Ayrton Senna da Silva was a Brazilian racing driver who won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in 1988, 1990 and 1991 while driving for McLaren. Senna is one of three Brazilian Formula One drivers to win the World Championship, achieving 65 pole positions and winning 41 Grand Prix, the first being the record until 2006. Senna's death occurred as a result of an accident while leading the race in 1994 San Marino. Grand Prix, driving for the Williams team.

Early life and career

Senna was born at 2:35 BRT on Monday, 21 March 1960, in the Pro-Matre Maternity Hospital of Santana, a neighbourhood of São Paulo. The middle child of a wealthy Brazilian family, he was born to landowner and factory owner Milton Guirado da Silva and his wife Neide Joanna Senna da Silva; he had an older sister, Viviane, and a younger brother, Leonardo. He was left-handed. Senna's mother was the granddaughter of Italian immigrants, while his father was born to a Spanish mother (from Tíjola, Province of Almería) and a Brazilian father from São Paulo.

Death

The 1994 San Marino Grand Prix was held on the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari circuit located in Imola, Italy, between 28 April and 1 May 1994. The European leg of the Formula One season, starting at Imola, was traditionally considered the beginning of the yearly competition. Senna, who did not finish the two opening races of the season, declared that this was where his season would start, with 14 races, as opposed to 16, in which to win the title. Williams brought modified FW16s to Imola in an attempt to improve the car's handling. During the afternoon qualifying session, Senna's compatriot and protégé Rubens Barrichello was involved in a serious accident when his car became airborne at the Variante Bassa chicane and hit the tyre-wall and fence. Barrichello suffered a broken nose and arm, and withdrew from the event. Barrichello reported that Senna was the first person he saw upon regaining consciousness.