Senna: The Legend

Ayrton Senna grew from being a clumsy toddler who couldn’t climb stairs into one of the greatest Formula One drivers of all time.

After early successes in his motorsport career, Senna was catapulted into the world’s premier motorsport championship with the unfancied Toleman team - and straight away he was comfortable sharing a track with legends like Niki Lauda. Over the next eleven years, Senna won three Drivers’ Championships and legions of fans thanks to his no-holds-barred driving style.

Senna drove for three legendary F1 teams - Lotus, McLaren and Williams - but his aggression behind the wheel led to bad-tempered clashes with rivals. His battles and fallouts with teammate Alain Prost dominated the late 1980s and early 1990s, and he regularly locked horns with team bosses and F1 administrators. It all came to a sudden end when Senna crashed while leading the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, and the motorsport world was plunged into mourning over the early death of a driver who’d become an icon.

Charting a journey from one-horsepower karts to 700-horsepower Formula 1 cars, Senna: The Legend uses 100 colour and mono photographs to tell the incredible story of a true champion: the flag-to-flag victories, the championship titles, but also the feuds and the tragic crash that claimed his life.

THIS IS SENNA’S INCREDIBLE STORY.
Ayrton Senna grew from being a clumsy toddler who couldn’t climb stairs into the one of the greatest Formula One drivers of all time.

After early successes in his motorsport career, Senna was catapulted into the world’s premier motorsport championship with the unfancied Toleman team - and straight away he was comfortable sharing a track with legends like Niki Lauda. Over the next eleven years, Senna won three Drivers’ Championships and legions of fans thanks to his no-holds-barred driving style.

Senna drove for three legendary F1 teams - Lotus, McLaren and Williams - but his aggression behind the wheel led to bad-tempered clashes with rivals. His battles and fallouts with teammate Alain Prost dominated the late 1980s and early 1990s, and he regularly locked horns with team bosses and F1 administrators. It all came to a sudden end when Senna crashed while leading the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, and the motorsport world was plunged into mourning over the early death of a driver who’d become an icon.

Charting a journey from one-horsepower karts to 700-horsepower Formula 1 cars, Senna: The Legend uses 100 colour and mono photographs to tell the incredible story of a true champion: the flag-to-flag victories, the championship titles, but also the feuds and the tragic crash that claimed his life.

THIS IS SENNA’S INCREDIBLE STORY.

Bruce Hales-Dutton’s professional involvement in aviation goes back a long way. Having started as a newspaper journalist in the 1960s he became a senior press officer at the Department of Trade and Industry, a role which involved him in the development of major news stories such as the start of Concorde services to North America and the debate about London’s third airport. He has a lifelong interest in motorsports and has written many books including Lewis Hamilton Through the Lens.