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Formula 1's greatest drivers. Number one: Ayrton Senna
BBC Sport is profiling 20 of the greatest Formula 1 drivers of all time. The BBC F1 team were asked to provide their own personal top 20s, which were combined to produce a BBC list. Veteran commentator Murray Walker provides his own reflections in a video of their career highlights, and chief F1 writer Andrew Benson profiles the driver. This week, number one - Ayrton Senna.
Death, perhaps inevitably, has lent Ayrton Senna's legend a romanticised sheen.
The greatness of the man and the brilliance of his driving is remembered easily, the occasional darkness of his psyche perhaps less so.
But it does Senna a disservice to honour only part of his legacy. The significance of his achievements cannot be properly understood without a full appreciation of their origins.
Probably no driver in Formula 1 history dedicated himself more to his sport, gave more of himself in the unbending pursuit of success.
Senna was a force of nature, a powerful combination of spectacular raw talent and sometimes terrifying determination.
He had the good looks of a romantic hero, a charisma that could quieten any room, the eloquence of a poet and a spirituality with which millions felt they could identify.
His dark eyes were windows to a soul of complexity and volatility.
All that made him into a demi-god in his homeland of Brazil, and admired the world over like few sportsmen before or since.
But with that determination, and his own knowledge of just how good he was, came a sense of entitlement that was less attractive and which led him to take actions that put his own life - and the lives of his opponents - at risk.
Source and full article: BBC Sport
I have to agree with this choice. Senna was probably the most complete and fastest driver F1 has ever seen. It's a shame his tragic death robbed us of several years of a Senna vs Schumacher duel.
