Sometime, the top-line facts don’t even come close to telling the whole story. Take our coverage of the 1991 Formula 1 Brazilian Grand Prix, in which Ayrton Senna started in pole position and led every single lap in his McLaren-Honda en route to victory: Our headline — “Why bother?” — alluded to the seeming futility of trying to challenge the hard-charging Brazilian for the season championship. Spoiler alert: Senna did go on to win the World Championship, making it his third (and final) title.
But there was much, much more to the win than that. As we put it in the April 1, 1991, issue of Autoweek, though it might have looked from afar as though he waltzed to victory, “In reality Senna was having one of the most difficult races of his F1 career, but his 2.96-second victory over (Nigel) Mansell's teammate, Riccardo Patrese, also was the sweetest because it was his first victory in front of his hometown Sao Paulo crowd.”
Even with a few lucky breaks keeping competitors at bay, Senna still had to contend with a failing gearbox. When he finished the race, apparently in sixth gear, he was too exhausted — physically and, we presume, emotionally — to leave his car under his own power. His reaction to the win, as well as the joyous response of everyone packing the stands and working the track at Interlagos, speaks volumes.
Senna died 25 years ago this week. Much has been said about his illustrious career and enduring influence on top-level motorsport, especially when it comes to driver safety. Here’s an opportunity to relive a moment that meant so much to the man himself.
Check out our coverage of the race, and watch the GP’s conclusion in the embedded video clip, below.
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