MAY 7, 2019

Senna drawn to Brazil

Former McLaren team boss Ron Dennis has many memories of Ayrton Senna who drove for McLaren from 1998 through 1993 and won three world championships with the team.

Ayrton Senna, San Marino GP 1994
© The Cahier Archive

By Dan Knutson

Former McLaren team boss Ron Dennis has many memories of Ayrton Senna who drove for McLaren from 1998 through 1993 and won three world championships with the team.

How long would Senna have continued to race?

"Most definitely he would not have gone on and on," Dennis said. "I don't think he had a plan to stop. He was heavily drawn all the time by Brazil. He would go to tremendous lengths to get back to Brazil. I can remember him having a tremendous journey from somewhere, it wasn't even direct from Europe, to go home for 24 hours. When I asked him if he had an important meeting, he said, 'No I just want to be in Brazil.'

"When he bought his aeroplane, which was an HS125, he used to have do three or four hops to get back to Brazil but he didn't care. Getting back to Brazil was very important for him. He was proud to be Brazilian, but he was also very mindful of the fact that he could change things in Brazil. That was attractive to him. He could make a difference there and he did. The Senna Foundation was of his making, not of (his sister) Viviana's making. She just followed through what he had started."