Feature

Ayrton Senna: Top 10 moments that defined an F1 Legend

10. Australian Grand Prix 1993

The Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide was the concluding race of the 1993 season, and also Ayrton Senna's final race for McLaren after six seasons together. It would also prove to be - although obviously no one knew it at the time - the last of Senna's 41 Formula 1 race victories.

Senna had succeeded in taking his first pole position since the 1992 Canadian Grand Prix, breaking a run of 24 consecutive poles for the now-dominant Williams team which had been on the cusp of a clean sweep for the season. After three attempts to get the race started, Senna leapt away into the lead where he remained for all but five laps during the pit stop sequence. He won by over nine seconds from Alain Prost, who was himself making what would prove to be his final F1 appearance. It had been a calm, straightforward demonstration of the Brazilian's unparalleled ability

The following year Senna replaced Prost at Williams, but it proved to be a troubled start to the new arrangement. There were frustrating retirements in the first two races of 1994 in Brazil and Japan that piled the pressure on him to perform in the next event: that was the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola on May 1. And sadly it is here that Senna's story comes to a premature end, in events that still feel as shockingly raw and painful today as they did at the time, 30 years ago.

Ayrton Senna 1960 - 1994

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.