It is 20 years this month that the world was left in shock. On 1^st May 1994, one of the greatest sporting icons, Ayrton Senna died from injuries he sustained from a fateful crash at the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola. Some pundits and journalists would regard Senna as the greatest driver that ever got into an F1 car.

Some would say Ayrton Senna was a ruthless bull who would do anything to win at all costs. However, to others, he was a sensitive man who cared about all living things who loved his people and prayed to god. So many things seems to define this man.

He won 41 races and three world championships and had great rivalries with the likes of Alain Prost and Nigel Mansell. He could have made another rival with a young Michael Schumacher, who knows.

What we do know is that Senna never gave you a dull moment, in or out, of a race car. Even, outside the paddock his interviews where always graceful as he pulled no punches with his words. Whether you loved him or hated him, he always got people talking. It is always the people who are controversial that seem to become the most iconic.

Racing was Ayrton’s passion since he was a child and it was all he ever wanted to be. Brazil has always had a great history of producing fantastic and exciting drive, however, this one was special. He would do his school homework straight away and finish it early so he could race his kart. It wasn’t till he raced in Britain that people started taking notice of him.

In 1984 the young Brazilian finally got his chance with the struggling Toleman team. They didn’t have the car and budget of McLaren, Lotus or Williams but were good in the midfield. At that year’s Monaco Grand Prix in the pouring rain, Senna came through to everyone’s shock and overtook, the then two time world champion, Niki Lauda. He finished second behind future arch nemesis Alain Prost. This performance got the attention of many of the big teams and before the end of the year Senna signed with Lotus, one the most respected teams in the paddock.

Within a year he won his first race driving superbly in the wet at the Portuguese GP in Estoril. He won another race later that year during his time at the Norfolk based team. He would then go on to win four more races which gave him six victories at Lotus.

At the halfway point of the 1987 season, it was announced that Senna would be leaving Lotus to sign for McLaren alongside Alain Prost. Nobody knew what came between these two drivers. What did go on became was one of sports greatest ever rivalries.

1988 was a great year for McLaren, they had snatched the Honda engine from rivals Williams and had hired renowned designer Gordon Murray from Brabham. The Mp4-4 was unstoppable with 15 of the 16 races that year. Senna won eight of them and beating his teammate Prost to the world championship by three points.

1989 proved more dramatic in the Senna-Prost rivalry with a particular incident at the San Marino Grand Prix. Both drivers agreed that whoever got off the start line first (both drivers had qualified first and second) would stay there. The second place driver would hold station. However, when Gerhard Berger’s Ferrari crashed at the tambarello corner and caught fire, the race was restarted. The same thing happened at the start with Prost getting away first at the start. Senna overtakes him at the first opportunity and winning the race. This made Prost furious. Senna would later say that the reason he overtook him is because he agreed to those conditions for the first start but not a restart.

Senna would go on to win his first of five Monaco GP’s. After that would come a steam of bad results and ‘did not finish’s’ (DNF’s) were starting to cost Senna with Prost getting away in the championship. Senna would still get wins but Prost finishing in the top 5 maintained his points difference. Going into the last two races, Prost was sixteen points ahead of Senna in the championship. Senna needed to win the Japanese GP to maintain the challenge.

As usual McLaren’s locked out the front row with Senna on pole position but with Prost getting past Ayrton at the start for 46 laps. Senna hunted down his arch nemesis and on the last corner saw his only opportunity to past Prost. With neither driver backing down, it led to an eventual collision. Prost got out of his car to retire from the race. Senna, however, had the marshals push the car through the chicane to get him going again. Senna won the race but was disqualified for cutting through corner which made Prost the world champion.

Earlier that season Prost had announced he was leaving McLaren and signed with Ferrari. This incident would go down as one of the most controversial incident’s in the history of the sport and is still talked about to this day.

As the 1990 season approached, Senna had a new teammate. Gehard Berger joined from Ferrari and was less serious and more laid back then Prost to which Senna enjoyed his company. The season was a good one for Ayrton who again was battling Prost for the championship. Senna won six races that year, including, Monaco to which Prost won five. The deciding race was once again Japan. Senna took pole for the race but was put on to the left side of the track which he claimed was dirty to the cleaner side which Prost was put on. Senna complained about it but the stewards refused to move it. In the drivers briefing all the drivers wanted assurances that there wouldn’t be a mess up like the previous year to which they agreed. Senna was furious about it and stormed out because it was a year ago. He then said that if Prost got past him and left him a gap then he better not get in his way or he wouldn’t make past the first corner. As the cars gathered for the start pulses where set for another decider with roles reversed with Senna leading the tile fight and Prost needing the win.

The race started and Prost took the lead and was heading the first corner but left open a gap to which Senna saw and tried to capitalise on. As they got to the corner Senna held his ground but with consequences and he smashed his wing in the back of Prost spinning him around and Senna straight off the circuit. This took both guys off circuit and out of the race which meant Senna was world champion again. Many people would say that Ayrton had done it deliberately because of his hatred of Prost. For a year, he denied he intentionally done it only to admit a year later to the surprise of the fans, pundits, and journalists.

1991 proved to be a dominant year for Senna with McLaren dominating with seven wins including a first at his home race in Brazil. A late surge from the Williams of Nigel Mansell did not prove enough and Senna won the title again at the Japanese GP. Ayrton and Nigel provided two excellent moments from that year with the first being the British GP with Nigel winning and giving Ayrton a lift back to garage on the way back and at the Spanish GP with Senna leading. Mansell made a move on him down the long straight and with both not giving an edge but Mansell coming out on top.

1992 proved to be a very difficult year for Senna with McLaren behind Williams. There new FW14B and its semi-automatic gearbox and active suspension put it ahead of the rest in the field with Nigel Mansell winning the first five races. It wasn’t until Monaco in another end of the race fight with Mansell that Senna finally won his first race of the year. He would only win two more races with Mansell storming to the title.

Another new rival emerged for Ayrton in the form of a young German driver called Michael Schumacher who was driving for the Benetton team. Senna and Michael had a few run-ins first at Brazil where Michael accused him of blocking him. Then at the French GP, Michael broke late and crashed into the back of Senna and took him out. Senna later confronted Michael who admitted to the accident. There was another incident at the German GP where during a test session Senna and Michael had a confrontation in the pits and Ayrton grabbed him by the collar and accused him of blocking him on the track.

1993 would prove another difficult one for Ayrton. He not only saw his enemy Prost return and replace Mansell at Williams and lose out the seat. Also, Honda had pulled out of F1 with McLaren using the less powerful and customer Ford engine. Again, Williams dominated with Prost but Ayrton managed another win in Brazil and Monaco. Once again, Williams got the advantage with Prost winning seven races to Ayrton’s five and a fourth title.

Prost retired from racing that year and after five glorious years at McLaren Senna signed to drive for Williams next season on the 16^th September 1993. It was announced a months later in Australia. Senna and Prost finally ended their rivalry by standing on the podium together.

1994 was a big year for Senna joining a new team and new teammate in Damon Hill. Big things where expected of Senna. He was already the favourite for the title but new rules banned the semi-automatic gearbox and the active suspension which had helped Williams. Previously during testing Senna said that he was finding the car difficult to drive and get right. As the first race approached in his home of Brazil, people where excited for the start. Senna took pole and got away. Michael Schumacher and his Benetton would keep chase and Senna lost out in the pit stop to Michael with ten laps left, Senna spun on the final corner and stalled the car putting him out of the race with Michael winning.

At the next race Ayrton once again qualified on pole ahead of Schumacher but was overtaken at the start. At the first corner his old teammate Mika Hakkinen in McLaren bumped into the back of him and spun into the gravel and was hit by a Ferrari. After his retirement, Senna then spent time listening to Michaels Benetton as went past. Once he returned to the pits he complained to the Williams team that the Benetton had the active suspension and semi-automatic gearbox that had been banned that year.

The next race would be at Imola in San Marino and first European race on the calendar. Ayrton went into the race behind Schumacher by 20 points. The pressure was ramping up on Senna. The weekend started badly when the Jordan of Rubens Barichello had a massive crash. For a while he was unconscious but only suffered a broken nose.

The next day more disaster struck when the Simtek of Roland Ratzenburger turned into a corner and crashed heavily and practically was dead on site. Meanwhile Senna once again Senna put the car on pole ahead of Schumacher. As race day dawned there was a down feeling in the paddock with what had happened. The race would get underway only for a crash to bring out the safety car. Once the race was on again Senna and Schumacher pulled away from the pack as they turned to start the sixth lap with Schumacher still trailing him. Senna was still trying to pull out a gap and then began to turn into the tambarello corner as he came out of it his car suddenly veered off the track at great pace and smashed into the barriers. The race was stopped after a while. People realised there was something wrong after Ayrton didn’t get out straight away. The medical people were on it straight away and loaded him into a helicopter.

The black news came hours later. After many attempts to keep him alive Ayrton Senna was pronounced dead at 2:17. The whole world was stunned as F1 hadn’t experienced such a dark hour!

Within a week, his body was flown back to Brazil for the funeral Brazil. There hadn’t been such a turnout for a figure like him. The funeral was attended by Frank Williams, Ron Dennis, Jackie Stewart, Damon Hill, and Alain Prost, his one-time nemesis.

To this day Senna’s memory and spirit still lives to on in the world of sport. Some still regard him as the greatest driver that ever lived and the most exciting. Speaking as a Michael Schumacher fan I’ll say different but I respect this man for what he did for the sport. If it wasn’t for him, Lewis Hamilton wouldn’t have perhaps been driving now.