Active suspension and Inactive danger

Senna's wheels at Hockenheim in 1991
Automatic gearboxes, ABS, traction control and active suspension had all made their entrance by 1993. Williams was at the forefront of this development with the radical active everything FW14B which dominated the 1992 season. After the widespread implementation of these systems throughout the field...

Jacques Dallaire’s interview with Ayrton Senna

Ayrton Senna in Monte Carlo 1991
Ayrton Senna and Dr. Dallaire worked together over a span of several years during the Formula One triple-world champion’s illustrious career. This interview was conducted in the Human Performance International (HPI) Laboratory on Isle Notre Dame (Montreal, Canada) following the 1991 Canadian Grand Prix. My...

F1 Memories: Monaco 1988

Ayrton Senna in Monaco 1988
It was the event in which Senna truly, after dropping several hints in the four seasons since his F1 debut, announced his arrival on the world stage. The Brazilian out-qualified Alain Prost, his McLaren teammate, by a margin of 1.427 seconds around the streets of Monte Carlo. It...

Ayrton Senna testing Honda NSX at 250km/h

Ayrton Senna testing Honda NSX in 1989
In February 1989, right around the same time the demonstration car was dropping jaws with its svelte, mid-engined looks, a gaggle of Honda engineers were waiting with polite expectation to hear a positive verdict on one of the company's most ambitious projects ever. It was...

John Watson on the Japanese Grand Prix 91

Ayrton Senna three-time F1 champion
16.10.1991 The simmering tension surrounding the 1991 world title will reach boiling point in Japan. Ayrton Senna's failure to clinch the crown in Spain will harden his resolve to finish the job in Suzuka. He feels he has been too lenient of late. I am...

Ayrton Senna wins the first open air museum in the world

Senna Museum
On Thursday 20th october marks the 25th anniversary of the world's third championship of Formula 1 won by Ayrton Senna. To commemorate this date, the BB Publisher and the Instituto Ayrton Senna launched the "Ayrton Senna Parade", the first open air museum in the...

The tragic death of Roland Ratzenberger

Roland Ratzenberger at Imola 1994
On the morning of the San Marino Grand Prix on 1 May 1994, Ayrton Senna placed an Austrian flag in his racing car. The great Brazilian champion had planned to wave the flag as he passed the finishing line in victory. Senna wanted to...

Archive: Prost’s touching tribute to Ayrton Senna

Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost
Friday 6 May 1994 Alain Prost, who retired at the end of his title-winning 1993 season to be replaced in the Williams team by Senna, was joined at the funeral by two other former champions, Jackie Stewart and Emerson Fittipaldi. Gerhard Berger, Derek Warwick, Thierry...

Formula 1 never had a weekend like Imola

Ayrton Senna and Frank Williams in 1994
Competing in only his third race for the British team - a partnership which was expected to see Senna add to his tally of 41 grands prix victories and three world titles - the Brazilian unaccountably speared off at the notorious Tamburello corner. He...

Opening lap of the Grand Prix of Europe

Ayrton Senna at Donington podium 1993
There have been some opportunist moves in Formula One over the years – Jacky Ickx passing Niki Lauda round the outside at Paddock Bend in the 1974 Race of Champions, or Nigel Mansell diving past Ayrton Senna up the hill in Hungary in 1989...