Ayrton Senna da Silva (Brazilian Portuguese: [aˈiʁtõ ˈsẽnɐ dɐ ˈsiwvɐ]; 21 March 1960 – 1 May 1994) was a Brazilian racing driver who won threeFormula One world championships. He was killed in an accident while leading the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix. He was among the most dominant and successful Formula One drivers of the modern era and is considered one of the greatest drivers in the history of the sport. He remains the most recent driver fatality in Formula One.

Senna began his motorsport career in karting, moving up to open-wheelracing in 1981, and winning the British Formula 3 championship in 1983. He made his Formula One debut with Toleman-Hart in 1984before moving to Lotus-Renault the following year and winning six Grands Prix over the next three seasons. In 1988, he joined FrenchmanAlain Prost at McLaren-Honda. Between them, they won all but one of the 16 Grands Prix that year and Senna claimed his first World Championship. Prost claimed the championship in 1989, and Senna his second and third championships in 1990 and 1991. In 1992, theWilliams-Renault combination began to dominate Formula One. Senna nonetheless managed to finish the 1993 season as runner-up, winning five races and negotiating a move to Williams in 1994.

Senna has often been voted as one of the greatest Formula One drivers of all time in various motorsport polls. He was recognised for his qualifying speed over one lap and from 1989 until 2006 held the record for most pole positions. He was also acclaimed for his wet weather performances, such as the 1984 Monaco Grand Prix, the 1985 Portuguese Grand Prix, and the 1993 European Grand Prix. He holds a record six victories at the prestigious Monaco Grand Prix, and is the third most successful driver of all time in terms of race wins. Senna courted controversy throughout his career, particularly during his turbulent rivalry with Alain Prost. In the Japanese Grands Prix of 1989 and 1990, each of which decided the Championship of that year, collisions between Senna and Prost determined the eventual winner.

Early life and career

Senna was born in the Pro-Matre Maternity Hospital of Santana, a neighbourhood of São Paulo city. The middle child of wealthy Brazilian landowner and factory owner Milton da Silva and his wife Neide Senna da Silva (whose family is of Italianlineage), he had an older sister, Viviane and a younger brother, Leonardo.

The house where Senna spent the first four years of his life belonged to Neide's father, João Senna, and was located on the corner of Avenida Aviador Guilherme with Avenida Gil Santos Dumont, less than 100 meters from Campo de Marte, a large area where they operated the Aeronautics Material park and an airport. He was highly athletic, excelling in gymnastics and other sports, and developed an interest in cars and motor racing at the age of four. Senna also suffered from poor motor coordination and had trouble climbing stairways by the age of three. An electroencephalogram (ECG) found that Senna was not suffering from any problems. His parents gave Senna the nickname "Beco". At the age of seven, Senna first learned to drive a Jeep around his family's farm and gained the advantage of changing gears without the use of a clutch.

Senna attended Colegio Rio Branco in the São Paulo neighbourhood of Jardinsand graduated in 1977 with a grade 5 in physics along with other grades in Mathematics, Chemistry and English. He later enrolled in a college that specialised in Business Administration but dropped out after three months.Overall, his grades amounted up to 68%.

Senna's first kart was a small 1 HP go-kart, built by his father using a lawnmower engine. Senna started racing karts at Interlagos and entered a karting competition at the age of 13. He started his first race on pole position. Senna faced rivals who were some years older than him but managed to lead most of the race before retiring after colliding with a rival. His father supported his son and Senna was soon managed by Lucio Pascal Gascon.Senna won the South American Kart Championship in 1977. He contested the Karting World Championship each year from 1978 to 1982, finishing runner-up in 1979 and 1980. He was the team-mate of Terry Fullerton in 1978, who Senna later felt was the rival he got the most satisfaction from racing against.

In 1981, Senna moved to England to begin single-seater racing, winning the RAC and Townsend-Thoreson Formula Ford 1600 Championships that year with the Van Diemen team. Despite this, Senna initially did not believe he would continue in motorsport. At the end of the season, under pressure from his parents to take up a role in the family business, Senna announced his retirement from Formula Ford and returned to Brazil. Before leaving England, however, Senna was offered a drive with a Formula Ford 2000 team for £10,000. Back in Brazil, he decided to take up this offer and returned to live in England. As Silva is a very common Brazilian name, he adopted his mother's maiden name, Senna. Senna went on to win the 1982 British and European Formula Ford 2000 championships under that surname. For that season, Senna arrived with sponsorship from Banerj and Pool.

In 1983, Senna drove in the British Formula Three Championship with the West Surrey Racing team. He dominated the first half of the season until Martin Brundle, driving a similar car for Eddie Jordan Racing, closed the gap in the second part of the championship. Senna won the title at the final round after a closely fought and, at times, acrimonious battle. In November that year, he triumphed at the inaugural Macau Formula 3 Grand Prix with Teddy Yip's Toyota powered Theodore Racing Team.

Williams (1994)

For 1994, Senna finally signed with the Williams-Renault team on 11 October 1993 after Prost had decided to end his career. Senna was paid $1 million for each race: entering all races would have earned him $20 million for the season. Rule changes for 1994 had banned active suspension, traction control and ABS. During pre-season testing the new Williams FW16 car exhibited none of the superiority of the FW15C and FW14B cars that preceded it, and Senna found himself in close running with the Benetton B194 of Schumacher. Senna expressed his discomfort with the handling of his car, stating "I have a very negative feeling about driving the car and driving it on the limit and so on ... Some of that is down to the lack of electronic change. Also, the car has its own characteristics which I'm not fully confident in yet." Senna further added, "It's going to be a season with lots of accidents, and I'll risk saying that we'll be lucky if something really serious doesn't happen."

The first race of the season was in Brazil, where Senna took pole. In the race Senna took an early lead but Schumacher's Benetton was never far behind. Schumacher took the race lead for good after passing Senna in the pits. Senna refused to settle for second. While trying for a win, he pushed too hard and spun the car coming out of Junção on lap 56, stalling it and retiring from the race.[94] The second race was the Pacific Grand Prix at Aida where Senna again placed the car on pole. However, after being beaten to the first corner by second qualifier Schumacher, he was hit from behind in the first corner by Mika Häkkinen and his race came to a definitive end when the Ferrari driven by Nicola Larini also crashed into his Williams. Hill also retired with transmission problems, while Schumacher took victory again.

It was Senna's worst start to an F1 season, failing to finish or score points in the first two races, despite taking pole both times. Schumacher was leading Senna in the drivers' championship by twenty points.

Death

Main articles: Death of Ayrton Senna and 1994 San Marino Grand Prix Senna's fatal accident at the moment of impact

Senna's third and final race of the 1994 season, the San Marino Grand Prix, was held on the "Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari" circuit located in Imola, Italy. Imola had traditionally been considered the beginning of the F1 season proper, on European soil. Senna, who did not finish the two opening races of the season, declared that this was where his season would start, with fourteen races, as opposed to sixteen, in which to win the title. Williams brought modified FW16s to Imola in an attempt to improve the car's handling.

On Friday, Senna placed the car on pole for a then-record 65th and final time, but he was upset by events unfolding that race weekend. Senna complained about the FW16's handling and reported that the car's performance was generally worse after the engineers' latest adjustments. During the afternoon qualifying session, Senna's compatriot and protégé Rubens Barrichello was involved in a serious accident when his Jordan 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.

During Saturday qualifying, Austrian rookie Roland Ratzenberger was killed after the front wing of his Simtek-Ford broke entering the 190 mph Villeneuve corner, sending the car into a concrete wall. Senna immediately visited the accident scene and medical centre where he was met by FIA Medical Chief Professor Sid Watkins. Watkins suggested to a tearful Senna to retire from racing and go fishing (a hobby they both shared), to which Senna replied that he could not stop racing. Senna was later called in front of the stewards for commandeering an official car and climbing the medical centre fence, and a row ensued, although Senna was not punished.

Senna spent his final morning talking to former McLaren teammate Alain Prost to discuss the re-establishment of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association in an attempt to improve safety in Formula One. As the most senior driver, Senna offered to take the role of leader, starting from the next race in Monaco. During the drivers' briefing, complaints were raised about the use of a Porsche 911 lead car for the warm-up lap, and it was agreed to abandon the practice.

At the start of the race, Senna retained the lead from Schumacher but proceedings soon became interrupted by a startline accident. JJ Lehto's Benetton-Ford had stalled and was hit by the Lotus-Mugen Honda of Pedro Lamy. A wheel and debris landed in the main grandstand, injuring eight fans and a police officer. The safety car, a sporty version of the Opel Vectramedium family saloon, was deployed for several laps. The Vectra's slow pace was later questioned because of the consequential drop in tyre pressures on the Formula One cars. Senna had pulled alongside the Vectra and gesticulated to the driver, Max Angelelli, to increase his speed. On lap 6, the race resumed and Senna immediately set a quick pace with the third quickest lap of the race, followed by Schumacher.

As Senna rounded the high-speed Tamburello corner on lap 7, the car left the racing line at around 191 mph (307 km/h), ran in a straight line off the track, and hit the concrete retaining wall at around 145 mph (233 km/h), after what telemetry showed to be an application of the brakes for around 2 seconds. The red flag was shown as a consequence of the accident. Within two minutes of crashing, Senna was extracted from his race car by Professor Sid Watkins and his medical team. Initial treatment took place by the side of the car, with Senna having a weak heartbeat and significant blood loss (approximately 4.5 litres). Because of Senna's poor neurological condition, Professor Watkins performed an on-sitetracheotomy and requested the immediate airlifting of Senna to Bologna's Maggiore Hospital, where he was declared dead hours later. Watkins later said that as soon as he saw Senna's fully dilated pupils, he knew that his brainstem was inactive and that he would not survive.

It is believed that the right-front wheel and suspension was sent back into the cockpit, striking Senna on the right side of his helmet, forcing his head back against the headrest. In addition, a piece of the upright assembly, most likely a tie rod, penetrated the helmet visor, which was a new, thinner version, above his right eye. Senna sustained fatal skull fractures,brain injuries and a ruptured temporal artery.

It was later revealed that, as medical staff examined Senna, a furled Austrian flag was found in his car—a flag that he had intended to raise in honour of Ratzenberger after the race. Photographs of Ayrton Senna being treated on the track by emergency medical personnel were taken by Senna's friend and Autosprint's picture editor, Angelo Orsi. Out of respect, those photographs have never been made public.

Funeral

 Senna's grave, with the inscription "Nothing can separate me from the love of God"

Senna's death was considered by many of his Brazilian fans to be a national tragedy, and the Brazilian government declared three days of national mourning. The Italian Air Force offered to fly the coffin back to Brazil, but the Senna family wished that it return home in a Brazilian plane. Contrary to airline policy and out of respect, Senna's coffin was allowed to be flown back to his home country in the passenger cabin of a VARIG McDonnell-Douglas MD-11 airliner, accompanied by his distraught younger brother, Leonardo, and close friends. The plane was escorted by fighter jets into São Paulo-Guarulhos International Airport on Thursday 5 May 1994, where it was met by São Paulo's mayor, Paulo Maluf, and state governor, Luís Antônio Fleury. The coffin was carried by soldiers from the Policia da Aeronautical to a fire engine, where eight cadets from the Military Police Academy mounted guard as it carried the coffin on the 20-mile journey into the city. Leading the motorcade were seventeen police motorbikes, and 2,500 policemen lined the route to keep the crowds at bay.

An estimated three million people flocked to the streets of Senna's hometown of São Paulo to offer him their salute. This is widely accepted as the largest recorded gathering of mourners in modern times. Over 200,000 people filed past as his body lay in state at the Legislative Assembly building in Ibirapuera Park. After the public viewing, a 21-gun salute was fired by the 2nd Artillery Brigade and seven Brazilian Air Force jets flew in a diamond formation as the funeral procession made its way to Morumbi Cemetery. Many prominent motor racing figures attended Senna's state funeral, such as team managers Ken Tyrrell, Peter Collins, Ron Dennis, and Frank Williams, and driver Jackie Stewart. The pallbearers included drivers Gerhard Berger, Michele Alboreto, Alain Prost, Thierry Boutsen, Damon Hill, Rubens Barrichello, Roberto Moreno, Derek Warwick, Mauricio Gugelmin, Hans Stuck, Johnny Herbert, Pedro Lamy, Maurizio Sala, Raul Boesel, Emerson Fittipaldi, Wilson Fittipaldi, and Christian Fittipaldi. Neither Sid Watkins nor Jo Ramírez, the McLaren team coordinator, could bear to attend because they were so grief-stricken. Senna's family did not allow FOM president Bernie Ecclestone, a friend of Senna's, to attend the ceremony, after an altercation between Ecclestone and Senna's brother Leonardo at Imola regarding Ecclestone's misconstrued reaction to the news of Ayrton's death and the fact that the race had not been abandoned after his accident. FIA President Max Mosley instead attended the funeral of Ratzenberger which took place on 7 May 1994, in Salzburg, Austria. Mosley said in a press conference ten years later, "I went to his funeral because everyone went to Senna's. I thought it was important that somebody went to his." Senna's grave bears the epitaph "Nada pode me separar do amor de Deus," which means "Nothing can separate me from the love of God" (a reference to Romans 8:38–39).

A testament to the adulation he inspired among fans worldwide was the scene at the Tokyo headquarters of Honda where the McLaren cars were typically displayed after each race. Upon his death, so many floral tributes were received that it overwhelmed the large exhibition lobby.[115] This despite the fact Senna no longer drove for McLaren and that McLaren in the preceding seasons did not use Honda power. Senna had a special relationship with company founder Soichiro Honda and was beloved in Japan, where he achieved a near mythic status. For the next race at Monaco, the FIA decided to leave the first two grid positions empty and painted them with the colours of the Brazilian and the Austrian flags, to honour Senna and Ratzenberger.

Trial

The cause of the accident had been identified as a steering column failure. Italian law demands that any unusual incident be investigated. Many court cases followed immediately afterwards and the judgment went on for years, with Williams being investigated for manslaughter. The last word from the Italian Court of Appeal was on 13 April 2007. In verdict no. 15050, the Court ruled thus: "It has been determined that the accident was caused by a steering column failure. This failure was caused by badly designed and badly executed modifications. The responsibility of this falls on Patrick Head, culpable of omitted control." Patrick Head was not arrested; in Italy the statute of limitation for manslaughter is 7 years and 6 months, and the final verdict was pronounced 13 years after the accident.

Personal life

Senna was a devout Catholic, once saying: "Just because I believe in God, just because I have faith in God, it doesn't mean that I'm immune. It doesn't mean that I'm immortal" (1989). He often read the Bible on long flights from São Paulo to Europe. According to sister Viviane, Senna had sought strength from the Bible on the morning of his death after the events of the race weekend: "On that final morning, he woke and opened his bible and read a text that he would receive the greatest gift of all, which was God himself."

As his profile rose, Senna expressed concern over the widespread poverty in Brazil. After his death it was discovered that he had quietly donated millions of his personal fortune (estimated at around $400 million) to help poor children. Shortly before his death, he created the framework for an organisation dedicated to Brazilian children, which later became the Instituto Ayrton Senna (Ayrton Senna Institute).

Senna was often quoted using driving as a means for self-discovery and racing as a metaphor for life: "The harder I push, the more I find within myself. I am always looking for the next step, a different world to go into, areas where I have not been before. It's lonely driving a Grand Prix car, but very absorbing. I have experienced new sensations, and I want more. That is my excitement, my motivation."

Towards the end of his career, Senna became increasingly preoccupied with the dangers of his profession. On the morning of his death he initiated the re-formation of the GPDA safety organisation, with which he had intended to work to improve the safety of his sport.

In the late 1980s, to take advantage of the close relationship Honda had formed with Senna, the Japanese company asked him to help fine-tune the Honda NSX's suspension setting during its final development stages. The tests were conducted at Suzuka Circuit with chief NSX engineer Shigeru Uehara and his engineering team present to gather Senna's direct input. Senna found the prototype NSX initially lacked chassis stiffness to the level he was accustomed to, so the final production version was further reinforced to his satisfaction.

Senna was also instrumental in bringing Audi cars into his native country, both as an import and manufacturing business. Audi entered Brazil in 1994 via Ayrton Senna's company, Senna Import, founded in 1993. Sales began in April that year, just a month before his untimely death. In 1999, Audi Senna was created as a joint venture of Audi with Senna Import. Senna's personal car in 1994 was an Audi S4.

In the early 1990s Senna developed his own merchandise brand represented by a logo with a double S, after his full surname, "Senna da Silva". This logo is meant to represent an S chicane on a racing circuit. The Senna brand was on apparel, watches (TAG Heuer), bicycles (Carraro), and boats. TAG Heuer and Hublot have created limited edition watches to honor Senna, both during his lifetime and after his death.

Senna owned several properties, including an organic farm in Tatuí, Brazil, a beach house in Angra dos Reis, Brazil, an apartment in São Paulo, an apartment in Monaco, and a house in Algarve, Portugal.

Senna enjoyed a range of physical activities including running, waterskiing, jet skiing, and paddleboarding. He also had several hobbies, such as flying real andmodel planes and helicopters, boating, fishing and riding his favourite Ducatimotorbikes. His private jet was a British Aerospace 125 (BAe HS125), and he also piloted his own helicopter between his residences in Brazil along with travelling to races. He was left-handed.

Senna was close friends with McLaren teammate Gerhard Berger, and the two were always playing practical jokes on each other.[134][full citation needed] Berger is quoted as saying "He taught me a lot about our sport, I taught him to laugh." In the documentary film The Right to Win, made in 2004 as a tribute to Senna, Frank Williams notably recalls that as good a driver as Senna was, ultimately "he was an even greater man outside of the car than he was in it."

Senna was married to Lilian de Vasconcelos Souza from 1981 until 1982. Vasconcelos, whom he had known since childhood, had difficulty adapting to her husband's racing life in England. Vasconcelos later said: "I was his second passion. His first passion was racing... There was nothing more important in the world for him, not family, not wife, nothing." Though he did not have much of an income early in his racing career, Senna insisted on supporting his wife with no help from his father out of a sense of pride. The marriage ended in divorce. Senna then courted Adriane Yamin, daughter of an entrepreneur from São Paulo, who was 15 years old when they began the relationship in 1985 and often chaperoned by her mother during meetings with Senna. They were briefly engaged, but the relationship was broken off by Senna in late 1988. Senna dated Brazilian TV star Xuxa from late 1988 until 1990. He then dated Christine Ferracciu, who lived with him at his homes in Monaco and Portugal, on and off between 1990 and 1991. Senna also had an affair with American model Carol Alt,[139] and briefly dated models Marjorie Andrade and Elle Macpherson.[138][140]At the time of his death Senna was in a relationship with Brazilian model, and later TV personality, Adriane Galisteu.[141]

Ayrton was the uncle of Formula One driver Bruno Senna (Bruno's mother Viviane being Ayrton Senna's sister), of whom he said in 1993: "If you think I'm fast, just wait until you see my nephew Bruno."

Legacy

Many safety improvements were made in the sport following Senna's and Ratzenberger's deaths. These include improved crash barriers, redesigned tracks, higher crash safety standards (such as larger sills along the driver cockpit) and major cuts to engine power. The Tamburello corner and other parts of the Imola circuit were altered for 1995. This was despite calls for action in 1989, after a serious high-speed crash that saw Senna's friend, Gerhard Berger, suffering burns to his hand. No action took place after that crash because, following an inspection by Senna and Berger, they ended up siding with officials who had, for years, claimed that the wall could not be moved further back due to a river nearby.

In July 1994, the Brazil national football team dedicated their 1994 World Cup victory to Ayrton Senna, and collectively held a banner on the field after defeating Italy in the final. Senna had met various members of the squad, includingLeonardo, three months earlier in Paris, telling them "this is our year". Throughout the rest of the 1994 season, Senna was commemorated in various ways. Damon Hill along with Michael Schumacher both dedicated their individual success to Senna with Hill's victory in the Spanish Grand Prix and Schumacher's world championship victory in the Australian Grand Prix.

A few months before his death, Senna had discussed with his sister the foundation of a charitable organization, based on a desire to contribute to those less fortunate in a more organised and effective manner. After his death, Viviane Senna set up the Instituto Ayrton Senna in his honor, which has invested nearly US$80 million over the last twelve years in social programs and actions in partnership with schools, government, NGOs, and the private sector aimed at offering children and teenagers from low-income backgrounds the skills and opportunities they need to develop their full potential as persons, citizens and future professionals. The foundation is officially advised by Bernie Ecclestone, Frank Williams, Alain Prost, and Gerhard Berger. The Senninha ("Little Senna") cartoon character, born in 1993/94, was another means by which Senna extended his role model status in favour of Brazilian children.

In his home country of Brazil, the main freeway from the international airport to São Paulo and a tunnel along route to the heart of the city is named in his honour. Also, one of the most important freeways of Rio de Janeiro is named after Senna ("Avenida Ayrton Senna"). The main road in Senna's Portuguese resort at Quinta do Lago, Algarve, was also dedicated to him, due to the fact that his villa there was very near (but not on) this road. A portion of the Interlagos circuit in São Paulo is named the "Senna Esses Chicane" in his honor. In the English town of Reading, Berkshire, where Senna lived for a short period of time, Ayrton Senna's name has been given to an avenue in the suburb of Tilehurst.

In April 2000 Senna was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame.

In 2004, a book called Ayrton: The Hero Revealed (original title: Ayrton: O Herói Revelado) was published in Brazil for the tenth anniversary of his passing. Senna remains a national hero in Brazil and his grave attracts more visitors than the graves of John F. Kennedy, Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley combined.

In addition, to mark the tenth anniversary of Senna's death, on 21 April 2004, over 10,000 people attended a charity match in a football stadium near Imola. The game was organised by several devoted Italian and Canadian fans of Senna, bringing the 1994 FIFA World Cup winning team of Brazil (who dedicated their 1994 FIFA World Cup win to Senna) to face the "Nazionale Piloti", an exhibition team composed exclusively of top race car drivers. Senna had been a part of the latter in 1985. Michael Schumacher, Jarno Trulli, Rubens Barrichello, Fernando Alonso and many others faced the likes of Dunga, Careca, Taffarel and several of the team that won the World Cup in the United States ten years earlier. The match finished 5–5 and the money was donated to Instituto Ayrton Senna. Viviane Senna, the president of the institute, was also involved in the kick-off of this match. That same weekend, Bernie Ecclestone revealed that he still believed Senna was and remained the best F1 driver he had ever seen.

Since his death, Senna has been the subject of songs by Italian singer-songwriter Lucio Dalla, Jazz pianist Kim Pensyl, Japanese jazz-fusion guitarist and T-square bandleader Masahiro Andoh (on songs such as "Faces" and subsequential revisions, like "The Face") and Chris Rea (on his song "Saudade").The rock Band The Rock Alchemist paid tribute to Senna in the song "Live or Die". The Spanish band, Delorean, released an extended play entitled Ayrton Senna in 2009.

Between 1996 and 1998, to pay tribute to Senna, the Italian motorcycle manufacturer Ducati produced special Senna editions of their 916 superbike. Ducati was at the time owned by Claudio Castiglioni, a personal friend of Senna who was an avid Ducati lover. In 2002, the MV Agusta F4 750 Senna motorbike was created, again by Castiglioni, now president of MV Agusta. The production was limited to 300 bikes, and all profits from sales went to the Ayrton Senna Foundation.

In 2009, it was announced that Senna's nephew Bruno would be making his Formula One debut in 2010.

The former Formula One grand prix circuit in Adelaide, Australia, renamed its first chicane the "Senna Chicane" in honour of his memory. This track—which remains the site of Senna's last Formula One win—is still used for local V8 Supercars racing after the move of the F1 grand prix to Melbourne. There is also a street named after him in the Adelaide suburb of Wingfield. The Adelaide street circuit was said to be a favourite of Senna's, and he was reportedly unhappy about the upcoming shift of venue from Adelaide to Melbourne in 1996.

He has been voted the best driver of all time in various motorsport polls, including F1 Racing Magazine's 2004 poll, and German newspaper Bild am Sonntag's poll of current drivers in 2010. In 2009, a poll of 217 current and former Formula One drivers conducted by the British magazine Autosport named Senna as "the greatest Formula One driver who ever lived". In 2012, BBC Sport journalists voted Senna as the greatest Formula One driver of all time, after naming their Top 20 greatest drivers in a countdown on their website. In 1993, a poll of F1 drivers gave Senna a near-unanimous vote as the best driver in F1.

In 2007, Prince Albert of Monaco unveiled a plaque in honour of Senna in a ceremony that was attended by Vivane Senna. An exhibition also took place that showcased Senna's victories around Monaco along with his Helmets that were borrowed from Senna's family and a selection of McLaren cars raced by Senna that were brought over from Motegi.

On 21 March 2010, on the day that would have marked Senna's 50th birthday, the football team Corinthians played a tape in memory of Senna which was also part of the theme played at the São Paulo Motor Show.

On 25 July 2010, popular BBC motoring show, Top Gear paid an emotional tribute to Senna with British Formula OneWorld Champion, Lewis Hamilton driving Senna's original MP4/4, with which he won the 1988 title.

A StudioCanal, Working Title Films and Midfield Films documentary film Senna was released in 2010 to great critical acclaim.

Since Senna's death, every Williams F1 car has carried a Senna 'S' somewhere on its livery in his honour and to symbolise the team's ongoing support of the Instituto Ayrton Senna.

On October 25, 2013, a holiday Playstation 3 bundle with Gran Turismo 6 was announced which is dedicated to his memory, with some of the proceeds of this bundle going to help an unspecified charitable organization. 

On March 21, 2014, Google had a special Doodle to honor Ayrton Senna's 54th birthday.