Ayrton Senna: Remembering Formula 1 world legend on 26th death anniversary
On the 1st of May, 1994, Formula 1 lost one of its greatest champions, Ayrton Senna. Twenty-six years after the fateful crash, the world still cries the loss of the Brazilian driver who died at the age of 34, when leading the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola, Italy.
Formula 1 remembered the triple world champion with a tweet, reading: “His legend will live forever on. Today we remember Ayrton Senna”.
Formula 1 shared a moving clip showing Senna's first point in F1 during his second-ever race.
Carmaker Ferrari too posted a tweet, writing, “Today we come together to remember the legend that was Ayrton Senna.”
Several reports on the internet went viral recounting the final moments of Senna on a fateful day. The weekend leading to Senna’s death had seen Brazilian driver Rubens Barrichello suffering a crash, and Austrian novice Roland Ratzenberger too was killed after a heavy crash against a solid wall during the qualifiers. Despite advice against competing due to the mentioned deaths by his team, Senna decided to participate anyway, and during the seventh lap, he hit a concrete wall at 145 mph. He did not survive, and that crash marked the end of an everlasting sports legend.
In a 2019 interview with AFP, Senna's former team-mate Gerhard Berger had opened up about the traumatic shock that Senna's death brought to the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), but also to every F1 team and driver, and to those who joined forces to bring about a change in the sport.
In the days following the accident, Michael Schumacher, Niki Lauda, and Berger along with others introduced reforms to the Grand Prix Drivers' Association called for a reduction in speed within the F1 races. The speed reduction was introduced for the Spanish Grand Prix at the end of May of the same year.
Today, many F1 stars remembered the champion's death with a tweet: "Remembering the great Ayrton Senna, 26 years on from his untimely passing. Always with us. #SennaSempre," Williams Racing said.
"Reflecting on the life of a racing hero, champion and friend as we mark 26 years since we lost Ayrton Senna. Always in our hearts. #SempreSenna" read a post on the McLaren F1 Twitter account.
Honda tweeted a photo of Senna with a humble message: "Forever in our hearts."
"One of our greatest rivals … Today we come together to remember the legend that was Ayrton Senna," Scuderia Ferrari marked in a tweet.
So goodbye champion, farewell friend, Ayrton Senna #SempreSenna
Grazie zio, per fortuna che ci sei tu 😘
Brava e molto bello