01/05/2014
NEWS STORY
To mark the 20th anniversary of the death of arguably the greatest driver ever to drive for McLaren, the Woking outfit has created a special video.
Like the 'Courage' video created to launch 'McLaren 50' in 2013, wherein an actor portrayed team founder Bruce McLaren, the Woking outfit has found inventive ways to evoke and pay homage to Senna.
Filmed on location in Monaco and at the MTC using the actual car and overalls once used by Ayrton, the film vividly recreates the great Brazilian's most famous performance – his pole position lap at the 1988 Monaco Grand Prix.
Driving the MP4/4, Ayrton qualified an astonishing 1.427 seconds clear of the rest of the field. It was a superhuman effort, a performance he later discussed with great emotion: "I was driving by instinct," he said. "I was in a different dimension – like I was in a tunnel; well beyond my conscious understanding."
"It's unbelievable to think that Ayrton left us 20 years ago," said Eric Boullier. "Whether you're a lifelong Formula 1 fan, or you weren't even born when he was racing, Ayrton Senna will always be the most iconic and legendary driver in Formula 1 history. And nothing he did has become more mythicised than his phenomenal performance in final qualifying at Monaco in 1988.
"The onboard footage of Ayrton from that era gives an incredibly vivid impression of just how intense it was back them: you really get a feel for Ayrton's incredible commitment as he shaves corners, pushes past backmarkers and physically manhandles the steering wheel.
"This film does a fantastic job of recreating the intensity of that fast lap, but also captures Ayrton's introspection and wisdom via snippets of audio from an unforgettable interview that really lays bare Ayrton's state of mind on that day."
Senna joined McLaren in 1988, the Woking outfit totally dominating the championship, the Brazilian, and teammate Alain Prost winning fifteen of the sixteen rounds. Indeed, the team would no doubt have won all sixteen but for an unfortunate coming together with Jean-Louis Schlesser at Monza.
Remaining with McLaren for six seasons, the Brazilian won all three of his titles with the Woking team and remains its most successful driver haver having scored 35 of its wins.
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