It is not yet March 21, 2014 here in South Africa but we got an early look at tomorrow’s Google Doodle from the Google Australia and Google New Zealand pages. Tomorrow’s Google Doodle is about “Ayrton Senna” the Legendary Formula One Racing Driver who dominated Formula One and Grand Prix for many years.
Here at Car Site we regularly report on Google Doodles but mostly they are not relevant to the Car Site site, and we mostly report on them for the love of it, and the opportunity to research the interesting things and People Google Usually honor with a Google Doodle.
Tomorrows Google Doodle is however very special and Ayrton Senna does not need any introductions here on the Car Site site.
Who was Ayrton Senna?
Ayrton Senna was a Brazilian racing car driver specializing in Formula One and Grand Prix racing. During his career Ayrton Senna won 3 Formula One World Championships. Many Top Motoring Journalist and Formula One fans, commentators and spectators still regard Ayrton Senna as the Greatest Ever Formula One Champions.
Ayrton Senna was born on 21 March 1960 in São Paulo, Brazil and died on the 1st of May 1994 at the age of 34 in Bologna Italy during the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix. At the time of the accident Ayrton Senna was leading the race. At the time of writing this article Ayrton Senna was the last Formula One Driver to have died during a Formula One race.
1994 San Marino Grand Prix
The 1994 San Marino Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on the 1st of May 1994 at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, located Imola, Italy. It was the third race of the 1994 Formula one season. (The Tragic death of Ayrton Senna took a way the darling of Formula One Racing, but also lead to dramatic changes in Formula One racing which has led to better safety regulations which changed the sport forever).
The race weekend was marked by the deaths of Austrian driver Roland Ratzenberger and of three-time world champion Ayrton Senna in separate accidents.
- Michael Schumacher won the restarted race.
- Nicola Larini scored the first points of his career when he achieved a podium finish in second position.
- Mika Häkkinen finished third.
Ayrton Senna was given a state funeral in his home country of Brazil in his hometown of São Paulo where around 500,000 people lined the streets to watch the coffin pass. Italian prosecutors charged six people with manslaughter in connection with Ayrton Senna’s death, all of whom were later acquitted. The case took more than 11 years to conclude due to an appeal and a retrial following the original verdict of not guilty.
Ayrton Senna Grand Prix Career
Senna has often been voted as one of the greatest Formula One drivers of all time in various motorsport polls. He was recognized for his qualifying speed over one lap and from 1989 until 2006 held the record for most pole positions.
He was also acclaimed for his wet weather performances, such as the 1984 Monaco Grand Prix, the 1985 Portuguese Grand Prix, and the 1993 European Grand Prix.
He holds a record six victories at the prestigious Monaco Grand Prix, and is the third most successful driver of all time in terms of race wins.
Senna courted controversy throughout his career, particularly during his turbulent rivalry with Alain Prost. Both the 1989 Championship won by Prost and the 1990 Championship won by Senna were decided by collisions between the pair at those years Japanese Grand Prix Race.
Ayrton Senna Formula One Racing Car Driver
Ayrton Senna Toleman – 1984
Ayrton Senna made his racing career debut at the Brazilian Grand Prix in Rio de Janeiro. Later the same year he scored his first World Championship point in his second race at the South African Grand Prix and scored again two weeks later at the Belgian Grand Prix. Still in 1984, Ayrton Senna took two more podium finishes in 1984 at the British and Portuguese Grand Prix races.
He was placed 9th in the Drivers Championship with 13 points overall and could have even ranked higher if he could have taken part in the Italian Grand Prix but he was banned from taking part in the race by Toleman for being in breach of his contract by signing for Lotus for 1985 Grand Prix Season without informing them about his planned move to lotus.
The Toleman TG184 Formula One Racing car which Ayrton Senna raced in 1984 on display at the Donington Grand Prix Collection.
Ayrton Senna Lotus (1985 – 1987)
Ayrton Senna partnered with Italian driver Elio de Angelis for team lotus in his early formula one career with Lotus. Ayrton Senna was almost immediate one of the top Grand Prix driver and in his first year with lotus at the Portuguese Grand Prix, Ayrton Senna took the first pole position of his Formula 1 career. He converted it into his first victory in the race, which was held in very wet conditions, winning by over a minute from Michele Alboreto.
Ayrton Senna McLaren
Ayrton Senna won the Detroit Grand Prix in 1986, two days after Brazil was eliminated from the 1986 FIFA World Cup, and Ayrton Senna got a Brazilian Flag from a Brazillian supporter and drove one lap waving the Brazilian flag this became a signature move from Ayrton Senna which he repeated thereafter every time he won a race.
time world champion, taking seven wins and increasing his pole position record to 60. In 1993 Ayrton Senna concluded the season and his McLaren career with two wins in Japan and Australia, finishing second overall in the championship to Prost.
The penultimate race was noted for an incident where Jordan’s rookie Eddie Irvine twice unlapped himself against Ayrton Senna. Ayrton Senna later appeared at Jordan’s garage and after a lengthy and heated discussion, punched the Irishman in the face. For the 1994 season, AyrtonSenna had offers from McLaren, Williams, Benetton, and Ferrari, the team he believed was the soul of Formula 1, and to which he planned to move to in 1996 before retiring in 2000. According to his manager, Julian Jakobi, a deal was in the works with Ferrari who had already offered Ayrton Senna, the most sought after driver, a groundbreaking $22 million a year.
Ayrton Senna Williams (1994)
1994, Ayrton Senna finally signed with the Williams-Renault team on 11 October 1993 after Prost had decided to end his career. During this time Ayrton Senna became the highest paid Formula One Driver and received $1 million per race. Many people believe that Ayrton Senna predicted his death by saying that he thinksAyrton Senna
Ayrton Senna’s third and final race of the 1994 season, the San Marino Grand Prix, was held on the “Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari” circuit located in Imola, Italy. Imola had traditionally been considered the beginning of the F1 season proper, on European soil. Senna, who did not finish the two opening races of the season, declared that this was where his season would start, with fourteen races, as opposed to sixteen, in which to win the title. Williams brought modified FW16s to Imola in an attempt to improve the car’s handling.
Seconds From Death: The Death Of Ayrton Senna
As Ayrton Senna rounded the high-speed Tamburello corner on lap 7, the car left the racing line at around 191 mph (307 km/h), ran in a straight line off the track, and hit the concrete retaining wall at around 145 mph (233 km/h), after what telemetry showed to be an application of the brakes for around 2 seconds. The red flag was shown as a consequence of the accident. Within two minutes of crashing, Ayrton Senna was extracted from his race car by Professor Sid Watkins and his medical team.
Initial treatment took place by the side of the car, with Senna having a weak heartbeat and significant blood loss (approximately 4.5 litres). Because of Senna’s poor neurological condition, Professor Watkins performed an on-site tracheotomy and requested the immediate airlifting of Senna to Bologna’s Maggiore Hospital, where he was declared dead hours later. Watkins later said that as soon as he saw Ayrton Senna’s fully dilated pupils, he knew that his brainstem was inactive and that he would not survive
Ayrton Senna Google Doodle
The Ayrton Senna Google Doodle appeared on most Google International Search Engines on March 21, 2014. The Google Doodled featured a drawing of Ayrton Senna and the background of the Google Doodle showcased the design of his signature Formula One Racing Helmet.
