A Star Named Ayrton Senna Page #2

I always told him that: A wise man is

not someone who knows everything.

A wise man is a man who can do

the things he knows.

It's not simply a stronger muscle

or a better tone in your muscle...

but it's really the power,

the strength you get...

physically speaking, to your body,

but also to your mind.

You only really learn by doing it,

I believe.

Once I realized

there was something special in that...

I really focused

and tried to learn about myself.

You learn about your own limitations,

about your strengths, your qualities...

and, as a whole,

trying to make yourself...

a smoother person.

I don't remember exactly,

but certainly in 1983...

I was very much aware of him

in Formula 3 in England.

He was very persistent about winning.

He was already very good at it then.

But also persistent about persuading

Patrick Head and myself to let him test.

To have his first drive

in a Grand Prix Formula-1 car.

That first drive came at

Donington Park in England...

at the wheel of the Williams FW-08C.

The model that took Keke Rosberg

to victory in Monaco earlier that year.

Ayrton turned up, made himself

comfortable in the cockpit...

remembered all the instructions

about what everything was for.

At the time he was only halfway

through his first Formula-3 season.

triple the power of his usual mount.

He did an out-and-straight-back-in

lap to check over the car mechanically.

Then he just went off a second quicker

than the car'd ever been around there.

And then said:
I think I got enough.

He got out of the car and went home.

We were quite astonished.

On that particular day, it was that his

brain was in control of everything else.

He was ahead of the game,

clearly belonged in GP car.

He was born for that.

We weren't ready

to put him in the team in '84...

because of contractual obligations

to other drivers.

And then he went off to Lotus

and then to McLaren.

So it was quite a long while before we

were able to offer him a seat in '94.

He went to Toleman, it was fantastic

to see another Brazilian driving.

By instinct I was always

more of a fan of Ayrton...

than I was of any other

Brazilian Formula-1 driver.

I never saw Emerson,

but I had the chance to see Nelson.

With Ayrton it was different. I felt

like he was driving tremendously...

and that he was going to be a champ.

I remember we had a discussion about

top drivers like Piquet or whatever.

And I said to Ron Dennis

and the other people:

Take the best young guy to get a very

strong team and that was Ayrton.

They all said:

Why do you want to have Ayrton?

I said:
Why not?

I'm thinking about the team.

Having a teammate like Ayrton was

very different from the old team I had.

Also for Formula 1

it was really exceptional...

to have two drivers

of this kind of caliber.

When Ayrton came into F-1,

Prost was the top, number one.

And he was the one he wanted

to catch. He wanted to beat him.

When he started testing

and racing with us...

he wasn't interested in anyone else

in the grid, only Alain.

What was his time? What rear wing

has he got? What springs has he got?

He just wanted to know what Alain

was doing. He wanted to beat him.

He was a man like no other man

I had ever met before.

He was almost a mystic.

He was very, very, very intense.

He was a charismatic personality.

He could be absolutely charming,

but there was another side to him.

He was absolutely ruthless

when he was in the cockpit.

And he was an intensely religious,

God-fearing man.

And he actually believed

that he had a God-given right to win.

The main thing is to be yourself

and not allow people to disturb you.

To be different, because they want

you to be. You gotta be yourself.

Many times it's through a mistake

due to your personality or character...

or from interference

that you get along the way...

that you learn, and the main things is to

learn from your mistakes and get better.

I believe in the ability of focusing

strongly on something...

then you are able to extract

even more out of it.

His whole life was concentrated on

winning the race, the championship.

He had no family, no children, nothing...

so it looks like he was living

only for that.

The hardest thing to do during a race

is to maintain your concentration.

You have to concentrate at all times...

and make sure you don't have problems

that can distract you from the race.

You must be prepared technically...

and to know what to do

at the right time.

And not make any technical

or human mistakes.

In the time when we have

these sophisticated racing cars...

with skirts and electronic suspension...

to raise the car for the straights

and lower it before the corners...

you have to do many thing on the car.

Obviously, any driver to take part

in a car race...

whether Formula 1 or another category

is exposed to risks.

You are aware of the risks out there.

No one drives without using his head.

A driver who doesn't use his head

has no future.

He'll have a very brief career,

because he'll get hurt in an accident.

This profession requires

that you be fast...

that you perform,

that you're consistent and intelligent.

As a racing driver one has to be in tune

with your emotions, your body...

your mind, your psychology,

all these things.

I think Ayrton had these qualities

in abundance.

And he seemed like a driver

who was always questioning...

what it was to be a racing driver.

Once he was focused, he didn't feel

any pain or stress. Nothing.

He was just in another world.

As we all were more or less,

but he was more intense.

He was a step ahead.

There's a state of mind

that one is raised to...

where it becomes

sort of transcendental.

Ayrton spoke of his concentration

when he was in qualifying.

He talked about a state of mind

he got into...

whereby he was there,

but not really driving the car.

And these are things that are...

that speak of the level of concentration

that he achieved as a racing driver.

You had to do these qualifying laps.

You were in the box and you watched

the monitors and your competitors.

You talked to your engineer. How's the

wind, the sun, the asphalt temperature?

And then the engineer told you:

Now let's go.

That meant

you had to switch a button...

and say to yourself:

I have to be fully concentrated.

And actually get into another world...

where everything is in slow motion.

When you do a quick lap...

you try to see it in slow motion

to get all the fine things right.

And it's kind of a dream.

Everyone following F-1...

recognized that Senna

was the master of qualifying.

If you go for a corner

on qualifying tires...

with extra horsepower and

you've never had that all weekend...

how do you anticipate how fast you

can go? What the car is capable of?

Ayrton would enter a corner faster

than he'd ever been before...

and trust

that something inside Ayrton Senna...

would help him

and the car around the corner.

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