Saturday, November 30, 2013

Adriane Galisteu lied about the destiny of the money she got paid for the photos in Playboy Brazil 1995

Adriane Galisteu, the woman who got famous after Ayrton Senna's death, selling his private life to the press in no less than 60 press interviews and a book, edited with the same editorial house as the "Caras" gossip magazine, started to lye a few years later, about the destiny of the money she got paid in exchange for those pictures. In one of them she appears half naked and open legs, shaving her vagina, an image which created a lot of controversy in Brazil in those days.


Adriane Galisteu posed naked for Playboy Brazil in 1995, shaving her vagina, using the name of Senna to get the deal

Unlike the new version she got used to tell after the year 2000, she didn't use the money obtained with her photoshoot for Playboy Brazil in 1995, to help her brother, sick with AIDS, but she admits in an interview in 1995 (a year before her brother's death), for Caras, that she wanted the money to buy herself an appartment and a car (she bought herself a 300 square metres appartment in the most luxurious part of Sao Paulo named Jardims, and a BMW car).


Adriane Galisteu admitting in 1995 that she wanted the money of the Playboy reportage for an appartment and a car

In an interview for the magazine TRIP (Revista Trip, #66, Ano 12, 1998) two years after her brother had died, she admits also that she knew that her brother had AIDS since 1994, on the 10th of May, and that he died 2 years later, in 1996. Nevertheless, in the interview for Caras where she talks about the money's destiny i 1995, she doesn't mention a single time her brother, as she started to do years later. Had she wanted to help her brother, she would've said it in the press in 1995, since her brother had still a year to live.


Adriane Galisteu uses his brother's disease, AIDS, to justify that she posed for Playboy in 1995 using the name of Ayrton Senna

Headline on the cover of the gossip magazine: "Adriane Galisteu: accomplished in her new 310 square metres appartment"

The editor of the magazine Playboy Brazil, says that she did a lot pf pressure and almost auctioned Senna's death to obtain the best monetary deal possible, being that she finally got paid 100,000 $US.

Jo Ramirez surprisingly proves that he isn't a reliable source when it comes to Ayrton Senna's life

Jo Ramirez surprisingly proves that he isn't a reliable source when talking about Ayrton Senna's life

It's surprising that Jo Ramirez, McLaren logistics manager, and who was not so much Senna's friend, as a team coworker at McLaren, knows so little about Ayrton Senna's life, or confuses significant facts. Some say he was one of Senna's friends, but even like that, Ramirez made many mistakes in a interview for the Mexican press in 2010, which makes us wonder how much did he actually know about Senna...


In an interview recorded in 2010, shortly before the launch of the movie "Senna" by Asif Kapadia, Ramirez makes some very gross mistakes when he talks about Senna's life, events that were fully known by all fans of Senna and of Formula 1. 


Jo Ramirez, McLaren logistics manager and who worked with Ayrton Senna for several years, surprises his fans when he makes some big mistakes about Senna's life, on facts widely known by almost any fan of the big Brazil's idol



Jo Ramirez, a McLaren employee and one of the people who used to arrange logistics for Ayrton Senna at McLaren, ignores significant facts about the Brazilian idol when he speaks to the press
Ramirez said, for example, that Senna ate with Prost the day before he died, which is not true: Senna didn't eat with Prost, but he just went to where Prost was seating in the Renault motorbox to stay in silence next to him for a few moments, which was very surprising and mysterious for Prost. And it wasn't the day before Senna died, but the same day, on Sunday. 


Contrary to what Jo Ramirez says, observers, televisions and journalists have said Ayrton sat with Alain Prost on the very day of his death, and not on the day before. Besided, Ramirez says Senna ate with Prost, which is untrue
He also makes more mistakes when he talks about Senna's life, as to say that Senna didn't care about Prost, that it was Prost who was obsessed with him: completely false. Senna's objective was Prost all the the way, and everybody around him (people who knew him much better than Ramirez, who was a simple logistics employee at McLaren). Even before Senna arrived in McLaren, he wanted to beat Prost at all costs. on the other hand, Prost didn't care much Senna, as all biographies say, since Prost didn't appreciate Senna as a person, nor as a driver. They were oil and water. 


Ayrton Senna always had wanted to beat Alain Prost, he was his reference in Formula 1 and his main motivation. 
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Xuxa was honest with Ayrton Senna at Christmas 1989

Honesty sometimes can break your heart. Indeed they say that the only ones you're truly in love with, can break your heart... 

At Christmas 1989, he wanted to spend time with Xuxa at her house in New York, and he travelled there... She, appearantly, wanted to be alone instead, as she was feeling too much pressure from Senna, who wanted a more serious relationship with her, he wanted to get married to her. One good thing she did was to be honest with him instead of faking: she didn't want the relationship anymore. Senna went back to Brazil alone, and the relationship officially ended a few months later. At least, the cards were on the table. 


Ayrton Senna and Xuxa arrive together at the Brazilian Grand Prix in 1989, held at the Jacarepagua circuit, in Rio de Janeiro

That's why Senna felt hurt emotionally speaking for the following years: he really was in love with Xuxa, and when someone who you love, rejects you, it always hurts. The last interview given by Senna in 1994, to the Brazilian magazine Caras, reveals indeed how much he missed her and how important she had been for him. Instead of talking of his (still officially) girlfriend, Adriane Galisteu, Senna spent more time talking about Xuxa and how much it still cost him to forget her. 



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Friday, November 29, 2013

Josef Leberer was Ayrton Senna's most trusted friend in Formula 1

Josef Leberer, Austrian, fitness trainer, masseur, nutritionist and most trusted friend of Ayrton Senna in Formula 1, worked with him between 1988 and 1993, the years during which Senna drove for McLaren.



Physiotherapist Josef Leberer working on Ayrton Senna's hands
At the beginning, joining McLaren in 1988 was not easy for Senna. Alain Prost was king of the hill, having won the World Championship twice already. But Senna had a nice surprise when he arrived. He immediately found a person he was to bond with and who would remain a lifelong friend: physio Josef Leberer. The main impact on his life would come from Josef Leberer, an Austrian expert in sports medicine and a top physiotherapist. Senna had never really had contact with a top physiotherapist and nutritionist. All his training was done by Nuno Cobra in Brazil, who he had worked with since starting in Formula One.


Josef Leberer joking with Ayrton Senna, Gerhard Berger and engineer Giorgio Ascanelli
Leberer was a protégé of another Austrian,Willy Dungl, who founded the world-famous Dungl Clinic in Gars-am-Kamp in Austria. Dungl was famous in Formula One circles for his work with Niki Lauda in the 1970s. 

Ron Dennis had hired Leberer for the start of the 1988 season to ensure that Senna and Prost were in tip-top condition. Not just keeping them physically fit, but mentally strong as well. Leberer worked well with both Senna and Prost, but quickly drew close to the Brazilian, as did most of the team. He looked after him mentally and physically and stayed close. He quickly devised a new training programme and diet for Senna, and personally cooked as many of his meals as he could, also briefing the housekeepers in his houses in Brazil and Monte Carlo. (Source: The life of Senna - Tom Rubython)



Leberer would accompany Senna through his racing career until the very end, since the night before Imola 1994, where Senna lost his life in the accident at the Tamburello turn, Josef Leberer was also present, because Senna wanted to celebrate his most trusted confidant's birthday.

On that Saturday evening at Imola, Senna had dinner with Josef Leberer and a few close friends to celebrate his most trusted confidant's birthday.
(Source: "Senna vs Prost" - Malcolm Folley)

Josef Leberer is one of the most experienced people in Formula 1 and Mark Sutton, from Sutton Images, brother of the famous Keith Sutton, who associated to Senna in the early to take car of his Public Relations area, said this about Leberer:


Josef has been around in the sport for a very long time and as you can see in the older pictures has worked with some of the greats, such as Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost. He’s spent over 25 years looking after drivers and there are not many people who have been around that long, let alone a trainer. He’s such an nice guy and knows everyone in the paddock – he must have lots of stories to tell and I’m surprised he’s not written a book!
                                                                                                                     Mark Sutton



"Sauber trainer Josef Leberer working on Esteban Gutierrez’s neck ahead of a session and I took the photo because it’s quite rare to see this happening in the garage" - Mark Sutton © Sutton Images
Leberer's role these days is to ensure Sauber's drivers Esteban Gutierrez and Niko Hulkenberg, are in the best physical and mental condition they can be. This was a job he once performed for Ayrton Senna. But Leberer's place in Senna's life went far beyond his contracted function of masseur, fitness trainer, nutritionist and cook. Over the years, Leberer became Senna's closest confidant in the paddock, perhaps in life. And one mournful day, mindful of his special place in Senna's affections, the Brazilian's family would specifically request Leberer to share Ayrton's final flight. 


'It was the longest flight of my life, and the most intense experience of my life,' said Leberer.
Leberer is still close to the Senna family nowadays.


Josef Leberer ex-physiotherapist of Ayrton Senna, chatting to Bruno Senna in presence of Bianca Senna, sister of Bruno
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Thursday, November 28, 2013

Did Ayrton Senna love Xuxa or Adriane Galisteu?

I see this question many times in the social networks, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr... 

Both are very different women and treated Ayrton very differently. Ayrton felt also different about the two of them. Xuxa had been the big love of his life, a very successful woman in the Brazilian television, and they dated from Christmas 1988 until the Grand Prix of Monaco 1990, when it became clear to both of them that their busy schedules wouldn't allow them to be together. 


Ayrton Senna meeting publicly Xuxa, in her TV show, "O Show da Xuxa", at Christmas 1988

Xuxa said about Ayrton "He needs someone to be with him 24 hours a day, and I need someone to be with me 24 hours a day." Both belived that once had Ayrton retired from Formula 1, they would have more time to spend together, and therefore, a marriage between the two of them was expected. Later in life, after Senna's death, Xuxa has declared many times her regret about not having had more time to enjoy her relationship with Ayrton Senna.


Ayrton Senna and Xuxa, going together to the Grand Prix of Brazil in 1989, at the Jacarepagua circuit, in Rio de Janeiro

At his funeral, Xuxa was seen very affected, next to the Senna family, who liked her not only because of her personality, but also because they thought Xuxa was the only woman Ayrton had ever loved and they respected his feelings. In his last interview for the magazine "Caras" in April 1994, Ayrton spent more time talking about Xuxa and his love for her, than he did about his current girlfriend at the time, Adriane Galisteu. He also said shortly before dying that "sometimes we cannot live our lives next to person we love". Many believe he was referring to Xuxa, although some others believe he was talking about Christine Ferracciu, his ex-girlfriend between the years 1990 and 1991. What is for sure is that he wasn't talking about his current "official" girlfriend, Adriane Galisteu, a Brazilian unsuccessufl model, who he paid to be with him.


Xuxa at Ayrton Senna's funeral, in Sao Paulo, May 5th 1994, surrounded by the Senna family. They were going to get married after he would retire from Formula 1

Adriane Galisteu, a 20 years-old woman from Sao Paulo, on the other hand, had been chosen by one of Ayrton Senna's friends, Braguinha, among all the events models present at the Grand Prix of Brazil in 1993, although Senna had liked another woman. But Braguinha insisted because he considered Adriane Galisteu as more manageable for the purposes he wanted her: have her as a regular companionship to Ayrton Senna. Ayrton had expressed his wish of having a regular companionship for the 1993 season, to help him deal with the difficulties of not being in a competitive car for that season. He wanted somebody who helped him "separate his personal and professional life". Galisteu would be paid on a monthly basis by Ayrton Senna to be with him 24 hours a day

She wasn't in love with Senna (as she admited in 2011 in an interview for the Brazilian television) but when she realised that she didn't have much work on her agenda as a model (which she admits on her book about Senna's life with her, launched in 1994, few months after his death), she accepted the offer that Senna made her: money in exchange for full dedication to him. By the end of his life, Senna had realised that Adriane wanted and expected from him fame and more money, and he was angry at her for posing in some very embarassing pictures in the magazine Caras, in March 1994. 



One of the pictures of Adriane Galisteu published in the Caras magazine, March 1994, that upset a lot Ayrton Senna
Few days later, he had made already his decision to break up with her and to no let her interfere with his public image, and he was intending to break up with her but still offer her  money after the Grand Prix of Imola 1994, where he sadly died, in a terrible accident, caused by the break of his steering wheel.  The Williams team have been condamned in the justice court, particularly Patrick Head, the Chief Engineer, for "omitted control".


Car designer, Adrian Newey, next to Chief Engineer at Williams, Patrick Head, who had been found guilty for omitted control in the second trial held in 2005 for the accident of Ayrton Senna

At the end his life Ayrton Senna gave an interview to the brazilian magazine Caras, where he revealed that Adriane Galisteu wasn't the right woman for him to get married, and talked more about his past relationship with Xuxa, than about his current official relationship to the model Adriane.

Senna didn't leave anything to Adriane Galisteu in his last will, which he updated regularly.


Five months after his death, Adriane Galisteu sold his entire private life to the press in a book called "My life with Ayrton Senna", edited in Brazil by the same company who owned the "Caras" magazine. She had signed a commercial agreement with the editorial house of "Caras" to get space in the media in exchange for telling Senna's life in a book and various interviews. The Senna family was aware of that and that's why she never was liked by Ayrton's family.


Adriane Galisteu, last Ayrton Senna's girlfriend, smiling happy only 5 months after his death, selling her book where she tells all the details of Senna's private life during 1993 and 1994


She sold also many details of Senna's life in several press interviews, all over the world, and finally, the year after, in 1995, she posed for Playboy Brazil, as Senna's last girlfriend, asking 200.000 US $ in exchange, to buy herself a luxury appartment and a BMW car. 


Adriane Galisteu posing for the pornography magazine Playboy, in 1995, using the name of Senna

Adriane Galisteu was paid by the magazine Caras to go to the Tamburello corner, at the Imola circuit, and pose for promotional pictures for her book about Senna''s private life in 1993 and 1994

She later changed her version and told that she did that to save her brother, sick with AIDS, but there is proof in a Brazilian magazine that she told she wasn't thinking about her brother when she did the photos for Playboy, but she wanted the money to buy an appartment. 


In an interview for the magazine Caras (which whom she had a commercial agreement to tell stories about Senna's life, in exclusive), Adriane Galisteu admits that she wants the money from the magazine Playboy to buy herself an appartment

The appartment she bought was a in the most luxurious part of Sao Paulo, in Jardims, and mesured 300 square metres. She sold the exclusive of her appartment also to the Caras magazine, which whom she had signed the previous year a commercial agreement: in exchange for exploiting Senna's private life for the press.

She got famous enough to sign a contract to be on television, her big childhood dream. Currently she is unemployed and has a bad reputation in Brazil because of her problematic personality. 

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Gerhard Berger says that "Ayrton's big love of his life was Xuxa"

Ayrton Senna & Xuxa, in 1989
One of the people who best known Ayrton Senna, both in his private and professional life, his teammate at McLaren, Gerhard Berger, said that "Ayrton's big love of his life was Xuxa", according to the book "The life of Senna" by Tom Rubython.


Berger was more than a team mate for Senna: they became close friends

Xuxa was a Brazilian TV presenter, very famous during the 80 and the 90's decades, once ranked 39th among the richest show business personalities by the magazine Forbes



Ayrton Senna and Xuxa were going to get married after he would retire from the Formula 1, since their very busy agendas impeded them from having a regular couple life during their relationship in 1989 and 1990. 


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Sunday, November 24, 2013

Senna's ex-manager, Julian Jakobi, ready to get Sergio Perez a seat in F1 next year

Ayrton Senna and Julian Jakobi, in 1990

Veteran driver manager Julian Jakobi is now working with Sergio Perez in an effort to find the Mexican a 2014 F1 seat.

Perez is increasingly being linked with a possible future at Force India.

Jakobi was at Interlagos on Friday, although he left for other business in Rio on Saturday. Speaking to this writer, he would only say: “Checo is getting advice from us,” stopping short of confirming that it would lead to a formal managerial arrangement.

Having originally made his name while at IMG, Jakobi has worked with the likes of Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna and Jacques Villeneuve in the past. He formed GP Sports Management in 2010, and his client list includes Dario Franchitti, Allan McNish, Pedro de la Rosa, Lucas di Grassi and Sebastien Buemi. He remains close to the Senna family.

Jakobi’s Franchitti connections mean that he could obviously help to steer Perez into the vacant Ganassi seat, but the driver insists that his priority is still F1.

Perez parted company with former manager Adrian Fernandez earlier this year.

Ayrton Senna's victory in Brazil 1991

Ayrton Senna - Interlagos 1991
Senna was unbelievably good. He is famous for his incredible natural speed, and understandably so, but his prodigious work ethic is often under-rated. He trained assiduously, he was therefore extremely fit, he studied data with his engineers with infinitesimal care, and he thought deeply about his craft. Yes, he had been gifted by God with a sublime ability, but he knew that that alone would not be enough, so he worked on that talent, polished it and perfected it, and that is why I use the term ‘craft’ about his driving rather than ‘skill’ or ‘art’. 

- Emerson Fittipaldi -


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Friday, November 22, 2013

The rivalry between Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost started before 1988


“When Ayrton first drove for McLaren, the biggest man in the paddock was Alain Prost. He was the man that Ayrton wanted to emulate – and eventually the man he wanted to beat – so he ended up driving the same car as Prost in the same team.”

Source: Ayrton Senna Formula 1 || Facebook

Poster Grand Prix Brazil 1985 - Ayrton Senna's debut in the Lotus team



GP BRASIL 1985 Jacarepaguá RJ - ESPECIAL GP BRASIL 84/94

In this new season in Formula 1, the grid was significantly rendered to the wonders of the Turbo engine , which was already the dominant part in a time where new drivers and new teams assumed their presence in the top category of motor racing.

The McLaren team champion of the world , would keep the duo who gave them their first constructors' title since 1976 , the veteran Austrian driver Niki Lauda and the French Alain Prost. At 36 years old, Lauda was the driver with the number 1 on his car, but his teammate was becoming a name to be taken into account, and failed to win the title the past two years for very little, all knew that this was going to land on his lap sooner or later. Continuing with the MP4 / 2 model with TAG- Porsche engine, were on track .

But McLaren had rivals. To start with they had the Ferrari , which had kept the couple of the previous year, Italian Michele Alboreto and Frenchman René Arnoux, and a new engine, the 126/85 model, hoping it was able to overtake the cars of Lauda and Prost .

Another candidate was Williams. With the Honda engine, the team of Frank Williams and Patrick Head had expected things to be better than the previous year, which have adapted to the Turbo of Japanese origin. And they kept the Finn Keke Rosberg in their ranks, though now as a teammate he had the British Nigel Mansell, from Lotus .

In this team, with a Renault Turbo engine, Mansell 's replacement was the revelation  driver of the last season, driving for the Toleman : Brazilian Ayrton Senna. Although he was not at the top of his form, for he had spent much of the European winter recovering from a facial paralysis, it had  been enough to be ready to try the new machine at the first race of the year, moreover in his native Brazil. By his side , he had as teammate Italian Elio de Angelis, who raced the black and gold car for the sixth consecutive season .

Ayrton Senna and teammate Elio de Angelis, Lotus team, 1985

Xuxa regrets not having valued more her relationship with Ayrton Senna


Xuxa recalls dating with Brazilian football star Pele, F1 driver Ayrton Senna and Luciano Szafir : ' I did not give the value that I could '

At age 50 , Xuxa says it was never her head so in place. The presenter is having what she calls "the best time of my life" and does an analysis of her previous relationships . When asked about the mistakes, the blonde showed signs of regret that she wasn't mature enough to deal with some of her old passions.

"I think the relationships I've had, if they happened now, it would be everything different. Maturity makes us realize many things. Today I realize how wrong I was, you think you're doing the best, but after a while you think : 'Wow , I should not have done that' "she declares the Brazilian magazine "Caras". " It is the lack of experience . If I could, I would choose to be again in the body of my 23 years old but with the head of today, I would totally love that. But that's impossible."

Xuxa has dated the soccer star Pele, the Formula 1 driver Ayrton Senna and model and actor Luciano Szafir, father of her daughter Sasha, 15.

Senna and the Brazilian TV presenter were going to get married after he would stop his Formula 1 career.

Source: http://www.alagoas24horas.com.br/conteudo/?vCod=166417

Sunday, November 17, 2013

Ayrton Senna: the Senna movie-film released in 2010 - thoughts of Manish Pandey

Ayrton Senna: The Faith of the Man Who Could Drive on Water

"Just because I believe in God, just because I have faith in God, it doesn't mean that I'm immune. It doesn't mean that I'm immortal." Ayrton Senna, 1989.
Back in 2004, when James Gay-Rees and I started out on our journey to bring Ayrton's story to the big screen, we were both certain on one aspect of his life (and death) that we needed to underpin that story: Ayrton's spirituality. He was a devout Catholic, something which neither James (an Anglican at school) nor I (a Hindu) shared. Yet we both felt deeply that Ayrton's story would be incomplete without this monumental pillar in his life -- a pillar upon which he stood and reached heights that few mortals ever dream of; but also a pillar which was often misunderstood and used, like a club, to beat him by cynical opponents and press ('disbelievers' as I call them).

Ayrton's early Catholicism was like that of other young Brazilians in the 1980's -- more heritage than practicality, more Sunday morning than something which defined him at work. It took the pressure cooker of Formula One, of a life lived at 200mph on racetracks around the world -- of failure rather than victory -- to bring God into his daily life.

With superyachts bobbing in the harbour, champagne on ice and 24 hour parties, the Monaco Grand Prix should have been amongst the most unlikely places for Ayrton to have had a deeply profound spiritual experience -- yet it was here in 1988 when such a 'miracle', in his eyes, occurred ...
His qualifying sessions at that race are still spoken of in awe by anyone lucky enough to have seen them. Ayrton took his car, a car designed around his team-mate double world champion Alain Prost, the best driver in the world (perhaps of all time, until then) and lapped the principality faster and faster until -- at one point -- Ayrton was two seconds faster. Ayrton, it seemed, was visibly bending the car and the track to his will. He had transcended what was physically possible and was exploring limits that no-one had ever dared to reach: he was inhabiting places so far beyond normal human experience, that even the disbelievers were left flabbergasted as they looked at the time sheets.
"Suddenly, I realised that I was no longer driving consciously and I was kind of driving by instinct only, I was in a different dimension ... I was so over the limit but still able to go even more ... I realised that I was in a very different atmosphere ... I was well beyond my conscious understanding."
Ayrton was literally in another world. Yet, in the race, he failed. With a handful of laps to go, and a lead of almost a minute over Prost, Ayrton made a novice's error and put the car in a wall. The fury on his face -- his human frailty -- was there to see and that accident should have marked the end of his challenge to Prost: it would have been the human response after such a humiliating, public error. But, as he explained later, 'Somehow I learned from that experience and came closer to God.' And so began his practice of daily scripture study and his occasional ritual, in times of great stress, of opening the bible at a random page to seek the answer to a difficult question.
Monaco 1988 - Ayrton Senna in the McLaren Honda
That failure at Monaco, rather than destroying him, crystallised Ayrton's faith and he went on to a run of six victories from the next eight races culminating in an experience which few, who witnessed it, in Japan at the end of the year, will ever forget.
Ayrton took his first world championship at the Suzuka Circuit in October 1988. The conditions were damp, the air heavy with droplets of rain which split the light like tiny prisms. As he crossed the start-finish line, both hands waving wildly, the steering wheel between his knees at 150mph, his mechanics heard a kind of crying and laughter, they heard screaming and singing -- language that they could not describe -- and Ayrton, after he stopped the car, calmly admitted to seeing a vision of God as he took the championship.
The disbelievers had him now. A visual hallucination is the sign of psychosis -- of actual madness. Yet there was a sincerity about his words -- a mildness with which they were delivered which left his close friends in no doubt of his honesty. 'I think' said his friend, Brazilian TV reporter Galvao Bueno, '[In the rain], he saw what he wanted to see.' Publicly, Ayrton only admitted that after winning the championship, he 'felt a kind of peace.'
In the shallow, commercial, fast-paced world of the Formula One paddock, Ayrton was the exception. He had, in the words of Professor Sid Watkins, the Formula One doctor and father-figure to all the drivers 'a kind of tranquillity -- he was a very tranquil person.'
'When you talk about religion, it's a touching point, very easy to be misunderstood ... But I try hard -- as hard as I can to understand life through God. And that means everyday of my life -- not only when I'm home but when I'm doing my work too.'
In Spain, in 1990, Ayrton's fellow driver, Martin Donnelly, suffered horrendous injuries in a qualifying accident. Ayrton -- unlike any other driver -- went to the scene and witnessed Prof. Watkins resuscitate his stricken comrade. It was harrowing and, in the aftermath, no one knew whether Donnelly would live. But that afternoon, Ayrton demonstrated that it was one thing to have faith, in principle, but another to carry that faith into an arena where death is a constant companion. He sat alone and prayed, reasoning that death or severe injury were parts of his chosen path in life and, at that moment, he could either face them by going out onto the circuit -- or walk away from the sport. There could be no compromise. He had no need to drive, that day -- he was already on pole position -- but he drove none-the-less, and smashed his own time.
It was the one day when the believers and disbelievers were united in their admiration for Ayrton: whatever power he could summon, whatever force compelled him, he used to conquer a circuit that had tried to harm his fellow driver, his comrade, his brother -- and won.

In the 1990's, Brazil was still on its knees, crippled by poverty and debt. Ayrton had been giving away vast sums of money, privately, not just to Christian organisations but to hospitals and shelters: children, especially, were dear to him. Ayrton said 'We [the rich] cannot live on islands of wealth surrounded by a sea of poverty ...' He knew that even his immense material wealth would barely amount to a drop in this ocean of Brazilian poverty but what he could do was to unite his nation, rich or poor, old or young, every Sunday when he raced.
And the zenith of that ability to unite came on his 31st birthday, March 21st 1991, in his hometown of Sao Paulo -- somewhere that he had never won before. Ayrton was pursued, doggedly, by the faster Williams car of Nigel Mansell -- his lead never growing to more than a few seconds. Then, as if by magic, Mansell spun out of the race with a mechanical problem. Ayrton was now almost a minute ahead of Mansell's teammate with a cruise to victory in sight. But now Ayrton's gearbox started to fail him and he was left with just sixth gear on a circuit with slow corners and near mountainous gradients -- even one lap stuck in sixth gear should have been impossible and, duly, Mansell's teammate began gaining on him quickly, reducing Ayrton's lead to a few seconds.
And then it began to rain, creating conditions in which Ayrton was truly a master. He crossed the finishing line with less than two seconds of his lead left, completely spent, and had to be helped from the car because of intense muscle spasm.
Ayrton Senna raising the Brazilian flag after winning for the 1st time the Brazilian GP in 1991
It took almost 30 minutes to get him onto the podium in front of a nation, that for two hours, had forgotten all its misery and suffering -- and in one final effort of will, Ayrton hoisted the trophy despite the pain. His niece, Bianca, said that it was so like her uncle to suffer, to work so hard, to give everything and then to say, humbly, 'God gave me this victory ... It couldn't be any other way ... because he is greater than all.' For me, that race was a perfect embodiment of the man and his faith -- in a nation that was falling apart, he used his faith to bring victory and so to bring people together. Truly, that day, he was a prophet honoured at home.


Ayrton's three championships came hard -- when he was in the best car, he had the best team-mate; then he rarely had the best car but he would always find ways to win, to keep motivated - 'To fight the good fight.' That faith sustained him through the barren years of 1992 and 1993.
Damon Hill, Formula One World Champion in 1996, said of the San Marino Grand Prix of 1994, 'It was as if Siva, the Indian God of Destruction, visited Formula One that weekend.'
Ayrton had been struggling with a new car, having left McLaren to join the Williams team in an attempt to recapture his world championship. Regulations had changed and the new breed of car was 'skittish' -- unstable, nervous -- and Ayrton was the grand old man of Formula One, the only champion on the grid. He had failed even to complete the first two races of the season -- his worst start to a season since he entered the sport in 1984. The omens were bad. This strange season, the nervousness of the cars and the youth of the drivers around him had prompted Ayrton to prophesise 'We will be lucky to get through this season without a serious injury -- or even worse ...'
In Friday's qualifying session, Ayrton witnessed the horrific accident of his protégé, Rubens Barrichello. He had known and mentored Rubens since 1986 and his shock at seeing his young Brazilian compatriot was palpable. But by some miracle, Rubens was only lightly injured ...
On Saturday, Ayrton witnessed a second horrific accident -- that of young Austrian Roland Ratzenberger, competing in his first season in Formula One. Ratzenberger was not as lucky as Rubens and Ayrton's dark prophecy about the season was about to unfold: Ratzenberger was dead.
For a man as intelligent and as complicated as Ayrton was, he had a remarkably simple solution to his chosen life's pressures: he would drive. And with that gesture, he would forget, he would heal, he would unite. But that death -- the first that Ayrton had experienced on track -- brought out a grief which was manifested by an image so unusual that it has remained seared on the minds of all who witnessed it: Ayrton took off his overalls and chose not to drive. Faced with a night of turmoil, of conflict, no one knew what his decision would be on Sunday morning, on race day ...
'On that final morning, he woke and opened his bible and read a text,' explained Viviane, Ayrton's sister, 'that he would receive the greatest gift of all which was God, himself.' From the moment Ayrton's car plunged off the road to his brain death was less than two seconds and the sequence of events, though violent, were so complicated, they seemed to defy probability.
Ayrton's car left the circuit, not only at the fastest corner but at the corner with no run-off area in which to brake, in which to react. The car hit the outer concrete wall at the exact angle which caused his front right tyre and suspension assembly to be thrown back at the car. Ayrton's head was flexed forward the exact moment that the assembly hit him -- and a piece found its way through the tiny aperture of his visor, causing fatal head injuries. It was an unprecedented, fantastic series of events. In the words of insurance companies, the most rational entities on earth who sift through data and find patterns where there are none, Ayrton's death 'was an act of God.'
Three million people lined the streets of Sao Paulo for his funeral whilst one hundred million watched on television, united by Ayrton, once again -- but this time in grief. And it is that union which Ayrton could forge in human beings upon which I reflect, seventeen years after his death. Ayrton's spirituality, his faith, and his religion brought people together -- as faith and religions should.
Ayrton Senna's funeral in Sao Paulo, May 5th 1994
Asif, our director, is a Muslim; James, our producer, was brought up a Christian; Eric, our other producer, a Jew -- and I am a Hindu -- all brought together by the intense power of a great human being, who transcended his sport, and whose spirit now transcends his death.
Source: Text written by Manish Pandey, from the movie "Senna" http://www.huffingtonpost.com/manish-pandey/ayrton-senna_b_909096.html

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Photos - Pictures Ayrton Senna Australian Grand Prix - Adelaide 1993 - Victory

Pictures - Photos of Ayrton Senna winning the Australian Grand Prix in 1993, in Adelaide. High Definition. Save on your computer and see full screen.







Last win of Ayrton Senna was 20 years ago, in Adelaide - Australia 1993

TWENTY years ago this week, Ayrton Senna stood on the podium in Adelaide celebrating his 41st Grand Prix victory and his second in Adelaide. Sadly it would also be his last.

Certainly he was a man at the top of his game when Senna embraced long-time - and sometimes bitter - rival Alain Prost on the podium on May 7, 1993.
It was a touching reconciliation, instigated by Senna who hauled Prost onto the podium and hugged him before dousing the Frenchman with champagne.
"The attitude there speaks for itself," Senna said post-race. "It was reflected in my feeling and his feeling, too."

Asked whether the two would now become friends, Prost said, with eerie foresight, "life will tell".

Ayrton Senna arrives in Adelaide, Australia, 1993
The French champion - who was driving his final race after 51 Grand Prix victories and four world championships - had ensured the pair's last duel was a classic.
He had driven a brilliant race, but not quite brilliant enough, with Senna crossing the line 9.6 seconds in front.
Ironically, Senna would take Prost's place at Williams Renault the next year, after six mighty years with McLaren.
Senna, who won three world championships, would have truly enjoyed his second win in Adelaide (his first was in 1991), in a city which, according to former Australian Grand Prix boss Dr Mal Hemmerling "he truly loved".
That city and its people would in turn show their love for the racing champion in 1994, with about 3000 turning up to a memorial service on the Australian Grand Prix starting grid at Victoria Park.
Grand Prix chaplain Father Joe Grealy told the crowd Senna had been a man of "affability and friendliness" who had spent time in St Francis Xavier Cathedral in Wakefield St during his visits to Adelaide.
Dr Hemmerling described Senna as "a person of considerable intellect, depth and charm."
And one who will always have a place in Adelaide's sporting history.

How the race unfolded
As the field lined up on the grid, Senna already looked the man to beat.
He had set the pace, right from qualifying, seizing pole position.
Two aborted starts, with the resultant extra warm-up laps, meant the race was cut by two laps to 79.
Then, in typical form, the Brazilian made the most of his advantage, beating Prost into the first corner, and controlling the race from the front.
Senna would later say that despite his dominant performance, the race had not been easy.
The Advertiser's Bob Jennings and Stuart Innes reported that Senna really had not had a race strategy beforehand, though McLaren had aimed to make just one stop for fresh tyres.
"This strategy went out the window when Senna misunderstood a radio message from the pits; he thought Prost had stopped for tyres and felt if that was the case, he should stop too," they wrote.
Start of the race in Adelaide 1993 - Senna first, then Prost and Hill in the Williams's follow
Senna peeled into the pits after just 23 laps, and said later that when he realised Prost hadn't stopped, he thought to himself "God, now I have to make up the gap, because I thought he would be stopping only once".
As it turned out, most drivers made two stops for tyres, as the warm weather and heavy fuel loads caused them to lose performance early.
"Senna said he had trouble maintaining his lead, and there was no doubt Prost was giving it his all, with his job made more difficult by the pace of (Williams teammate Damon) Hill, who in turn had Benetton driver Michael Schumacher filling his mirrors during the early stages," Jennings and Innes reported.
Prost made his first tyre stop on lap 28.
Ayrton Senna signs autographs for australian fans in 1993
Hill went in for his second tyre change on lap 44, and Prost on lap 48.
On rejoining the race, they started to seriously bring down their lap times.
Despite that, Senna snuck in for a second tyre change after 55 laps, but rejoined before the Williams cars made it past the pits.
It was then the Brazilian really turned up the pressure, setting a new lap record on lap 64 - 1min. 15.381 sec - an average of 180.523km/h.
Four laps later, Hill lost his chance of taking second place, when he was "suckered into a spin by the wily Prost at the end of Brabham Straight."
Prost later described the incident as a "fun moment". It's doubtful Hill - who still nabbed third place - shared his amusement.
But Senna had control and would not surrender it.
Asked later how different the race had been to previous Australian Grands Prix, Senna said: "It's been the best one."
"… with rain, with the dry, very hot, not so hot - it's always been very special, very good. But this one has been the best one; the best result and the best victory, by far."
If only it had not been the last one.
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