Ayrton Senna da Silva (March 21, 1960 -- May 1, 1994) was a Brazilian triple Formula One world champion. He died following an accident whilst leading the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix at Imola in Italy.
1994 - San Marino Grand Prix: On lap 7, from the onboard camera of Michael Schumacher's Benetton, Senna's car was seen to break traction twice at the rear, go off the track at Tamburello corner and strike an unprotected concrete barrier. Telemetry shows he left the track at 310 km/h (193 mph) and was able to slow the car down to 218 km/h (135 mph) in less than two seconds before hitting the wall.
After Senna's car came to a halt, he remained motionless in the cockpit. Although the car had suffered a high speed impact with the wall, the accident did not have the typical hallmark of an especially devastating racing crash. The car simply seemed to understeer strongly off the track, impact the wall at a shallow angle, tearing off the right front wheel and nosecone, lift slightly with the nose as it straightened, and spun mildly to a halt. Although the crash seemed benign, it was immediately evident that Senna had suffered some sort of injury because of the manner in which his helmet was seen to be mostly motionless and leaning very slightly to the side. In the seconds that followed his head was seen to move to one side slightly causing false hopes to be raised. A long time seemed to go by before medical units came to his aid, with fire marshals having arrived at the car and unable to touch Senna before qualified medical personnel arrived. Television coverage from an overhead helicopter was seen around the world, as rescue workers gave medical attention. Close inspection of the area in which the medical staff treated Senna revealed a considerable amount of blood on the ground. During this time a miscommunication in the pits caused a Larrousse F1 car piloted by Erik Comas to leave the pit lane and attempt to rejoin the now red flagged Grand Prix. Frantic waving by the marshalls at Senna's crash site prevented the Larousse from risking a collision with the medical helicopter that had landed on the track. Professor Sidney Watkins, a world-renowned neurosurgeon and Formula One Safety Delegate and Medical Delegate, head of the Formula One on-track medical team, who performed an on site tracheotomy on Ayrton Senna, reported: "He looked serene. I raised his eyelids and it was clear from his pupils that he had a massive brain injury. We lifted him from the cockpit and laid him on the ground. As we did, he sighed and, although I am totally agnostic, I felt his soul depart at that moment".
Undoubtedly, Senna was one of the greatest drivers of all time, but for millions of people, he was much more than this - his character was larger than life; he demonstrated almost superhuman skill and determination that would have stood out in whatever field he had chosen to be part of.
--"Racing, competing, it's in my blood. It's part of me, it's part of my life; I have been doing it all my life and it stands out above everything else"-- A.S.
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![Ayrton Senna - Honda NSX - Suzuka [ONBOARD]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/izaWlKxVo1A/default.jpg)
