'78, I came to Europe for the first time
to compete outside Brazil
in the World Championship.
It was pure driving. Pure racing.
There wasn't any politics.
No money involved either,
so it was real racing.
We didn't think that karting
would become a career.
But it's taking on a bigger dimension
and we're a little worried
because he will probably race
in Formula One.
May God always protect him
from all danger he may face,
that's my greatest fear.
I want to thank him
for being such a great son,
for his good and honest work this year.
That is more important than any title for me.
Few people really do know myself.
They just don't understand
what it takes from a racing driver.
Somebody that has left behind,
thousands and thousands of miles away,
family and friends
to live in Europe.
Being so young and always fighting.
Nothing ever has come easy.
The time has come.
Ayrton is ready to drive a Formula One car
for the first time.
I think God gave me this chance,
which I have been waiting for so long.
And now He is helping me to stay calm,
relaxed, tranquil.
Well Ayrton, it's a beautiful city
lovely narrow streets for walking,
but not for racing, right?
Yes, exactly. I got here at the last minute
and I'm impressed
because it's my first time in Monaco.
I've had a bit of practice
and, luckily, managed to adapt to the track.
There's no room for error,
as an error would lead to an accident.
But so far I'm pretty happy.
I was already travelling a lot,
reporting on Formula One
when Ayrton began to stand out.
He was driving for Toleman.
Toleman wasn't a winning team.
It wasn't a winning car.
It was never going to win a race.
That's why what Ayrton did at Monaco
showed a touch of genius.
Alain Prost, after a superb start,
has got away in the lead.
It's Nigel Mansell second,
the two Ferraris third and fourth.
Niki Lauda is in fifth position.
Sixth is Rosberg.
Seventh is Manfred Winkelhock.
Eighth is Ayrton Senna.
But Senna has come up through the field.
He started in 13th place
and he's now seventh.
And off goes Nigel Mansell.
Ayrton Senna has now passed Keke Rosberg
and is in third place.
He comes and devours Niki Lauda!
Ayrton Senna takes second place
on the most dangerous part of the circuit!
I think we are watching
the arrival of Ayrton Senna,
a truly outstanding talent.
He's catching Alain Prost at
something like three seconds a lap,
and that is a truly staggering performance.
Prost is waving his hand at the officials.
He wants to stop the race.
And who can blame him?
There is, in fact, from a purist
and a dispassionate point of view,
no reason to stop the race.
There's an official in front of me
with a red flag.
They are going to stop the race.
And the chequered flag is going up.
It is incredible!
Prost is stopping, and Senna
crosses the line before he gets there.
Ayrton waves his arm wildly!
He is celebrating as if he has won the race!
If it went on for a few more laps,
you can be sure
Ayrton would have taken the lead.
I had a great chance to win.
But unless you cross
the finishing line in first place,
it is impossible to know.
Formula One is political, it is money,
and when you are still small,
you have to go through this.
A tragic result for Senna. However,
he's not gonna actually be
World Champion this year.
He will undoubtedly be World Champion
in the future if his career continues.
Ayrton Senna,
the new star of Formula One!
On the Formula One podium
for the first time
after a fantastic performance.
What about next year?
Are you going to stay
with the Toleman team?
- What are your plans now for...
- I don't know.
I don't know at the moment. It's still...
No decisions and nothing clear.
We have to wait more time
to see what happens.
You're not gonna be satisfied until you're
in a winning position though, are you?
I believe if you are doing something
like competing, like motor racing,
you either do well or forget it.
Lotus was the perfect place
for Ayrton to move to.
It was a team that had won championships
and had won many Grand Prix,
and they worked very, very hard
around Ayrton to give his talent
all the facilities that it needed to win.
When I first come to Formula One in '84,
I was starting,
so I had so much to learn
and to achieve that anything...
Any good result was a progress,
was a motivation.
Then I changed to a bigger team, to Lotus,
and I still went up and up and up.
And I'm still doing it.
So even when I have some problems,
I look always to the next race.
Because maybe one race I have no chance,
but next one or the next five will be good
against one bad one.
So, you got to try to
make the numbers bigger and bigger.
Even when he was very young
he already knew what he wanted
and he would make it happen.
For example,
he paid extra attention in class
so he wouldn't have to study at home
and have more time
to play with his go-kart.
There's no doubt that Senna came from
a background of privilege.
His family was very comfortably off.
Once they recognized that
his ambition was to be a racing driver,
they had no problem backing
his early efforts in go-karts.
But it would be a great mistake to think that
he was able to buy his way into Formula One.
Senna himself realized
that to make a serious,
lasting impact on Formula One,
he had to fight his way into it
by virtue of his talent.
Ayrton was a genius in the rain.
Whenever the conditions were bad
and the track got more slippery,
he had something else.
Ayrton Senna wins in Portugal!
AYRTON SENNA
Winner of Portuguese Grand Prix '85
The race in Estoril was incredible.
He lapped every car but one.
It's marvelous!
It's an extraordinary feeling.
I'm delighted because
in my second year in Formula One,
I achieved my first dream,
which was to win a Grand Prix.
AYRTON SENNA
Winner of Portuguese Grand Prix '85
It's a unique thing.
It's like a drug.
It is something so strong and so intense.
And once you experience it,
you keep searching for it all the time.
I'm Mili Okada from Japan TV,
Fuji TV, and I'm just a TV personality
and not a news reporter so...
I see. Let's make a picture together.
I think there are many Japanese girls
who are fans of Mr. Senna.
I'm so close to Mr. Senna and so nervous.
Come and see Japan, and see you in Japan.
- Thank you. A little kiss.
- Thank you.
Bye-bye! Another kiss.
There's only one word
that describes Ayrton's style,
and that is "fast."
He would take a car
beyond its design capabilities.
He would brake later, fly into these corners
where the car was just over the edge,
and somehow
he could dance a dance with that car
to where it stayed on the track.
As I watched Ayrton's early career,
what was very apparent was
his pace and his dedication.
But in the end,
what you're looking for is an intellect,
and I thought, "This guy's got what it takes."
In the mid-'80s,
McLaren was the team to beat.
Ron Dennis was the best manager
and Alain Prost was the best driver.
We all called Prost "The Professor"
because he would do,
methodically, whatever it took
to be ahead on points.
If it meant coming fifth,
he would hold the fifth place
and collect those points
rather than fighting for a second,
third or first place finish.
And he certainly understood the politics
of the sport,
and he played that game
smarter than anyone.
You're known as
the Professor of Motor Racing
because you plan everything out
and you know where you're going.
Is that actually true?
I'm very realistic,
so I think when I'm competitive,
I know that I'm competing.
When I'm not, I know I'm not so.
Why are there no women racing drivers?
I really don't know exactly
why women are not very competitive
in motor racing, especially in Formula One.
But, you know, you are a beautiful woman,
and I know somebody at McLaren
who likes you very much,
and I can arrange it.
Alain, you know, if only someone would
teach me how to drive a car,
a racing car,
I might be able to give up this job and...
There is nothing important
I could not teach you.
Does your wife drive you home?
We're very confident that we have
the best two drivers in the world.
The two most professional drivers, as well.
If we're not consistently
in the winning circle next year,
then we certainly won't be able to
put the blame at the drivers.
It's a great opportunity for me, professional.
And as a personal point of view,
I feel very happy to work together with Alain.
The first year at McLaren
was very decisive in Ayrton's life.
He was very tense,
it was like he had the weight of the world
on his shoulders
because now he had a responsibility
to prove he really was a top driver.
Ayrton has, for the first time in his career,
the car able to be World Champion,
and he doesn't want to
let his chance go anywhere.
- That's normal and that is going to push us.
- What about you?
- What about you?
- It's a little bit different.
So, you're going to let it go?
I have a little bit more pressure than...
You put me more pressure.
I think you could see smiles,
but at the same time
some slightly strange body language,
as they realized just where they were
and what was going to unfold.
Alain, who obviously felt
he was well-nested down at McLaren,
and the young pretender coming in
and clearly threatening that position.
Both had great intellects
and both were very good racing drivers.
Beating each other
became far more challenging
than beating the rest of the field.
That day, I suddenly realized
that I was no longer driving conscious.
And I was in a different dimension, for me.
The circuit for me was a tunnel,
which I was just going, going, going.
And I realize I was well beyond
my conscious understanding.
Ayrton was multiple seconds into the lead,
had the race in hand
with only a handful of laps to go,
and he received a radio message that said,
"You are so far in the lead, slow down."
Ayrton Senna has hit the wall.
Senna in the barrier! He's out of the car...
Ayrton Senna is out of his car
and out of this race.
Ayrton Senna goes out of the lead
of the Monaco Grand Prix.
Absolutely incredible!
He never wanted to beat me.
He wanted to humiliate me.
He wanted to show the people
that he was much stronger.
Much better. And that was his weakness.
His post-accident emotion
was pure anger with himself,
and he couldn't cope with it at all.
He actually walked back to his apartment,
and it was two or three hours
before he surfaced.
I just came so close to perfection
that weekend, that I relax.
I open windows for mistakes,
and I learned that there.
And since then
my progressive comeback, because I lost
some confidence at that moment.
And progressively, I fight back,
and I got much stronger after that incident.
Somehow I got closer to God and that
has been very important for me as a man.
Monaco was the turning point
in the '88 season.
Ayrton went on an amazing run,
winning six of the next eight races.
Putting him just ahead of Prost
in the championship.
What happens now, you two?
Good fun.
We will have good fun from now on.
Fight. Maybe we fight outside the car.
I think it's gonna get
more and more exciting, the championship.
Is it possible to be equal
in the championship?
- No.
- Shit.
Can only be one winner.
Fifteenth race of the season.
In the small hours, Brazil is waiting
for Ayrton Senna
to win his first world title in Formula One.
His childhood dream.
The pressure was on Ayrton.
He was on pole,
he was going to be World Champion
if he won that race,
so the pressure was huge.
They are going to start,
let's go, green light.
Senna stalled!
Senna left on the grid.
Prost took the lead,
Ayrton Senna is way behind.
There is Ayrton Senna
in fourteenth place.
I thought, "The Championship is over.
"It's all over."
Senna is already up to eighth place.
He is making a fantastic recovery.
But then his favorite thing happened,
it began to rain.
Senna's now in fourth place.
Senna's coming,
he's coming, coming, coming!
Senna is getting close.
Senna's gonna challenge for the lead.
Ayrton Senna goes for it
and overtakes Prost.
Ayrton Senna has got the lead.
I started being thankful
as I was doing the last lap.
I thanked God.
I couldn't believe I was actually
going to win the Championship
with all the anxiety and tension.
I felt His presence.
I visualized, I saw God.
It was a special moment in my life.
An enormous feeling.
I have registered it in my memory,
and it remains a part of me.
Ayrton Senna of Brazil!
World Champion of 1988!
A fantastic race!
A brilliant win because
he came back from sixteenth place.
Ayrton, do you feel
like a World Champion now?
I just feel peace.
It feels like tons of weight have lifted
from my head and shoulders.
And it is hard to comprehend
what being a World Champion is.
He is an incredible person.
He is so humble,
and he raises the image of Brazil abroad.
He shares his victories with us.
I admire him so much.
He's a very brave man.
That's all I know of him.
He is our pride.
One of the few things
we can still be proud of.
I once asked Ayrton
when he would stop racing.
Mum, I'll stop
when I become World Champion.
I knew deep inside it is not true.
We all know that.
When the 1988 Championship was over
and he'd won,
it was plain to see
how he'd become a different person
because he had, in fact, found himself.
He discovered what he was about,
it was a process
which had its closure with that victory.
At Christmas things happen.
We make new friends,
like the one I will introduce now.
He was part of my 1988,
Ayrton Senna.
Isn't he cute?
I have a question.
Everyone's excited,
but no one more than me,
because it's hard to speak
now that he's my friend.
Ayrton, what do you want for Christmas?
A Christmas present?
What I really want, I can't say here.
Why not?
Censored, but I just want happiness.
Tell me here.
Happy New Year.
Happy 1990.
Happy '91.
Happy '92.
Happy '93.
The 1989 season was somewhat
less harmonious than the year before.
Both drivers took on
different levels of aggression,
especially when racing each other.
That's when the gloves come off
within a team.
That's when engineers
stop sharing information.
That's where drivers start
looking over their shoulders to see
who is getting what from whom.
And Ayrton, with his love of truth,
wasn't as in tune as Alain Prost
with adding another dimension,
the politics of the sport.
Senna v Prost, Prost v Senna,
the order of the grid
is always one or the other.
It is war between them
because the French driver Alain Prost
thinks that his team-mate
has been disloyal towards him.
And it seems that this quarrel
could have consequences
for the rest of the season.
Race by race,
they were growing further apart.
He said, "This Frenchman...
This Frenchman is hard.
"He wants war."
Sometime after that
they split completely,
they didn't speak any more.
Of course, I think French FIA president
Jean-Marie Balestre at the time
was helpful for Alain
because they were close.
I'd like you all to welcome
the President of FISA, Mr. Balestre.
Please, gentlemen.
All the drivers in the world
are looking at you on TV
because they think, stupidly,
that you are an example.
It is a big mistake, but they think that.
I repeat.
No danger for the end
of the World Championship.
Very clear.
Now it depends on you.
The championship is neck-to-neck.
Senna has to win the Japanese Grand Prix
to keep the points battle going on
to the last race.
Prost knows that if Senna does not finish,
he will be the Formula One Champion.
Prost is first, Senna is second.
Pros jumped into the lead.
Prost makes a better start.
The opportunity that Senna's looking for,
and he's going through.
Oh, my goodness, this is fantastic.
They crash and it is better for Prost.
If this is the end, Prost wins the title.
Once again,
only a victory will do for Ayrton Senna.
Nannini goes by.
He goes by to take the lead.
Senna is still in the pit.
Senna rejoins far behind Nannini.
It's going to be almost impossible.
It is all or nothing, five laps to go.
A suicidal race for Senna
if he tries something.
Prost saw Ayrton rejoin the race
and went straight
to the Race Stewards' Office.
Nannini is first, Senna is second.
Senna forces it, blocks Nannini.
Senna overtakes!
Brazilian flags are waving.
Everyone is on their feet.
Ayrton Senna.
The chequered flag!
Senna celebrates inside his cockpit.
He pounds his helmet.
Ayrton Senna from Brazil!
Visibly emotional,
he flips open his visor
and wipes his tears.
It was a fantastic victory,
the like of which
I have never seen before.
It may be in 20 minutes.
Fucking hell.
Want a cup of tea?
It was unheard of
for the podium to be delayed.
Nigel, Nigel, he missed the chicane.
He went through the slip road.
The longer we waited, the more
we feared things were becoming political.
The decision taken by the Stewards,
by the Stewards at the Japanese Grand Prix.
Excludes car number one
and its driver Ayrton Senna
from the final result of this race.
Just after the race
this Giant Screen
repeatedly showed the accident
and Senna rejoining the race.
After reviewing these images,
the stewards concluded
that because Senna
did not drive through the chicane
to rejoin to the track,
he infringed Article 56 of FIA regulations.
You're the World Champion, Alain?
Apparently, yes.
I was not 100% sure, I know the regulation,
but you never know
how it's going to be interpreted.
But to be very honest,
I mean, I'm quite happy to leave,
because I think it becomes absolutely
impossible to work with Ayrton,
and that's a good end of championship.
What I'd like to do now
is show you some footage
which I think is quite relevant.
Because we're told that you can't use
escape roads to rejoin the race.
Escape roads are not for escaping through,
they're in fact for stopping in,
turning round and going out of.
Very important to remember, no exclusions,
no penalties, no disqualifications.
And for that he's excluded
from the Japanese Grand Prix?
Where's the consistency? It can't be right.
Alain, you said that
you took a normal racing line.
I would put it to you
that from the aerial pictures,
it looked as though
you had turned in quite early.
It wasn't a normal line at all.
I won 39 races
and now three championships,
do you think that I would
do something like this on purpose?
You know, you know,
I had already turned for the corner,
maybe a little bit earlier, if you want,
but that was my corner.
The Court of Appeal pronounces
a six month suspended ban
of Senna's license,
which is a warning
not only for Ayrton Senna,
but for all drivers,
and also a $100,000 fine.
Even if you are
one of the biggest drivers in the world,
you don't have the right
to cause a stupid accident.
The way the whole affair has been treated,
it's like I have total responsibility
for everything that took place there.
I was blamed for everything
and I was penalized for everything.
I was treated like a criminal.
And this is totally unacceptable.
That was a huge blow for Ayrton
because Balestre's attitude
was even worse than Prost's.
He almost gave up racing in Formula One.
Left him alone for a while.
I gently persuaded him
if you are true to your values,
if you believe that your values
are correct values,
then walking away from the dark forces
that you're faced with in life
just doesn't become an option.
The 1990 season he came back wiser,
the team is harmonious.
Prost has gone out of McLaren to Ferrari,
and Senna is in a perfect position
to compete for the title.
All drivers go on their limit.
My limit is different from Prost's,
that is the reality.
And instead of trying to improve
his own skills,
he found it easier to attack me.
Ayrton has a small problem.
He thinks that he can't kill himself
because he believes in God
and things like this.
And I think that's very dangerous
for the other drivers.
Because I believe in God
and have faith in God,
it doesn't mean I am immortal.
It doesn't mean I am immune,
as has been claimed.
I am as scared as anyone
of getting hurt,
especially driving a Formula One car.
It's a constant danger.
Is that him?
Who is it?
Martin Donnelly.
I was in the pits. Practice was stopped.
I hear by different people
there was an accident, was Donnelly.
Was bad, was too bad, was disaster.
And I decide to go to the place
to see myself.
Million things went through my mind.
In the end, I...
I realized I was not going to
give up my passion,
even just having seen what I had seen.
And I had to put myself together,
and walk out, go to the racing car,
and do it again.
And do it again,
and do it even better than before,
because that was the way to kind of cover
that impact it had on me.
I was just not ready to give up.
As much as I was scared to continue,
I was not ready to give up my aim, my target,
my objective,
my passion, my dream, my life. It is my life.
As far as I hear, he is out of danger,
life danger,
which is a lot considering the accident.
And as it happened to him,
can happen to any of us.
There are some things
that you can calculate,
but there are things which are unexpected,
and those unexpected things
are the most dangerous ones,
like it happened to him today.
I hope we don't see those things
in the future.
Amazingly, for the third time in a row,
the championship hinged
on the race in Japan.
But this time if Prost didn't finish,
Ayrton would be champion.
Gentlemen, morning.
Number of laps from green light
to chequered flag will be 53 laps.
Dangerous behavior
and/or dangerous maneuvers
will be immediately investigated,
and may lead to suspension of the license
for one or more
Formula One World Championship events.
Any questions?
There was a big fuck-up last year
with Ayrton.
Why do we have to repeat the same thing?
The safest thing is...
If you miss the chicane,
the stewards stop you.
When you have no traffic, they let you go.
If you have to turn around and go backwards
against another car, that's dangerous.
Okay.
Does everybody feel that way?
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
- Thank you.
- Thank you very much.
I can't stand it.
I can't stand this. It's a joke.
After what happened last year,
it's a joke, this situation.
You just proved here... I said nothing,
and you see somebody raising the point,
and you see everybody agreeing.
And last year was really bad for me.
I'm sorry. I'm sorry, but I have to leave.
The story down in the pit lane
and on the grid is one of tension.
With the World Championship up for grabs,
everyone is extremely tense.
Ayrton Senna actually walked out
of the drivers' meeting today.
He thinks that the pole position should be
on the left hand side of the grid,
not on the right.
Normally, if the inside was clear,
the inside for sure is better.
Because it's dirty, the outside is better.
Like Hungary, or like...
The racing line is the line
where the cars most normally drive.
It's the fastest line around the track.
It's really important to have
the pole position on the racing line.
If you are on the opposite side, you are on
a part of the track that is rarely used
and has half the grip.
If you have the clear circuit,
you'll get away better
on the outside than the inside.
Because on the inside you have no traction.
We'll have a look.
Please.
But would the Chief Steward, would the FIA,
would Balestre, agree?
Ayrton Senna will be in pole position
for tomorrow's Japanese Grand Prix.
Prost was second fastest.
Pole position was his,
and then suddenly
pole position was mysteriously
moved to the dirty side of the circuit,
which he felt was unjust.
That decision was influenced by Balestre.
I know that, we know that.
I was fucked many times by the system.
I told myself, "Today, there's no way."
Today has to be my way.
I don't care what happens,
it has to be my way.
And Senna sprints away,
but Alain Prost takes the lead!
It's happened!
Senna is trying to go through on the inside...
And a collision.
Crash! They both crash.
Senna has been hit.
Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna
have come together again,
and they are both off the racetrack!
This is unbelievable!
And if the race continues,
it is the end of the Championship.
We don't know yet
whether we're going to see a red flag.
We haven't seen any yet,
so it looks as if
the race is going to continue.
The Championship is over.
And Ayrton Senna is the 1990 Champion.
That's a very sad way for
this year's World Championship to finish.
Can you tell us what happened
on the first lap, Ayrton?
Well, unfortunately,
we touched in the first corner
when we were fighting for the lead,
and we both went off.
Do you think that's because
the pole position
is on the wrong side of the track here?
You wanted to change that.
Absolutely. You fight,
you break your... to be on pole,
and then they put you
on the wrong side of the circuit.
How do you feel about
being World Champion?
It's not a bad feeling at all, is it?
Congratulations.
What was very clear with Ayrton,
when he got back,
is his body language, his mannerisms
showed that he was in massive conflict.
He was certainly not proud of himself.
Certainly not reveling in the fact that
this had determined
the World Championship.
Formula One World Championship
for drivers, Ayrton Senna.
I call on the World Champion, Ayrton Senna.
He knew I was right with him.
He moved to the inside line,
going towards the first corner.
I just chased him then,
and he opened the gap.
And knowing me like he does know,
he must realize that if there was a gap,
I was gonna try to overtake him.
Okay. Let me ask you
another difficult question.
If I were to count back
all the world champions,
the number of times they had made contact
with other drivers,
that you in the last 36 months or 48 months
have been in contact with
more other cars and drivers
than they might have done in total.
I find amazing for you to
make such a question, Stewart,
because you are very experienced
and you know a lot about racing,
and you should know that
by being a racing driver
you are under risks all the time.
And by being a racing driver means
you are racing with other people.
And if you no longer go for a gap that exists,
you're no longer a racing driver.
Because we are competing.
We are competing to win.
And the main motivation to all of us
is to compete for a victory.
It's not to come third, fourth,
fifth or sixth, right?
But hasn't that always been the case?
But I think it's all irrelevant.
All what you're saying, Jack,
is really irrelevant.
Because I'm a driver that won more races
than anybody over the past three years.
I'm a driver that has been on pole position
more than anybody in history.
And I'm a driver that won two titles
in the past three years.
And I don't think how...
I cannot comprehend how
you can try to turn things around
to say that I've been involved
in more accidents than anybody
because that is not true, as well.
Two of the greatest champions
in the history of Formula One
ended up in the sand
and wasted a Championship.
Each accused the other,
but Prost was hurt the most.
Let's listen to his extreme reaction.
I wanted to punch him in the face...
but I was so disgusted,
I could not do it.
He revolts me.
Senna versus Prost, which went on
for a couple of seasons, well...
It was just absolutely wonderful
for Formula One's appeal.
Some sports news now.
It is the end of a love story.
The television ratings improved, you know,
everything went up.
People talked about it.
It was controversial, shocking, fascinating.
The success of the sport also grew,
you know.
Commercially and...
Bernie Ecclestone was very clever
in the way they distribute television.
But to keep an audience,
you need personalities
and, of course,
the Prost-Senna story was a big hit.
And Ayrton became very famous
outside the sport,
thanks to the impact of Formula One on TV.
I feel so worried for the people because...
And we push them away.
They're nice people and it's not a good
feeling to see them being pushed away.
I feel so sorry, you know.
In Brazil it was very different.
The people were unhappy
under the regime that was ruling them.
Poverty was just desperate.
So his appeal there, at a hard time,
was extraordinary.
The situation in Brazil
was very negative and depressing.
But what happened is,
when Ayrton won numerous times,
instead of trying to hide
his Brazilian origins, as others did,
he did the opposite,
he'd wave the national flag.
Ayrton would do this every Sunday.
And people were inspired,
that's why they loved him.
Ayrton had never won
the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Ever since he'd been in Formula One,
it was his dream to win at home.
The Brazilian Grand Prix is about to start.
Red light, green light.
He starts well.
Come on, Senna!
And Senna gets away in the lead.
Ayrton pulled out a lead.
He was then, really,
faced with a very easy race win.
Here is Senna... It's raining.
It's raining, stop this.
And then, the gearbox jammed,
and he was faced with several laps to go
only having a sixth gear.
It should have been impossible to drive
a Formula One car stuck in sixth gear.
He wanted to stop.
He couldn't drive any more.
But he had tried so many times to win
the Brazilian Grand Prix,
that he found a special inner strength.
After this corner,
Senna is on the home straight.
He is going to win.
Ayrton, Ayrton... Ayrton Senna from Brazil!
Leading from start to finish,
he wins at Interlagos!
A great victory for Senna.
I don't believe it.
Fucking hell,
I've won.
Prost, you son of a bitch!
He won, then passed out.
It was his most heroic moment.
Because of the huge physical effort,
I had muscle spasm
in my shoulders and neck.
The pain was absurd.
The physical and mental stress this weekend
was huge.
But there could only be one result.
Finishing the race with nothing left.
What's wrong?
My shoulders, my shoulders.
Just my shoulders.
Come here, Dad. Come here.
Come here!
Touch me very gently.
Don't touch me.
Calm down, Ayrton.
Don't touch me!
Do you need any help?
Bring the flag for me.
I fought so hard.
I needed to finish, I needed to finish first
because He is greater than everyone
and He gave me this race.
And that is what happened.
God gave me this race and I am very happy.
It was very exciting.
Brazil cherishes your victory, Senna.
Congratulations.
Thank you, Brazil, thank you, fans.
The human heat this weekend was so great
that we had to win this time.
It couldn't be any other way.
We did it.
Life can be very difficult in Brazil.
You have...
Brazil have all the extremes.
You have the fantastic nature.
You can have all the good material things
that money can buy.
But at the same time,
you have lots of problems.
Social problems and poverty.
Some violence as a consequence.
I try to help
a little bit. For children, particularly.
Because Ayrton
was so widely known in Brazil,
many people would ask him for help,
personal requests, hospitals,
charities would ask him for help for instance.
Ayrton would donate
and keep it going without fail.
But, he no longer
wanted to make random donations.
He wanted to develop something,
plan it, organize it,
to help Brazil, especially children.
Ayrton in '91 was in great form.
I think it was his strongest year.
He won seven races,
constantly on pole position.
The intensity was every bit as high as ever.
But there just seemed to be
a further wisdom,
a further bit of growth.
But then the car bit him hard.
For the first time he really thought
he could be hurt in a Formula One car.
Neurological examination
to check the chest
and the blood pressure, the abdomen
and the limbs.
- And how did you feel about him?
- He's fine. He's good.
- No problems to worry about?
- No, none at all. No.
It's the deepest personal relationship
that I've ever had with any driver.
Whenever I got to the circuit
and ran into Senna,
he was usually being interviewed
or surrounded by people.
And the moment he saw me, his face
would always light up with a beautiful grin.
Because he had that wonderful humility,
which is not common
amongst racing drivers.
- All right then.
- Pleasure.
Be careful.
You've still got too much to do.
Yes, a few more.
Question? Yes.
We talked about the chicanes
and the barriers
that we had there with the tires.
If you happen to hit those tires,
it's very likely that the tires
throw you up in the air
and you end up rolling.
That's what happened with me in Mexico
and that can happen here with other people.
I agree that for the moment
it's not the ideal thing that we have done.
The President
has talked yesterday with Mr. Moll.
No, no, no, forget Mr. Moll.
And he has...
Forget...
Okay, the President of FISA...
No, forget the President.
Now speak for the question of Mr. Senna.
About what we do today for the race.
For the race we can do anything.
I think it's better to
not have those tires there.
I happened to lose the braking point
at the first chicane yesterday.
Let me finish, let me finish!
And as I drove straight,
it was blocked, the road.
And I couldn't turn back.
If we move the tires,
we must place the cones.
Yes, that's fine.
And that way there is a run-off area...
Yes.
No, you must restart from the same place.
Because you must respect
the distance of the race.
You cannot come back.
I'm sorry, that is the regulation,
it is the regulation!
It's written in the regulation,
we got the letter yesterday.
Page three.
Here, the last two paragraphs on that page.
Very good penalty for you.
Jean-Marie, it's the same.
No problem, Ayrton, no problem.
Whatever is the decision,
it's the right decision, Jean-Marie.
You must understand.
The best decision is my decision.
I have a feeling for that.
No, because you don't know my decision.
It's the best every time, my decision.
My decision is...
Democratic vote, only the drivers.
By hand.
Who are in favor that
we replace the tires by the cones?
Your hand.
Stop.
Against?
Abstention? Everybody agree, okay?
Immediately, the work.
You replace the tires by the cones, okay?
Alain, what happened
going into that chicane?
I tried to overtake Senna. It was...
He blocked me during the whole race,
not very correct.
I think everyone knows Prost by now.
He is always complaining
either about the car, or the tires,
or the team, or the mechanics, or the fuel,
or the other drivers or the circuit.
Always somebody else to blame.
It's never his fault.
Yeah, no problem,
but I have nothing to lose.
I can't win the Championship,
but if I find him again the same way,
if he is correct the same way, I push him out.
Prost was sacked from Ferrari
because he criticized the car.
The only thing he could do, really,
was to take a year off,
telling everybody he was on a sabbatical.
If I finish second place,
the Championship will be over.
If Mansell does not win,
then it's almost certain
that the Championship will be over, as well.
Mansell tries to overtake,
but he goes straight on!
Mansell goes straight on!
The World Championship is over
because he can't restart!
Ayrton Senna from Brazil,
Triple World Champion!
A whole life dedicated to this moment
by a genius of international sport.
Triple World Champion,
and many titles lie ahead.
And he is still only 31 years old.
Thirty-three victories, three World Titles.
Breaking record after record.
Celebrating as only Senna does.
Ayrton Senna's third world title ensures that
he will be ranked among the all-time greats.
This is a very special gift to me.
I thank you from my heart.
I kissed Senna's left hand, Triple Champion.
I want Senna.
I want to hug and kiss him.
I have a box
full of paper cuttings and pictures.
Everything you can imagine.
He is the only good thing in Brazil.
After that third World Championship,
I saw another Senna.
He was very satisfied, very confident.
He knew the sport better than ever.
He saw it with real eyes,
for the good and the bad,
and he still loved it
as much as anyone in the paddock.
I think it is an incredible party
and anything goes.
Did you talk about Formula One today?
Formula One is so square, today is Carnival.
Have any of your girlfriends asked,
"Go faster, Ayrton"?
Yes.
To Ayrton,
becoming Triple World Champion
was the culmination
of a script that he wrote for himself
before he even entered Formula One
because he knew
he was capable of that and much more.
He was already the idol of Brazilian sport,
and now he became
a great idol of world sport.
There is a great desire in me of improving.
Getting better. That makes me happy.
And every time that I feel
I am slowing down my learning process,
my learning curve is getting flatter,
or whatever,
then it doesn't make me very happy.
And that applies not only as a professional,
as a racing driver, but also as a man.
Of course,
I shall have a lot more to learn as a man
than a racing driver
because my career
could last not many years.
My life hopefully will go still for a long time.
Maybe I'm only at
the half of my life right now,
so there is a lot to go, a lot to learn,
a lot to do still in life.
And happiness will come
when I feel complete as a whole,
which definitely I don't feel today.
But I have plenty of time to fulfill that, too.
For the next season,
the level of competition was distorted
by what was going on technically
with the Williams car.
The car balanced itself.
Each corner was controlled by a computer.
All the driver had to do was put his
right foot down and go as fast as possible,
so in a car without that,
you were at a serious disadvantage.
McLaren are still well off
the Williams-Renault pace,
with the result that
three times World Champion Ayrton Senna
has no chance of retaining his title.
When you go into this sort of
electronic war,
you can find yourself completely stuck.
The electronics do a given situation,
and no matter who you put in the car,
the electronics will do the work
and not the driver.
And I don't think that is really what you want
to have a truly World Championship
of drivers.
The negotiations are long,
and we still don't know
who Alain Prost's team mate will be.
The Triple World Champion
signed a two-year contract with Williams.
He will start testing the car this week.
The only thing I asked in the contract
was that I don't want to be
a teammate with Ayrton.
It has to be clear.
And they had accepted that very quickly.
And said, "No, it's not our intention."
That is the only thing I asked in the contract.
Because I wanted to be a World Champion.
I did not want to lose the opportunity.
It's no secret that I've been
trying very hard to get some...
Some deal with Williams.
Situation's very complex.
It is...
It's not nice. It's not clear either.
I am very certain of one thing.
I am the one who has most to lose
if I have to stop for one year or more.
Because I am at the peak of my career,
and the career of a Formula One driver
is limited.
So no one has
more to lose than myself if I stop,
professionally and in my personal life.
In 1993, Ayrton's driving was pure genius.
For me, it was the best season.
He did accomplish
some of his greatest drives.
Even though he spent most of his time
looking at the back of a Williams car,
which was much faster than his.
French racing driver Alain Prost
has won the Formula One World Drivers'
Championship for the 4th time...
Prost won the championship
and duly retired,
thus getting out of the way.
It seems like a little goodbye
from you to McLaren.
Do you think
it was the last season for McLaren?
I think so. I think it will be my last season.
Let's try and do it the best we can
for both of us.
Of course.
Okay, we'll put behind us what happened.
For sure.
Good.
Even without you saying anything,
that was my goal.
Yeah, okay.
Even without talking to you,
if we didn't talk at all,
I wouldn't change...
I would just do exactly as I always tried.
Ayrton, what did Ron Dennis say to you
when you first got from the car?
It's never too late to change your mind.
But anyway,
he said he was happy for me, and...
It's funny, but that's what he told me, too.
That's Ron!
I said, you know, we must keep
the good times, the good moments,
and let's finish that way,
finish with the good things.
It was Senna's last race for McLaren,
Prost's last race for Williams.
And although nobody knew at the time,
it was the last time
either of them would be on the podium.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Brazilian driver Ayrton Senna.
Ayrton is arguably the best driver available,
the best driver currently racing.
The team is geared to being successful,
all our partners, investors, sponsors,
expect that of us,
and that is therefore
the best piece of equipment, if you like,
you could put in the machine
to deliver to our requirements.
The International Motor Sports Federation
has banned some of
the controversial computer devices
which help drivers
in Formula One motor racing.
The ban is designed to stop the domination
of the richest Formula One teams,
like Williams-Renault, the World Champions.
Ayrton Senna is in a race against time.
He needs to integrate
into his team and adjust to the car.
He says that he is uncomfortable
with little space.
This car doesn't have
the electronic components
used on last year's cars.
It doesn't have traction control,
special brakes or electronic suspension.
The cars are immediately less stable
without the electronic suspension.
As a consequence, they are harder to drive,
and we'll have more cars
spinning and going off the track.
More cars spinning
is more excitement for the viewers,
and for us, if nothing happens to the driver.
Otherwise it's not very comfortable.
Senna in second place.
Almost 8 seconds between them now.
We're certainly not happy with the way
things are with the car
right as they are at the moment.
The handling isn't particularly good.
The cars weren't supposed to
have any of the electronic aids
that they'd come with the previous year.
But Senna became convinced
that the Benetton
being driven by Michael Schumacher,
who had won the first two races
of the season, had retained some of those,
particularly the traction control,
the thing that eliminates the wheel spin.
It didn't stack up that
he was being blown away by the Benetton.
He wanted us to protest,
which we didn't do.
We are here starting from zero,
so basically our championship starts here.
It's not a comfortable position to be in,
but that's the reality.
Now you've won here three times already.
You really do need to make it four.
I would love to.
I'd never seen Senna
as tense as I did that weekend.
At no moment did I see him smile.
He was constantly focused, annoyed,
saddened really.
It's the balance.
Changing balance.
The car is worse.
Is it generally
more one balance than the other,
or is it changing too much?
There was a bit more under steer.
Bit of under steer on the first lap,
then on the second lap,
it's just changing balance.
Over steer and under steer?
Yeah.
During the middle of a corner...
breaks away at the entrance.
When it is supposed to break away,
it breaks away even more.
Do you already know Ayrton
or shall I introduce you?
No, I already know him.
Do you know him by name
or have you met him?
I know him because I follow Formula One,
so I've met him before.
Why are you so nervous?
Because when you're close
to someone like him,
you always get nervous.
Well, good luck to the Champion
and the future Champion.
Fuck.
You have seen Rubens?
He's all right. He's all right.
He's shocked, of course, but he's all right.
Did you talk to him?
Yes, yes.
You take care, Rubens.
Ayrton was still uncomfortable
in the new relationship,
and he was very uncomfortable with the car.
But he struggled,
and put it on pole position.
Fuck.
I just need to get myself under control.
I'm doing things with that car that no-one...
Throwing it around a bit?
Ladies and gentlemen,
the San Marino Grand Prix organizer
has received a report
from the Maggiore Hospital in Bologna
that the driver of car number 32,
MTV Simtek Ford, Roland Ratzenberger,
succumbed to injuries sustained
in the accident
which took place at Imola circuit
during Saturday qualifying practice
April 30th.
It was the first time we had to face a dead
Formula One driver for our generation.
The whole atmosphere
was very heavy that afternoon.
Everybody was thinking about,
"What are we doing here?"
Or, "What's the point?"
Ayrton got very, very upset and cried a bit.
And that's when I said to him,
"You know, Ayrton,
you've been three times World Champion.
"You're the fastest man in the world."
And he liked fishing,
so I said, "Why don't you quit
"and I'll quit and well just go fishing?"
He said, "Sid, I can't quit."
On Saturday, at dinner,
Frank Williams had doubts
if Senna was going to be on the grid.
I was certain that he didn't want to race.
On that morning when he woke up,
he asked God to talk to him.
He opened the Bible
and read a passage which said
God would give him the greatest of all gifts.
Which was God himself.
A crash!
Everyone goes around, look at that!
Lamy arrives at full speed.
And there is Lehto!
Terrible crash.
Lamy and Lehto are very lucky.
The safety car goes out on track.
The safety car's lights are off
which means the safety car
is going into the pits.
And here we go, Senna in front,
Schumacher is second.
And Michael Schumacher tries to
pressure Senna on the sixth lap.
Senna crashes hard!
At Tamburello Corner.
A very serious accident.
We got him out of the cockpit,
got his helmet off
and got an airway into him.
And I saw from his neurological signs
that it was going to be a fatal head injury.
And then he sighed, and his body relaxed.
And that was the moment...
I'm not religious...
That I thought his spirit had departed.
Even at racing speed,
Tamburello is not a corner
that you would make a mistake on.
Something on the car
would have to go wrong.
Maybe the power steering failed.
Maybe it was the tire temperatures
that made the car skate straight off the road.
It will always be a mystery.
Was there a cause?
In my opinion
the steering column broke
and the car became uncontrollable.
But above all, it was fatal because
the car crashed at the exact angle
for the suspension shaft
to hit his helmet.
Ayrton ran out of luck.
He did not have a broken bone in his body.
He did not have any bruising.
If that piece of assembly
would have gone six inches higher
or six inches lower,
he would have walked back to the paddock.
He was an idol for me.
He represented the best of Brazil.
I kiss you, Senna.
I will never forget you.
Brazilian people need food,
education, health
and a little bit of joy.
And now that joy is gone.
Nothing can separate me
from the love of God.
Who is or has been
the driver that you get the most satisfaction
of racing against...
Past or present?
I would have to go back
to '78 and '79
and 1980, when I was go-kart driving.
I came to Europe for the first time
to compete outside Brazil
as a team-mate for Fullerton.
Named Fullerton. He was very experienced.
I enjoyed very much driving with him
because he was fast, he was consistent.
He was, for me, a very complete driver.
And it was pure driving, pure racing.
There wasn't any politics then, right?
No money involved, either.
So, it was real racing.