Ayrton Senna: The Making of a Legend Quiz

Answer: The gearbox was stuck in sixth gear

Senna started on pole position in the 1991 Brazilian Grand Prix. Seven laps from the end he had built a comfortable lead. Then his gearbox jammed, stuck in sixth gear. Senna had never won in Brazil before and was extremely motivated to win this race, despite the technical malfunction. Somehow he managed to keep the car going without losing too much time. He crossed the finish line first, three seconds before Riccardo Patrese (Williams). He was so exhausted he had to be lifted from the car, suffering from severe shoulder and neck cramps.

Senna won seven races in 1991, among which the first four of the season. Towards the end of the season the Williams cars were getting stronger and stronger, but Senna had a big enough lead. A second place in the Japanese Grand Prix was enough to clinch his third F1 world championship.

Ferrari had an uncompetitive car in the 1991 season, so Prost wasn't a problem. He didn't win a single race and was sacked by Ferrari before the end of the season.

Answer: Nigel Mansell

Nigel Mansell was leading the Monaco Grand Prix when he had to make an unscheduled pit stop on lap 70. When he left the pits Senna had taken the lead, five seconds in front. Mansell had fresher tyres and caught Senna by three seconds a lap. Despite this massive advantage he could not manage to overtake Senna, who made full use of Monaco's narrow track.

It was Senna's fifth victory in the Monaco Grand Prix. In 1993 he would win the race a sixth and final time. To compare with other greats: Michael Schumacher and Graham Hill each won the Monaco Grand Prix five times, Alain prost won it four times.

Monaco was one of only a few races where Senna stood a chance against the Williams cars. He would only win three races that year, and finish fourth in the championship. Nigel Mansell completely dominated the season, and was already crowned world champion after the Hungarian Grand Prix, five races from the end. His teammate at Williams, Riccardo Patrese, finished second in the championship.

Answer: Prost had a clause in his contract that determined that Senna couldn't be his teammate

It was clear for everybody that Williams was superior in 1992, and that it was the car to have if you wanted a shot at the 1993 championship. Prost had taken a sabbatical in 1992, and spent his time trying to get into the Williams for the 1993 season. Renault was Williams' engine supplier, and one of the main sponsors was also a French company (Elf). Renault supported Prost's claim for the 1993 Williams seat, and since Williams owed much of its superiority to their engine supplier the deal was a forgone conclusion. The French connection had worked again. Prost had negotiated a clause in his contract that said Senna couldn't be his teammate in 1993. This effectively blocked Senna from racing for Williams in 1993. Damon Hill would get the second Williams seat.

Williams announced Prost would drive for them one the day of the 1992 Portuguese Grand Prix, won by Nigel Mansell. Senna was third in that race and said this about the matter during the post-race press conference: "The way he (Prost) is doing it, he's behaving like a coward. It's like when you're going to have a 100 meter running sprint, and he wants to have running shoes, and everybody else should have lead shoes, that's the way he wants to race". Mansell nodded in agreement.

Answer: Donington

To give an idea of the superiority of the Williams-Renault: Prost had won the first race of the season, the South African Grand Prix, with an advantage of 1 minute 20 seconds over Senna. In the Brazilian Grand Prix, Prost had taken pole position with an advantage of 1.8 seconds over Senna. Prost crashed out of the Brazilian Grand Prix when it started to rain. Senna won the race, his second victory before his home crowd.

The European Grand Prix was the third race of the season. It would be the only Grand Prix ever driven at Donington that counted for a Formula 1 world championship, but it was a classic. Senna started from fourth place, lost a place at the start, but then overtook four cars on the first lap. It was a crazy race. First it rained, then it dried out, then it started to rain again. It is a golden rule to always be on the right tyres on the right moment. Senna changed tyres five times during the race, but Hill changed six times, and Prost even seven times. By the end of the race Hill was 1 minute 23 seconds behind, with Prost a full lap behind. In the post-race press conference Prost tried to find excuses for his poor race by complaining about his car. Senna suggested that maybe they should swap cars.

Senna later won the Monaco Grand Prix for the sixth time, but then there were no more wet races or particular tracks. The Williams car asserted its superiority, and after the Portuguese Grand Prix Prost had already wrapped up the world championship.

Prost had announced he would retire before the Portuguese Grand Prix. Senna would replace him at Williams. Senna won the two last races of the season. During the podium ceremony after the Australian Grand Prix Senna pulled Prost next to him on the top step of the podium. It would be the last time either of them would be on the podium. Senna won 41 Grand Prix in his illustrious career.

Answer: 0

In the Brazilian Grand Prix Senna spun while chasing Michael Schumacher (Benetton). In the Pacific Grand Prix he tangled with Mika Hakkinen (McLaren) at the start. Nicola Larini (Ferrari) also went off the track and crashed into Senna's Williams. Two retirements in two races meant zero points. Michael Schumacher had won both races. Senna was already under considerable pressure after two races.

The Williams car was not as competitive as it had been in the previous two years. For the 1994 season electronic gizmos such as traction control and active suspension had been banned. Williams had lost much of its advantage because of that. Senna felt the car was unstable, suffering from understeer first and from oversteer the next moment.

Answer: Roland Ratzenberger

Roland Ratzenberger was a rookie driver for the 1994 season although he was already 33 years old. He was racing for the Simtek-Ford team, also new on the grid. After he had failed to qualify for the Brazilian Grand Prix he made his debut in the Pacific Grand Prix. He finished 11th in what was to be his first and only Formula 1 race.

The first races of the '94 season saw a number of terrible crashes. In Friday qualifying for the San Marino Grand Prix Rubens Barrichello (Jordan) went wide, was launched by a kerbstone and ricocheted off the top of a tyre wall. Although he was knocked unconscious he escaped relatively unharmed.

Ratzenberger would not be so lucky. He went off on a spot where there were no tyres and hit a concrete wall. He died of head injuries in hospital.

After the San Marino Grand Prix there would be more accidents. In free practice for the next race, held in Monaco, Karl Wendlinger crashed in the chicane coming out of the tunnel. He was in a coma for weeks. He was later able to continue his career, but couldn't perform at his former level. He only raced in six races in the 1995 season, then quit Formula 1.

Ratzenberger was replaced by Andrea Montermini for the Spanish Grand Prix, what would be his debut race. He crashed heavily in qualifying and suffered multiple foot fractures. Montermini was out for the rest of the season. In 1995 and 1996 he was able to continue racing in Formula 1, albeit for backmarker teams.

Answer: Tamburello

Tamburello is a fast but relatively easy corner. After colliding with the barriers the right front wheel broke off and hit Senna's helmet. A piece of the suspension pierced the helmet just on the rim between the helmet and the visor, causing a fatal head injury. Senna was in fact very unlucky. Beside the head trauma there were no other injuries. If he was hit a couple of inches higher or lower he would have walked away from the incident unscathed.

The race continued after Senna was flown to the hospital by helicopter. Schumacher won, Nicola Larini came second. The only time Larini stood on the podium was completely overshadowed by Senna's accident. There were no celebrations. A couple of hours after the end of the race Senna was pronounced dead. The Brazilian government declared three days of national mourning.

Answer: Broken steering column

The verdict from Italian Supreme Court, announced on April 13, 2007, states that the accident was caused by a steering column failure. The failure was caused by poorly executed modifications to the column. Before the race Senna said he didn't like the position of the steering wheel and wanted it changed. The steering column then was cut and extended using a piece with a smaller diameter. The parts were welded together with reinforcing plates. A technical report by the University of Bologna concluded that there were fatigue cracks throughout the steering column, causing it to crack under the strain of the race.

There are many alternative theories as to what has caused the crash. One theory, launched by team Williams itself, and supported by a controversial National Geographic Channel documentary, says loss of downforce caused the car to oversteer into Tamburello corner. At the start of the race there had been a collision between J.J. Lehto and Pedro Lamy. The pace-car was deployed for five laps. The low speed at which the cars were going caused a loss of tyre pressure. This made the cars ran too low, too close to the bumps in the track. When the car hit a bump before entering Tamburello the airflow from underneath the car was disrupted, causinng the car to slide off the circuit. Some say a piece of debris from the Lehto-Lamy crash may have been picked up by Senna's Williams, causing a further disturbance of the airflow. However, there are many discrepancies between this theory and the onboard footage from Senna's and Schumacher's cars.

Tamburello is such an easy corner that driver error by such an experienced top driver as Senna is almost inconceivable. Michele Alboreto stated in his testimony before the Italian court that only a technical malfunction could cause a driver to go off in Tamburello corner. There is a theory that says Senna applied a breathing technique that may have caused loss of consciousness before entering Tamburello. This is impossible, because data shows he braked after the car had gone off. Another theory says he was distracted by Ratzenberger's death the day before, and even girlfriend trouble has been suggested. I think it's safe to assume these theories belong to the realm of fiction and fantasy.

Answer: Education for underprivileged Brazilian children

The three most important things in Ayrton's life were racing, Brazil and children. He said he hoped to start a family after his career. He also donated a lot to charity, but had expressed the desire to do this in an organised manner. Because of his untimely death these plans never materialised. His family respected his wishes by founding the Instituto Ayrton Senna, presided by his sister Viviane.

The goal of the institute is to provide Brazilian children with basic education of good quality. The program of the institute benefits about 2 million students in over 1,300 Brazilian cities. (Source: Instituto Ayrton Senna official page).

Answer: Terry Fullerton

A surprising answer, perhaps. Fullerton was Senna's teammate and rival when he was competing in the kart world championships. Senna said this about his karting days: "It was pure driving, pure racing. There wasn't any politics then, right, no money involved either. So it was real racing".