Ayrton Senna,
Probably the greatest F1 driver of all time, his greatness was not encompassing around his racing talent but for his goodness in heart and generosity as well. After his tragic death it was discovered that he had quietly donated millions of $s to help children in need in Brazil and around the world.
Right before his tragic accident he created an organization dedicated to children in Brazil which later on became “Instituto Ayrton Senna”.
That tragic day in May 1994 I was watching the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola Italy live, few (?) laps after start Senna was leading the race, he cleared the turn 2 with speed around 200 mph and while approaching the turn 3 his car bottomed out heavily (back then any one could tell the severity of bottoming out by looking at the Rooster Tail sparks behind the car), lost traction and hit the solid concrete wall with speed around 135 mph, car spun few time and came to a halt, few seconds passed which felt like eternity and Senna with his helmet leaning to the side was not moving.
He died that day and I felt like the whole world stood still.
He did not leave in vain, his death shook the entire FIA and rest of the motor-sport world. Every body came to this conclusion that “If Senna got killed, every body could”. It was a turning point in F1 safety measure, Tracks around the world were modified, redirected, resurfaced and concrete walls removed, chassis and drivers personal safety gears were all revolutionized and GPDA was formed. To a point that until today Senna remains the last F1 driver who lost his life while racing.
Looking at Robert Kubica’s crash in Montreal few years ago, he was able to walk out of that horrific crash (although with some broken bones) and he still races today.
Few words about 2 all time great F1 drivers Senna and Schummy. Although both astonishingly talented but with different approach. Senna did not sit in the cockpit, it seemed like he would wrap the car around himself and makes it an extension of his physic, and using his sheer will, he would get out there and win.
Schummy always concentrates on mechanics and suspension geometry set up of the car, he takes the car out for few laps, turns back to garage and tell engineers what needs to be done to make a great car the greatest. I agree with Behrooz saying Ferrari provided great cars for him, but Ferrari provided another great car to Reuben as well but Schummy’s ability to communicate with engineers was always instrumental for him to excel. He is also a great strategist.
We have a saying in motor-sport that “You are not cheating until you get caught”. Every body cheats (remember McLaren fiasco?) , blocks passing cars, do every thing possible to gain some advantage, but we saw Schummy more b/c he was always on the spot light thus exposed more than the other to scrutiny.
Contrary to general believe Schummy is a great guy, a family man with 3 (?) children, kind and generous to people around him. He is not arrogant, he is just quite aware of complex F1 politics and possible scandals which he cleverly managed to stay away from for so many years.
First word comes to my mind by looking at this pic. is "Determination". Rest in eternal peace Champ.
may be its something that sounds like that?
