Tag Archives: Ayrton Senna

A Deserved Fishing Trip

  By Lukeh | September 13, 2012 - 7:13 pm | 2012, Feature, Formula 1
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The true Doctor. (Credit: Autocar)

Today motorsport mourns the loss of Professor Sid Watkins, a wonderful man who engineered an era of safety into the sport that holds true today and a man whom many, both inside and outside the sport, look up to with great admiration and respect for everything he’s done. Writing obituaries is something that I very rarely do but I believe that a man like Sid deserves to have something written to reflect just how much important his contribution was to Formula 1. It’s incredibly easy to notice the amount of response this sad news has garnered from drivers, motorsport media, fans and even more so than that. In fact I don’t think I’ve ever heard a bad word being said against Sid which only further cements how well-regarded he is.

The wonderful thing about Sid Watkins is that he touched and changed many lives without possibly even realising it. Today I’ve been thinking about if it wasn’t for Sid, I wouldn’t have grown up being quite amazed by Mika Hakkinen and then going onto discovering Rubens Barrichello as the driver whom I’ve followed almost all my Formula 1 viewing life. If it wasn’t for his quick responses to the horrific crashes both Hakkinen and Barrichello had and saving their lives its very strange how different life could be for all kinds of reasons and it would be a fair understatement to suggest how much both drivers value what he did for them. This of course goes way up and beyond just Hakkinen and Barrichello; Sid figure headed a change in safety that Jackie Stewart had been pushing towards before him and his action had led to Formula 1 changing forever for many, many ways and I doubt there’s a driver in the sport that doesn’t think highly of the man for everything he’s done both past and present, and no doubt in the future too. We can easily complain about the health and safety parade making things too safe but when you look back at previous periods of history and the tragedy associated with these eras I don’t think there could possibly be enough thanks for the contribution he’s made to see the sport as safe as it is now. Can you imagine the likes of what happened to Robert Kubica in Canada and Felipe Massa in Hungary in previous decades?

Despite the sad news we should celebrate these things and everything he’s done for the sport we all love and follow. You read about his life and you see some of his stories and it blows you away how anyone is capable of the things he’s done over the last 84 years. From the many stories you’ll read of Sid, from the lives he’s saved to the changes he’s brought in, he was simply a man doing his job with no worries of the weight on his shoulders. Alex Brundle made a beautiful comment last night on Twitter expressing how thankful he was that he could grow up playing plenty of games of football with his dad Martin thanks to the services and knowledge Sid brought to motorsport. It’s easy to dash out the world legend for people but I’m not sure how else you could accurately describe a man who did this year in and year out despite the sights he would have no doubt seen over the years. As a fan I’m forever thankful that he’s made the sport safer than it’s ever been. Just last week at Spa, we had a very scary reminder for how dangerous motorsport can be and whilst we should never rest on the laurels of safety, we can be thankful that the stage we’re currently at is a stage that encourages safety rather than dismisses it like has been the case in the past. Motorsport is dangerous, motorsport will forever be dangerous, but Sid Watkins allows us to watch motorsport knowing this danger is kept in mind at all times. It’s something no one should ever forget.

I’m not great at this type of thing, and I know there are a million more things I could say in tribute to this wonderful man. But what I will I say on behalf of myself and every other Formula 1 fan is simple – thank you Sid. The things you did saved the lives in the most miraculous ways and will continue to do so, and whilst motorsport will never lose that dangerous edge, we can be safe in the knowledge that you’ve changed the sport we love forever for all the better.

The Senna/Maldonado Connection

  By Lukeh | July 13, 2012 - 7:16 pm | 2012, Feature, Formula 1
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Pastor Maldonado is making quite the impression on the drivers and fans of F1 since his arrival in the sport. Plenty that people have made of his impact, if you could put it that way, but there’s a connection I want to speak about. I’m talking about the possible connection between Maldonado and Senna.

And no, I don’t mean Bruno.

Before any accusations are made, no I haven’t gone mad. I also realise this may be a bit controversial too to compare two drivers in such a way. To get straight to the point though I don’t think Pastor Maldonado is on the same level as Ayrton Senna as, for me, it would be ludicrous to put each other on the same level. I have to admit though following the British GP this past weekend and over the course of the season in the back of my mind I’ve been considering this comparison and I believe I could put a little reasoning behind such a title for a blog post.

One of the key moments of the race at Silverstone was indeed Maldonado’s moment going into the side of Perez despite the Sauber driver giving him more than enough room. We know Maldonado’s infamous reputation of crashing into others and just crashing himself out of races by now but here’s what comes into my mind. Ayrton Senna was an incredible driver, a driver who could cause the hairs on your arm to stand up. What must be remembered though is that Senna was still a driver who found himself clashing with others and making himself a risk on the track too. Sergio Perez said this weekend that the drivers find Pastor Maldonado a risk; that other drivers have concerns about him. Yet if we look back at Senna we see a driver who would take the risks that saw him come with a reputation of being dangerous on the track. You’d see drivers making comments about Senna being a risk too. From here is where the big difference is for me though.

Senna was a driver who very much lived with no fear as far as I see things. Admittedly I was not alive or too young to be watching F1 during Senna’s era but form everything I’ve seen, read and listened to Ayrton Senna was a man who pushed himself to the very limit of his being and his ability in order to win. This is something I simply do not feel from Maldonado in any essence whatsoever, instead coming across far more as a hot-headed, clumsy driver who makes silly mistakes. Maldonado can be a very fast driver though – he out-qualified Barrichello plenty of times in 2011 in that awful little Williams and that Spanish GP victory was no accident. On that day Maldonado was pretty untouchable in a car that was probably the 4th fastest team that weekend I’d say. He’s had moments where you’d actually sit back and think there may be something there, but then immediately it’d be followed up by something childish and petulant in his driver that just lets his character down completely. It’s strange to say the least.

This leads to another point in my analysis of the two drivers though – could it be argued that Maldonado’s driving style is just one of a driver who’s willing to take risks because he know he can, or because he simply misjudges these opportunities? I say this in regards to the fact that modern Formula 1 is very much a ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ type of sport in the way the rules are now interpreted and how overtaking can occur with the likes of DRS, KERS and the general rules set in stone. Maldonado is a driver who it seems will just go for a gap when it appears and make the most of that opportunity without the patience he perhaps requires, simply going for it without thinking at times. If you look back at Valencia, it was clear Maldonado had Hamilton’s number yet if he held back at their crash for another corner or two he’d have had him on the straights. Back in Australia, he pretty much had Alonso ready for the taking but his own style of quite aggressive driving saw him lose it with a lap or two to go when he would’ve likely found his way past Alonso at that point too with a little more patience. Perhaps this is just a driver who’s hot-headed character is standing out in a field of very good drivers who aren’t quite so aggressive as Maldonado is. I suppose it’s up to you if you interpret his aggression as clumsiness or just pure exasperation to get past someone.

Yes, it’s a very wide gap between the two as Senna is a legend and Maldonado is still essentially a rookie developing his way into the sport. The fact still remains though that these things being said about Maldonado were being mentioned in the same way throughout Senna’s career and his attitude of going for every gap and racing on the edge saw him become the huge name he will forever remain in the sport. You really never know what could come of the comments that are being made of Maldonado though – Senna seemed to only focus on himself no matter what people would say about him. Look at his reaction when Jackie Stewart famously questioned why he was a world champion who’d had so many incidents crashing into other people. With Senna though, you know you were looking at something special even if his recklessness could cost both his and other people’s races. If you want my point of view, I don’t see Maldonado being in F1 after another year or two. His driving style for me can be awfully untrustworthy and his consistency is nothing worth mentioning either. Perez’ outburst was coming too from a long way away and the way he’s reacted to certain things has been completely ridiculous. Yet races like Spain show why he’s a champion in GP2 and why he’s so insistent of not being seen as a pay driver. It’s hard to be won over by Pastor, but perhaps if he can control what he does so the risks he takes can be worth taking, well who knows…

Putting the Mates into Team Mates

  By Lukeh | June 14, 2012 - 9:39 pm | 2012, Feature, Formula 1
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You often hear that the one of the goals a driver always has in F1 is to beat his team-mate. It’s understandable – here you have a guy who has the same machinery and same access as you, and in a naturally competitive sport you want to be the better driver in that machinery. Quite often over the 60+ wonderful years that F1 has been entertaining us though some team-mate battles tend to go very sour. I’m talking the likes of Senna vs. Prost, or Hamilton vs. Alonso (although that was a team issue for Alonso more than anything), or Reutemann vs. Jones – some of the more feisty, heated battles within a team that I can think of. Yet despite these rivalries, there’s been plenty of good, healthy team-mate battles over the years and it’s been this week that I’ve been mulling over these friendships, pointing out a few good hearted team-mate battles from time to time.

Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button (aka The Dream Team)

Ahh, of course. The ultimate team in my book and my all time favourite combination of drivers personally. But even from a neutral perspective, you’d be mad to ignore how good friends these guys were on and off the track during their Honda and Brawn days and how good of a team they made. There was, and still is, an obvious mutual respect for each other even during the tense Championship winning times of 2009. Eddie Jordan himself proclaimed them as the ‘Dream Team’ (several years later after the rest of us Honda fans were calling them that, ahem!) and Rubens said within that same interview how Jenson was the nicest and best team-mate he’s had in F1. Quite right too – they stuck together through difficult times at Honda and the demise of the team, and they always got on, and even when moving away from their Brawn drives the friendship was still there. They were just too awesome. No matter how many times I see photos of them celebrating their success as a team it’s just awesome stuff. Truly the Dream Team line up in my eyes.

Tony Brooks and Sir Stirling Moss

I get the feeling that fans who may know a bit into the history of the sport may be wondering why, during this period, I haven’t gone for the likes of Mike Hawthorn and Peter Collins who were a notoriously wonderful bunch of team mates whose lives were cut too short. Brooks and Moss stand out even more so for me for the fact, if you read back on the life of Sir Stirling Moss and you read/listen to his career and what he has to say, you’ll find out that Sir Stirling regarding Brooks as the greatest unknown racing driver there has ever been. Despite his name not being historically synonymous with the sport compared to others around the time, Brooks often found himself pushing Moss to be even faster with the two taking Vanwall as high up the championship alongside their battles with Mike Hawthorn. Not quite as close as my other examples perhaps but still quite the team who were still total gentlemen to each other, even if it is way before my time.

Gilles Villeneuve and Jody Sheckter

You have to think how lucky Ferrari were to have a team like this, the combination of strategy and pace working so well together as a team. It wasn’t just that though – Jody and Gilles really got on like a house on fire. In this case, it’s almost as if opposites attract; whilst Jody has stated his goal was always to be safe and came across as much more strategical in his route to victory, Gilles quite clearly would go ahead and be as fast as he possible could and never back down without that fear. If you were that good though you would. But I think that’s what makes them such an appealing team in the history of this sport – Jody quite clearly knew just how good Gilles was and never held a bitter word against him. In fact, he later went on to call Gilles the most genuine person he’s ever known not only in Formula 1 but in life. The perfect proof of a good-natured rivalry between the closest of team mates.

Ayrton Senna and Gerhard Berger

Now here’s a team for you – the man who took his job more seriously than all others and the man who loved his pranks more than anyone else. In fact Gerhard once said that Ayrton was the man who taught him to take his job seriously, and he (Gerhard) was the man who taught Senna how to laugh. You hear so many brilliantly stupid stories of Gerhard’s pranks and you get the idea that he understood Senna. There’s no denying that Ayrton was incredibly intense in his passion for what he did but I think when you consider some of the team mates Senna has fought against, it was something else to have a team-mate who could clearly have fun with this intense character rather than let it put them off. You’d be mad not to dig up some of the cracking little tales you hear from their friendship. One of the ones I can think of is the time Berger put animals in Senna’s hotel room and Senna replied by filling his air conditioning with bad cheese but that was just a sign of how brilliant their partnership was as a team. There’s another story of Senna and Berger involving a passport, but for family friendly purposes I’ll leave that one out…

There are plenty more out there I’m sure. A few quick other ones I can think of are the likes of Alonso and Trulli who seemed to get on fantastically well during their time at Renault together, and you could also bring up Hakkinen and Coulthard despite the obvious favouritism to Mika, but I’m sure DC would be hard to deny how good friends they are now following their spell at McLaren. Going back a bit further into history, Prost and Lauda always seemed to have a good rapport with one another as I have a distinct memory of reading a quote from Niki Lauda saying how in their years together as team mates there was only one time a setup wasn’t shared between them. See, you don’t have to hate each other’s guts to succeed after all!