Tag Archives: Senna

Excellent video with respect to Aryton’s genius talent.

From Ron Dennis:

Twenty years after Ayrton Senna’s tragic death, Ron Dennis still struggles to speak about the special bond he shared with the Formula One great.

Dennis, whose McLaren cars took Senna to three Formula One world titles, rarely delves publicly into his memories of a man who “was so good for the whole time he was on the planet.”

Senna’s death left Dennis devastated and the McLaren CEO still regards it as a private and complex affair, preferring to keep his emotions to himself. But as the 20th anniversary of Senna’s passing is observed this week at the Imola track where he had his fatal crash on May 1, 1994, Dennis remembered one of the most fruitful collaborations in the history of the sport.

Dennis signed Senna to McLaren in 1987 on a day he will never forget. As negotiations neared conclusion, Senna and the McLaren boss could not agree on the money.

“We were arguing over half a million dollars, and I came up with the idea of us flicking a coin to decide,” Dennis said in an in-depth interview with McLaren Mercedes website. “But Ayrton’s English wasn’t so good at the time, so there was a five-minute conversation about the details. I had to draw pictures on a piece of paper. I just wanted to find a way forward. So the coin was thrown into the air, spinning. It landed and it went off like a rocket! You could hear it rattling under the curtains, I pulled them back and I won the bet!”