20 years ago today...

The world of Motorsport and Formula 1 lost one of its true legends of the Sport. Ayrton Senna, a fearless and incredibly determined racer, was killed on Lap 5 of the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix at the Imola Circuit, a crash that added more drama to an already dark weekend, which had seen Rubens Barrichello suffer a terrible Practice accident but luckily emerged without any serious injuries, and then Austrian driver Roland Ratzenberger killed during Qualifying for the race.

R.I.P Ayrton Senna

3-time F1 Champion - 1988, 1990 and 1991.
65 Pole Positions
41 Wins



R.I.P Roland Ratzenberger 1960 - 1994

Without a doubt one of the darkest days in motorsport history.

RIP to them both.

Ayrton Senna is a fascinating personality. On track, he was absolutely all business, take no prisoners and ruthless but away from the track, he was such a giving man and the work he was doing for his country is something that to this day I've yet to see anyone come close to duplicating ( or making nearly as much an impact).

Give this a watch if you have 45 minutes:


I hate that Senna never lived long enough to come to America and race in IndyCar, he would've been exceptional, although, if you watch Alex Zanardi in his CART glory days, he kind of filled that void, because he made many Senna-like passes.

I mourn Ratzenberger for what might have been, and I celebrate Rubens living through his accident, and going on to have a tremendous F1 career. And we can't forget the incident that happened on pit road towards the end of the race, when that tire got loose and people got hurt. Thankfully, no one was seriously injured. And the Lehto-Lamy start line incident that left spectators injured.

What fascinates me the most is how much Ratzenberger's death affected Senna. Crying on Sid Watkins' shoulder. Stealing the Safety Car to go to the accident scene. Putting an Austrian flag in his car to pay tribute if he won. It showed that, underneath all that intensity and do-anything-to-win attitude, was a man who didn't want the sport he loved to go back to the '70s.

Physically gone, yet Senna remains larger than ever. The amount of lives affected by him, even those who were not even alive or able to remember him, is incredible. He will forever remain the most spectacular driver in F1 history.

And sadly Ratzenberger died the day before, few pay as much attention to his death than to Senna. While he never achieved F1 fame, and possibly never would have in Simtek, his path to Formula One was extraordinary. Rarely has a driver reached F1 with as much effort as he did. Of the little footage available of his Formula Ford and touring car days, you truly witness how hard he had to work on a shoe-string of a budget.

McLaren's tribute to Senna's 1988 Monaco qualifying lap.


Ratzenberger vs Philippe Favre in the Formula Ford Festival in 1986. Unfortunately, Favre also died earlier last year in a skiing accident.