[Magna]

I was looking at some stats that showed Aryton Senna has won the most pole positions. I would think that would translate to winning the most F1 races too, but Prost and Michael Schumacher are ahead of him.

Why is that? At first I thought that maybe cars during Senna era were not as reliable, but Prost drove during the same era and he has more wins despite having less number of pole positions. I can't imagine Senna having a problem defending his position during a race, but perhaps that's the answer. I hear that Senna drives like Schmacher and Montoya, so I would think Senna is very adept at passing and would fight to the end in giving up his position just like Michael and JPM. Comments?

 

[node21]

uh, u realize he's dead, right?

 

[Magna]

yes, i realize he's dead. i'll have to re-read my post. did i get one of the verb tenses wrong?

actually, does anybody know where there's a video of that race. i hear that it wasn't driver error (his fault).

 

[GTI]

Winning the pole position in qualify is one thing and winning the race is another. So many more things happen at the start of the race.

Last I heard the steering column broke and caused the spun out.

 

[pod13]

Here is an overview video of the crash.

http://www.cineca.it/HPSystems/Vis.I.T/Researches/Senna/movies/out5.mpg

 

[Magna]

pod13:

Thanks.

I didn't see a tirewall. I think today they would have put up a tirewall to help absorb some of the energy from the impact.

 

[FSelekler]

Senna, if I remember correctly, had only 41 grand prix wins. His wins are considerable taking total starts in to account. However, Micheal still had more wins within the same number of starts.

F1 Racing mag made an analysis recently and chose Clark as the best overall driver in F1 followed very closely (1 point) by Micheal. Senna, I believe, was 4th or 5th. They have a good write up why one is better than the other in various categories that would explain in detail the answer you are looking for.

 

[FSelekler]

Let's do this right:

Senna:

Starts: 161
Championships: 88, 90, 91
Points: 614
Wins: 41
Poles: 65
Fastest Laps: 19

Schumacher: (prior to 2002 season)

Starts: 161
Championships: 94, 95, 00, 01
Points: 801
Wins: 53
Poles: 43
Fastest Laps: 44

Prost:

Starts: 199
Championships: 85, 86, 89, 93
Points: 798.5 (don't ask me )
Wins: 51
Poles: 33
Fastest Laps: 41

Niki Lauda:

Starts: 170
Championships: 75, 77, 84
Points: 420.5
Wins: 25
Poles: 24
Fastest Laps: 24

 

[Magna]

do you recall the issue of the magazine? by the way, is F1 Racing and F1 magazine (Nigell Mansell, editor) the same?

senna has the highest poles to wins ratio. it seems he's the master qualifier, but something happens during the race. at first i thought maybe cars during his era were not as reliable, but looking at prost's and lauder's poles to wins ratio (in no way a complete indicator of reliability), reliability doesn't seem to be the answer.

perhaps senna consistently pushed his car too much, similiar to what happened to JPM last year. bad luck could be part of it too. in any case, not enough info to draw any conclusions.

it would be great if you could recall the issue when the article appeared. thanks for all your help.

 

[FSelekler]

It is actually the Feb 2002 issue, still on stands I think. Those two are the same mags.

 

[Magna]

i have the feb 2002 issue, the one with Allan McNish on the cover, but didn't see the article.

 

[Alex Baumann]

Aaahh! That brings some memories back.

I tried to skip this thread but couldn't resist to post.

Ayrton Senna da Silva, was for me the greatest driver ever. As a long time F1 fan, I had the greatest luck to see him on the circuit many times in Italy,Germany,Belgium.

It's true Magna, I have never watched another driver who drove his car on the limit in the race, no not even M.Schumacher is doing it today.

What a day....... May 1, 1994, I was at Imola, arrived Italy a few days before the race and spent some time in Bologna (next big city)

The last time I saw him, he was in front of M.Schumacher, passed our tribune along with other cars. And we never saw him again... never. We didn't quite understand how severe his injury was as they announced the crash.

I was totally shocked as I heard of his death. You could see crying people on the streets of Imola and all TV channels were broadcasting the race live.

I never believed that Senna was dead and still hurts to remember...

I want to close my post with his own words..

"Racing, competing is in my blood. It's part of me, it's part of my life"
Ayrton Senna

 

[FSelekler]

Yea, it was really a sad day, even though, I was a Prost fan.

Magna -- It does say Feb '02 issue on it, with M. Schumacher's and Senna's photos on it. (F1 Racing, right?)

 

[Magna]

Flying Toaster:

Got the mag! It was one of the last two. F1 Magazine and F1 Racing are two different mags. Very close to the same size and both published out of the UK. just read F1 mag which has slicker higher quality paper. will now read F1 Racing to determine which one is better, or maybe i might have to buy both.

 

[FSelekler]

Congrats :thumb:

 

[ALEX325i]

Alex, like you, I tried to resist to this thread.

Seriously, your comments brought tears to my eyes. I don't wanna sound like a wimp, but hey, it's true. Besides, Senna was my idol.

I still remember the day he died too. When TV started showing the crash, I thought "WTF has just happened? He went straight into that wall". At ~300Km/h, I knew it couldn't have been anything "superficial", but I couldn't believe it when they announced he was dead...

I gotta be honest. I don't like Schumacher too much... He's a GREAT driver, but I think he lacks charisma (like that's important in F1 these days).

Even Prost used to say that he witnessed Senna doing $hit he had never seen any other driver do before. Specially in the rain... Nobody, I mean, nobody could handle rain better than Senna. I watched an interview and Senna said the reason why he felt so comfortable driving in the rain had to do with the fact that he used to train every day after school when he was a kid, and it rains a LOT in Sao Paulo, Brazil, which is entirely true. So, as he grew up, driving in the rain was just as easy as driving on dry pavement... Actually, if I remember right. The first F1 race he won back in 84 was under severe rain. He used to drive that yellow Lotus back then...

I visited his grave in Sao Paulo a few years ago... It was an honor to visit the grave of such a GREAT driver, but above all, a GREAT human being...

Aaahh! That brings some memories back.

I tried to skip this thread but couldn't resist to post.

Ayrton Senna da Silva, was for me the greatest driver ever. As a long time F1 fan, I had the greatest luck to see him on the circuit many times in Italy,Germany,Belgium.

It's true Magna, I have never watched another driver who drove his car on the limit in the race, no not even M.Schumacher is doing it today.

What a day....... May 1, 1994, I was at Imola, arrived Italy a few days before the race and spent some time in Bologna (next big city)

The last time I saw him, he was in front of M.Schumacher, passed our tribune along with other cars. And we never saw him again... never. We didn't quite understand how severe his injury was as they announced the crash.

I was totally shocked as I heard of his death. You could see crying people on the streets of Imola and all TV channels were broadcasting the race live.

I never believed that Senna was dead and still hurts to remember...

I want to close my post with his own words..

"Racing, competing is in my blood. It's part of me, it's part of my life"
Ayrton Senna