Can’t remember what was my first ever F1 race watched on TV but since 1988 I’ve been following F1 through magazines, computer games, TV, you name it. Why? I think it is a question my DNA needs to answer. If it involves tarmac, fast engines, speed, corners and taking it flat out, then my blood suddenly starts boiling, and that’s the sign of adrenalin levels going up…For those of you that are computer games fanatics, and have been fortunate enough to be part of the history of the electronic games evolution (I am talking to those that know that electronic games existed way before the Playstation was introduced, and it hasn’t always been a 3D world…), you might remember the famous F1 game with the title “Grand Prix Circuit” from ACCOLADE Inc. created by Distinctive Software Inc. This was indeed my first ever real F1 game, first played in 1988 (and by the way, it was a bomb at the time…) and since then, F1 became an interest and a passion for me, and now it is part of my life.
Images courtesy of http://www.bestoldgames.net/
Immediately after I started following this amazing sport, as a young boy, one driver from all of them was shining in my eyes, and he wasn’t even a World Champion at the time but for some reason it was clear that he was “the driver to follow”. That’s where the name Ayrton Senna da Silva or simply Ayrton Senna got into my head. Charismatic, obsessed with winning, confident that he was the best driver of all, brilliant technically and of course blistering fast.
Since then I haven’t miss any single F1 championship and have seen lots of drivers coming and going, promising rookies not delivering, underdogs upsetting previous world champs, medium drivers becoming World Champs just because they had the best car on the grid, and even disaster happening like what happened in that sad weekend of 1st of May 1994 at Imola, which in a space of 2 days we lost 2 F1 drivers, being one of them, the great Ayrton Senna.
Like any other F1 era where there is always an outstanding young driver joining when the dominant old drivers are setting themselves to leave the scene, a few years before Senna’s fatal death, a young German driver known as Michael Schumacher joined the field and end up dominating formula one as never before and probably might never happen again (at least so soon…), and for this reason, emerged the single question most debated in the F1 community to date. Who is the best driver ever in F1? Who is the greatest? Senna or Schumacher?
I have always defended that although I clearly respect Schumacher for being an excellent driver, technically brilliant, focused, committed and always trying to excel himself (which are probably some characteristics of great drivers), I am on the view that Schumacher is the most successful driver of all times, but Senna is the best driver between both, and as such, the greatest driver of all time. This has now been confirmed by a voting organised by “Autosport Magazine” (http://f1greatestdrivers.autosport.com/?driver=1), persuading around 217 world championship F1 heroes to vote for the all-time greatest. Ayrton Senna was voted the all-time greatest and Michael Schumacher came second.
So, why then do I think Senna was the greatest? One of the main reasons I always defended was the fact that Schumacher lacked enough competition to probably reinforce his case. In my view, Schumacher only had 2 real challengers – Mika Hakkinen (1998/1999) and Fernando Alonso (2005/2006) – being Hakkinen his most feared challenger. These 2 drivers did not fear Schumacher and they did take a fight on him, giving to the spectators the most amazing fights and overtaking manoeuvres seen in a long time. Who could ever forget [for me] the best overtaking manoeuvre in F1 ever, done by Hakkinen to Schumacher in 2000 at the Belgian GP at the straight after “eau rouge” while lapping a backmarker? Or the overtaking manoeuvre done by Alonso to Schumacher in 2005 at Suzuka in turn 14 from the outside.
Senna had to fight his way and earn his place while competing with various multiple time race winners and some even world champions in the same grid, the likes of Keke Rosberg, Niki Lauda, Nelson Piquet (Senior of course… and no race fixing in the process…), Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell, Gerhard Berger, Jean Alesi amongst the list. He had a though team mate and did beat him (in what is regarded as the strongest F1 pairing in history – Prost and Senna), while Schumacher always had a team built around him and he made sure his team mates always played a secondary role in the team, being his most competitive team mate in the like of Felipe Massa.
Senna was also the fastest of both, and statistically it can be seen by his 65 pole positions in 162 starts, versus Schumacher’s 68 pole positions in 250 starts. Senna’s obsession to find his limit was amazing; to the fact that once he was almost a full 2 seconds on his team mate (Alain Prost – The professor) in a similar machine and still knowing that he could go faster, he tried to beat his own time once more and did it. Dominated Monaco (a real driver circuit), winning it more times than anyone, with Schumacher also winning it 1 time less than Senna, which shows the greatness of Schumacher as well.
All in all, I am sure that even with the current poll done by Autosport Magazine, and which involved drivers (who with all fairness are the ones that know how good a driver really is or need to be…), voting that Senna is definitely the great, this discussion will continue for years to come, and we will never have a 100% agreement on the outcome.
So, to be fair with both drivers as we are trying to compare 2 excellent drivers from different eras in a sport that had lots of changes in the mix, I would conclude my thoughts by saying:
“Michael Schumacher, you are the great…”
As for Ayrton Senna, I haven’t seen anyone describing his talent so well and so simple, as Tina Turner did after the Australian Grand Prix, when during her show she called Ayrton Senna who was attending the live performance and sang with him……….. “The Best”. Yes, I fully agree with her. He is “simply the best”.
Coincidently, that was the last race Ayrton Senna won in his F1 career!
Helder Kiala
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