Considered one of the greatest drivers in the history of Formula 1, Ayrton Senna was killed 24 years ago today while leading the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix at Imola, Italy.
Here is a look at Senna’s career through an array of statistics and numbers.
By The Numbers – Ayrton Senna da Silva
1 – Senna failed to qualify for only one grand prix in 162 entries – the 1984 San Marino Grand Prix.
2 – Senna’s F1 victories came with two teams: Team Lotus (six) and McLaren (35).
2 – Senna won his home grand prix in Brazil twice: in 1991 and 1993, both at Interlagos.
3 – Senna won three Formula 1 World Championships: 1988, 1990 and 1991.
4 – Senna earned four grand slams: winning the race, leading every lap, setting the fastest lap and earning the pole. He did so in the 1985 Portuguese Grand Prix, 1989 Spanish Grand Prix and the 1990 Monaco and Italian Grand Prix.
6 – Senna won the Monaco Grand Prix a record six times. It was at Monaco in 1984, in a rain, that Senna established himself as a master in the wet.
8 – Senna holds the record for consecutive pole positions, with eight behind the 1988 Spanish and 1989 United States grand prix. He also earned seven straight poles between races held over the course of the 1990 and 1991 seasons, a feat matched by three drivers (Alain Prost, Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton).
8 – Senna’s 65th and final career pole came in his final race, the San Marino Grand Prix. It was his eighth career pole at San Marino, which set a record for most poles in a single grand prix by one driver (later tied by Michael Schumacher, who earned eight in the Japanese Grand Prix).
9 – Senna won races in nine consecutive seasons, which is fourth all-time.
12 – Senna won 12 races during the 1983 British Formula Three Championship (amounting to 60 percent of that year’s 20 races) en route to beating Martin Brundle by just nine points. Senna also earned the pole position in 15 of those 20 races and set the fastest race lap in 12 contests.
13 – Senna earned 13 poles during the 1988 and 1989 Formula 1 World Championship seasons.
17 – Senna won 17 different grand prix (in chronological order of first victory in each event): Portuguese, Belgian, Spanish, Detroit, Monaco, San Marino, Canadian, British, German, Hungarian, Japanese, Mexican, United States, Italian, Brazilian, Australian and European.
19 – Senna led every lap of a race in which he won a record 19 times. Jim Clark, Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton have led from start to finish 13 times.
19 – Senna set the fastest lap of an F1 grand prix 19 times.
24 – Senna earned 24 consecutive front row starts, between the 1988 German Grand Prix and the 1989 Australian Grand Prix. He started on the front row in every race in 1989.
25.31 – Senna won 25.31 percent of his Formula 1 World Championship races (41 out of 162 entries).
29 – Senna won 29 of his races from the pole position, the fourth most all-time. That marks 70.7 percent of his victories from the top starting spot on the grid. Twenty of those 29 came in just three seasons: 1988, 1989 and 1991.
31 – Senna became the youngest driver in F1 to win three championships, at the age of 31 years, 214 days. That record has since been eclipsed by Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton.
34 – Senna was 34 years old at the time of his death.
41 – Senna won 41 Formula 1 World Championship grand prix, which was second at the time of his death, behind Alain Prost’s 51. He has since dropped to fifth all-time in victories, behind Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton, Prost and Sebastien Vettel. He remains the all-time leader in victories from Brazil as well as outside Europe.
65 – Senna earned 65 career pole positions, which at the time of his death was nearly twice as many as the nearest driver (Jim Clark and Alain Prost both had 33). Senna is now third on the list, behind Lewis Hamilton (73) and Michael Schumacher (68). He earned poles in 40.12 percent of the races in which he entered.
80 – Senna earned 80 career F1 podiums, which was second at the time of his death. He is seventh on the current list, with four drivers ahead of him actively driving.
86 – Senna led 86 career F1 races, the fourth most of any driver in history.
161 – Senna competed in 161 Formula 1 World Championship races out of 162.
2,931 – Senna led 2,931 laps in his F1 career, which were the most at the time of his death. He is fourth all-time behind Schumacher, Hamilton and Vettel.
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