| "The day it arrives, it will arrive. It could
be today or 50 years later. The only sure thing
is that it will arrive."
About death
|
| "You will never know the feeling of a driver
when winning a race. The helmet hides feelings that
cannot be understood."
November, 1988
|
| "The danger sensation is exciting. The challenge
is to find new dangers."
1989
|
| "I don't know driving in another way which
isn't risky. Each one has to improve himself. Each
driver has its limit. My limit is a little bit further
than other's."
January, 1989
|
| "Winning is the most important. Everything
is consecuence of that."
January, 1989
|
| "In Brazil we have had Emerson (Fittipaldi),
Carlos Pace, and now it's me. After me there will
be another one. This is unrefusable."
July, 1989
|
| "My biggest error? Something that is to happen
yet."
September, 1990
|
| "Emotion, pleasure and challenge."
1991, when asked about what he felt at 300
kph
|
| "Fear is exciting for me."
1991
|
| "Fear is part of people's life. Some of them
don't know how to face it, others -where I include
myself- learn coexisting with it or face it, not
as a negative thing, but like a autoprotection sensation."
1991
|
| "Women - always in trouble with them, but
can't live without them."
June, 1991
|
| "Money is a strange business. People who
haven't got it aim it strongly. People who have
are full of troubles."
July, 1991
|
| "Accidents are unsuspected and hated, but
they are part of life. When you are fitted in a
racing car and you race to win, second or third
place is not enough. You must take the compromise
to win, or else nothing. That means: you race or
you do not."
August, 1991
|
| "I don't see myself as brazilian's main star.
I don't think I'm so important so as to be the reason
for a whole night party."
October, 1991, as he achieved his third world
crown.
|
| "I have no idols. I admire work, dedication
an competence."
October, 1991
|
| "If you have God on your side, everything
becomes clear."
Interview in 1992
|
| "Wealthy men can't live in an island that
is encircled by poverty. We all breath the same
air. We must give a chance to everyone, at least
a basic chance."
Interview in 1993
|
| "It is important, when your techical equiptment
is not the best, to believe there will always be
a better race; that is a part of my motivation."
Febuary, 1994
|
| "It's going to be a season with lots of accidents,
and I'll risk saying that we'll be lucky if something
really serious doesn't happen."
1994 Preseason
|
|
"Correr, competir, eu levo isso
no sangue, é parte de minha vida"
Ayrton Senna
|
| "My car reacts a bit nervously on this kind
of surface. This stems from its special aerodynamics
but it's also got to do with a difficulty in the
suspension."
May 1, 1994 Prerace
|
| "Ayrton set standards the rest
of us can only dream about. His death doesn't
seem real. He was invincible and was going to
keep on winning."
Derek Warwick
|
| "I was proud to compete aginst
him. Professionally, he was the only driver I
respected. In Senna's honour, I will never sit
in a Formula One car again."
Alain Prost
|
| "Ayrton was the best friend
I ever had in F1, closer to me than anybody else
in the business. During my three years driving
with him at McLaren, I came to realize that he
was the best, one level higher than the rest of
us."
Gerhard Berger
|
| "This has been one of my hardest
achievements in motorsport. The soul searching
was very difficult, especially when my five-year-old
daughter came and asked whether it was true that
Senna was dead. It was tough, but we all had to
face the same thing. Did we want to do this anymore?
Is it crazy? It was a very emotional and difficult
time."
Martin Brundle
|
| "He was the best driver who
ever lived."
Niki Lauda
|
| "Ayrton Senna was an extraordinary
racing driver. His skills, craft, subtlety and
courage were of such magnitude that he dwarfed
his generation of drivers."
Ron Dennis
|
| "Senna was one of the greatest
talents that has ever lived in motor racing."
Jackie Stewart
|
| "His loss is impossible to
quantify. Everyone who has ever met him, in whatever
capacity, feels they have lost something very
special."
Frank Williams
|
| "The life of Ayrton Senna was
an example in dedication and the love of the sports
few athletes have had at international level.
The world has lost the greatest athlete in the
history of motor racing and I have lost a great
friend. Grand Prix racing will never be the same
without Ayrton."
Emerson Fittipaldi
|
| "Ayrton and I shared some of
the most exciting races ever staged and it is
impossible to put into words what a sad loss this
is to motor racing. I was stunned after Roland
Ratzenberger was killed and for Ayrton to lose
his life the next day makes it a very black weekend.
There will not be a driver in the world who will
not be deeply affected by this news."
Nigel Mansell
|
| "This is a bad loss not only
to the sport, but also to his country. There is
nobody at his level in Formula 1. He was the best
driver, very determined and it is a sad loss."
Nelson Piquet
|
| "When I first came round in
the medical center after my accident, the first
face I saw was Ayrton's, with tears in his eyes.
I had never seen that with Ayrton before. I just
had the impression that he felt as if my accident
was like one of his own. He helped me a lot with
my career and I can't find the words to describe
his loss."
Rubens Barrichello
|
| "What has happened is so dramatic
and so bad that I feel no satisfaction in winning."
Michael Schumacher
|
| "Dear
Ayrton, thank you so much for the good times we
have had together. Your memory will always remain,
not only with us who had the pleasure of knowing
you personally, but with all the world who followed
your career. We hope that you family will find
the strength to survive this dreadful pain. Rest
in peace."
McLaren Racing
|
| "I always had a good relationship
with him in our breif encounters. Senna was very
good to us. He was very supportive of Michael.
In fact, his was one of the first congratulatory
messages Michael got after winning in Australia.
I don't know what else to say. It comes as a tremendous
shock to all of us. It's a devastating loss."
Mario Andretti
|
| "It's a real waste. He still
had a lot of racing and wins left in him. He was
a good person. I can tell you that firsthand.
Last year (1993), when I had my problems, he was
one of the main people there supporting me. He
was probabily the greatest driver of all time.
This was not a driver error. There was no weakness
in his driving."
Michael Andretti
|
| "There are very few drivers
you would put on a higher level than Senna. He
dominated his era by a fair margin, and some consider
him the greatest ever. He set standards that may
never be duplicated. He stood out in my mind because
I have never seen anyone ask more of himself in
terma of how near the edge he was willing to go.
He did it so long that he came to assume that
everything would be alright."
Dan Gurney
|
| "We want to send our thoughts
and prayers to the family of Ayrton Senna and
all his fans. He was a great racer and a great
champion. It's a shame."
Dale Earnhardt
|
| "As I already said on TV, I
want to dedicate this success to Ayrton. This
is the place, I believe, where my life changed.
After everything I have been through, from the
problems on the car to the problems with myself,
I think that Imola this year has seen another
changing point..."
Rubens Barrichello in post-race press conferance
at Imola GP 1999. He finished 3rd.
|
| "Ayrton still is and
always will be in our hearts. I don't know if
he would still be racing today, at the age of
forty, what I know is that he will always be remembered"
Rubens Barrichello, On Ayrton's 40th
Birhtday, March 20, 2000.
|
| "Senna is the king. I
don't think I ever will be. It's not a challenge
I'm aiming for, you can't compare the two of us.
You never know what he would have done in the
future."
Michael Schumacher, After the first
day's free practice at Monaco on Thursday June
1, 2000.
"Ayrton Senna is my favourite driver. I think he's the best driver there ever was and, to this day, I still don't believe anyone would beat him.
If I could achieve just a small part of what he's achieved, it would be a dream for me."
Lewis Hamilton, October 2008. |
|
|