Ayrton Senna is one of the most legendary drivers in the history of Formula 1 and motor racing. The Brazilian virtuoso became a three-time World Champion during his tenure in the sport.
From his debut in 1984 to his untimely death in 1994, Senna recorded 41 victories (six with Lotus and 35 with McLaren).
His first success came in 1985, when he was in his first year driving for Lotus. Senna had a big debut year in 1984 with Toleman, achieving three podiums and performing at a magnificent level at Monaco under heavy rain.
The heavy rain would smiled upon Senna several times during his career, and his maiden win had to be under those circumstances.
On April 21st, 1985, Ayrton Senna won his first F1 race at the Estoril Circuit. He dominated the wet race from Pole Position and led every lap, while finishing with a gap of over a minute against the second-placed driver, Michele Alboreto.
The then 25-year-old Brazilian added a second win to his tally later in the year, when he won at Spa-Francorchamps.
In 1985, Senna finished fourth in the World Drivers’ Championship with 38 points and six podiums.
In the following two seasons, Senna competed for Lotus again, winning four more races for the team before moving to McLaren for the 1988 Formula 1 campaign.
In 1986, Senna won the Spanish Grand Prix and the Detroit Grand Prix, while his first win at Monaco came in 1987, and his final win for Lotus came at Detroit.
Apart from his first win, the win at Jerez in 1986 was an iconic one, as he defeated Williams’ Nigel Mansell by just 0.014 seconds, which is vietually a tie for the lead.
The race was amazing and saw a big fight for the win between Senna, Mansell and eventual World Champion Alain Prost (McLaren).
Ayrton Senna and his rivalry with Alain Prost
After leaving Lotus, Senna went on to win the 1988 championship with McLaren and the rivalry with Alain Prost started to take form.
After a controversial finish to the 1989 championship, were Prost was declared champion after Senna’s win at Suzuka was taken away, the Brazilian won the title in 1990 and 1991, after big fights with Prost (Ferrari) and Mansell, respectively.
Obviously, Senna competed in that season with his usual helmet design, a yellow helmet with a blue and green stripe going from the visor to the back, through the sides of the helmet. The helmets were painted by the legendary Sid Mosca.
Thw only changes in the design throughout Ayrton Senna’s racing career came when he changed teams and new sponsors were added to the helmet, or when the engine supplier was different from a previous year.
Other than that, the tone of yellow varied on some years, but the essence of the design remained the same.
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