tried to close Senna from the outside, but Senna pulled back on the inside and went on to P3 ahead of Schumi.A pair of a left-hander, then a right-hander followed. The track was extremely wet, forcing all drivers to take the left-hander moving in the inside, so that they didn’t risk overshooting the turn, while maintaining a correct "racing line" for the right-hander.However, this was not the case for Senna. The Brazilian moved in the outside, taking a line completely different from all the other drivers and, seemingly, completely wrong. However, Senna taking the outside overtook Wendlinger easily, while placing his car in time in the correct position for the right-hander that was coming. It seems that the outside line had much more grip than the inside line; how Senna was the only driver to realise it remains a mystery. Hill and Prost were ahead, in the extremely fast Williams. But the heavy rain was all Senna needed. Driving courageously, he was coming out of the corners much faster than Hill and Prost. Driving "as if the track surface was dry", he passed Hill aggressively, then Prost after an S-bend, Ayrton moving so much faster and smoother through the S, as if the Frenchman was driving an F3. So before lap 1 the Brazilian had grabbed 1st place, in what remains the best opening race lap I have seen. But the show wasn’t over, not for seventy more laps.
Senna started building a gap on the following Williams, dominating in the wet conditions. The Brazilian was in a race of his own, gaining about 1 second per lap on second Prost. However, the odds changed dramatically when the sun started appearing over the wet track. The track started drying out, and by lap 20 Senna ‘s advantage had been reduced to 5 seconds. Then the rain started again, and all drivers started pitting for wet tyres, Prost being the first to make to do so. Senna decided to gamble, driving in slicks for a few more laps before pitting, a tactic that payed out well, as the advantage over Prost increased to 15 seconds. Lap 30, the track started drying again and Prost, being in the superior Williams, started his attack on Senna. The two drivers pitted for slicks, and a problem with Senna’s pit stop handed the lead to Prost. Lap 35, the weather was changing continuously that afternoon, and the rain started once more. Prost pitted for wets, Senna stayed on slicks and managed to record fastest lap in the partly wet track. Senna was pushing hard with slicks, extending continuously his lead over Prost and passing one backmarker after the other, leaving only himself, Prost, Hill and Barichello on the lead lap. Meanwhile, the advantage over Prost continued to extend, so the Frenchman decided to pit for slicks. It proved to be a disastrous pit stop, the car stalled and re-entered the track one lap behind Senna. The show continued, Hill and Barrichello were lapped also and Senna was the only driver on the lead lap. At some time he pit stopped, waved to the pit crew and left. The race ended after 71 laps, Hill being the only driver finishing barely in the lead lap, more than 80 seconds behind Senna.
Stirling Moss once said that Senna was "the greatest 'racer' of all time". And that race at Donnington (plus his 66 pole positions) is probably the best proof of the above statement...Perhaps the finest victory of his career, this was the European GP at Donnington Park, where Senna won after picking up five places in the rain on the first lap, cementing his place in history as the rainmeister.
posted by Koushik V S at
2:30 AM
1 Comments:
Review is awesome :)
By
Anonymous, at 4:20 AM
Post a Comment
<< Home