Video: Paying tribute to the Ayrton Senna’s life in motorsport

11th May 2024

Ethan Jupp

Just a couple of weeks ago marked the thirtieth anniversary of Ayrton Senna’s tragic death at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix. A legendary character of the sport, the memory of Senna, his uncompromising driving style and his ice-cool personality, burns bright in the minds of all motorsport fans still three decades on. Given his reputation as the ‘Master of Monaco’, it feels fitting that a tribute should be held here at the 2024 Historic Grand Prix.

It’s a proper, career-spanning tribute too, with cars spanning from Senna’s 1990 McLaren MP4/5B (which incidentally, he won Monaco in), to the very first kart he ever raced. They were joined by the FF2000 car, in which Ayrton won the British and European Championship titles at 22 years old as well as the Ralt RT3 Formula 3 car with which he became British F3 champion.

Rounding out the selection was of course his Lotus 97T – being driven here by Thierry Boutsen – with which he won his first two Formula 1 grands prix and scored his first seven pole positions. Seeing that parading around in convoy with the McLaren – with Bruno Senna at the wheel – was an emotional moment.