"Ayrton was phenomenal" - by his race engineer, Steve Hallam
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- Опубліковано 4 жов 2024
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Peter Windsor talks exclusively to Steve Hallam, Race Engineer to Ayrton Senna at JPS Lotus in 1985, when Ayrton won his first F1 races (at Estoril and Spa). Steve talks in detail about Ayrton's approach to qualifying and racing and refers also to Mika Hakkinen and Kimi Raikkonen, both of whom he engineered at McLaren. Ayrton Senna lost his life in an accident at Imola on May 1, 1994.
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I met Ayrton at the Los Angeles Airport (LAX) while he was on a change of flights between Australia and his home, right after the Australian GP, in 1986 (1985?) at the end of his first year with Lotus.
We chat for a bit and I said that when I watched the Portuguese GP, when he was furiously flighting Piquet, I knew he would run out of fuel before the race was over. He asked me how I knew, and I said that every time he pushed hard he`d run out of fuel and I didn`t see why it wpould be different this time.
Apparently slightly annoyed he said "you knew, the pit knew, my engineer knew, everyone knew, except me, because my computer showed that I still had 1.8 laps available when I stopped, in the last lap".
I then told him that I though he would be the champion in the following year, and he asked me why did I think that. I told him that he was getting the Honda engine, notoriously more economical than the others, which would give more freedom to step his foot down. He only said "we`ll see".
I wish I could have said smarter tuff then.
I worked with Steve at Mclaren and he was a great engineer to work with. always calm and polite, even when things were hectic, lovely man. Great interview PW
Unmistakable voice on the radio too.
Of all the great racing drivers ayrton has more people speaking about him than ANY other. I think that is because he had a unique personality and he brought an exceptional human quality to his craft which has touched many people and burned into their hearts forever. For me he is the greatest but Jim Clark was the absolute best ever in the car and best to his fellow competitors.
What about what John Watson had said after being passed by Senna on a qually lap at Brands Hatch in ‘85. He said it was like Senna had three hands and three feet. Watson apparently went back to the Lotus pit to tell them what he had seen. Ducarouge simply said “we know”....
Stan Hawrylak John also said, that what Senna was doing mid-corner, was like watching rain dance off the pavement 👌
Rob Weeks Exactly, what a sight that must have been. The full anecdote from Watson appears in the book by Christopher Hilton, Ayrton Senna: The Hard Edge of Genius. It so inspired me that I went out to Dingle Dell at Brands Hatch, when there was no racing on the GP circuit, and just sat there a while...
Nik Wilomady Here fishy, fishy, fishy. 😭
I have taken huge pride in telling people my uncle, Kevin Corin, knew Ayrton. Kev, KC to everyone, was an F3 mechanic for Murray Taylor. He would imitate Senna’s accent when telling the stories to us kids. Also in those days we called him by his full name, Ayrton Senna De Silva. Thanks Peter
DA Silva
@Damian Madden, thanks for sharing that.
Ayrton was purely majestic with technics and a feeling of the car that nobody has ever matched !
The best entertainer on track period. RIP .👍🇬🇧🇧🇷
Amazing aspects of the Legend Ayrton Senna
Fantastic. Great details about Senna’s driving.
1st corner at Adelaide in 1985, 1st practise Saturday, in the Lotus, He was the best driver I ever saw, period, with what was going on with the Front Wheels any other driver would have been in the wall, just blew me away. Clark was simply a master of his car, whatever it was. Brilliant video, an amazing human being in every sense.
Beagle76
Senna was a truly extraordinary driver . My dad liked him a lot too but always told me that Jim Clark was the best . I never saw Clark race as I was born a few years after he died but I've studied his results , the footage we have , the views of so many respected people who know what they are talking about and I believe him to be the greatest driver who ever sat in a car . Only a few weeks ago I learned that in the early 90's Senna visited the Jim Clark museum in Scotland and signed the boom there . Not long afterwards, Senna commissioned a painting of a formula one starting grid with all the great drivers in it and told the artist that he didn't mind which driver was in which position on the grid except for one . He said that pole position had to be Jim Clark as that would have been the case if it were real . I actually felt strangely emotional about this . Thank you Senna for the memories- you were the greatest of them all .....apart from that Scottish farmer !
I'm an Adelaide boy, was in year 3 at school in 85, the year I first seen that lotus with the yellow helmet my life had its number 1 passion.
He was the greatest F1 driver ever.
Period
Top 5 possibly, but not no.1.
Period
Defo one of the greatest for sure.
I allways have the same feeling of cruel fate with senna and Clarke
IMO both were not due to driving errors either. R.I.P Clark and Senna
@Nik Wilomady No. He literally had no ability to turn the car. If you watch closely you can see the jolt in the steering when the steering column weld lets go. It was a mechanical failure brought about by some poor fabrication work and rash setup changes. The manslaughter hearing brought on by the italian govt. all but confirms this.
Senna - the Legend!
Thanks PW
Great interview, Peter. I always wanted to learn more about Senna's driving style.
Great to hear, this is so interesting. Thanks Peter and Steve.
Senna Power!!!
Always the Best!
It’s asinine and laughable when people say Schumacher is better than Senna! Lololololololol😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆! Michael had rules but in place because of his driving! This man has corners at several tracks named after him! Nuff said!
Would also have been fascinated to have heard Mr. Hallam`s take on Michael Andretti`s disastrous season at McLaren in 1993 as he was his race engineer. Still one of the most intriguing footnotes in F1 History. Remember being really excited at the prospect of a recent IndyCar Champion the son of 1978 F1 champion Mario coming to F1. Was it because he was not based in Europe?. Was he just keeping the seat warm for Hakkinen? It was so ironic seeing him on the podium at his last F1 race at Monza.
I remember that when I learned that Michael Andretti had signed up with McLaren, I thought that he might actually put some pressure in Ayrton and maybe even beat him occasionally. I don't think anyone actually thought that his season was going to be so pathetic. I read a book about Senna a few years ago, and somebody said in a chapter (don't remember the name, sorry) that it may have been because he didn't put much effort into learning how the car worked during the preseason testing and throughout the season. Another issue that this person pointed out was that we would always want to travel back to the US no matter what and miss the opportunity to learn something.
brilliant peter,,thank you from caged in nyc,,,
Descansa em paz Ayrton Senna espero q no céu tem carro de F1.
The only one that could make the superior Williams sweat on their prime
Thanks !
why 3 dislikes??
Prost fans...
@@davepastern I am a die hard Prost fan and I really enjoyed this content. Most of us lost all bad feelings 26 years ago, just watch any comment section on UA-cam, not the Prost fans keep shouting conspiracy theories. Senna was a great driver and I am proud that my hero raced against him and won against him. That makes his career so valuable for me.
Excellent
Is that Eddie Jordan at 03:40s?
Great as usual
5 prost fans
sad🤣
Thankyou Peter. God I miss him. I would like to ask you, how do you think he would've fared alongside Nigel had they both been in the '92 Williams? An article mentioned Senna turning down an offer mid '91 from Frank, and someone commented "oh the car was Nigels car and he would've blown Aryton away head-to-head", but wern't the driving styles of Nigel and Ayrton quite similar, ie. both quite physical, albeit Nigel much smother mid corner and Ayrton of course with his mid-corner throttle-stab? I thought when I read it, I would like to ask Peter...perhaps I will send you this question in your weekly podcast next Friday morning if I can wake up at 3am hehe. Would be nice to hear your brief take on that hypothetical.
I have no doubt that Ayrton would have destroyed Nigel in the same car.
@@davepastern I can imagine Ayrton would've found an edge, but Nigel was a tremendously strong man and thoroughly gutsy driver, as well as having Senna-levels of Racecraft. I suspect a car built with Mansell's philosophy, as the '92 Williams was, wouldve provided Nigel with an opportunity to settle the question in his favour, although, weather or not that could've been been enough to win a Championship over Ayrton's brilliance will remain anyones guess. A lovely thought though. Certainly wouldl've put the young Shumacher in his place! :)
Keep fighting Michael.
Goosebumps typing his name. I miss him too. Bring on Junior, as Peter says. Can't wait to see that name on a grid again. Apologies for the hypotheticals, it is afterall, Senna week.
Senna sempre.
@@paulanthonynelson2733 Never was a fan of Schumacher, sorry. I feel sorry for him, he doesn't deserve what happened to him by any means, but he was a very dirty driver, and a frequent cheat. I just can't respect someone like that.
Mansall had pace, and much F1 gusto, but I honestly think he would simply lack pace.
Remember, Prost destroyed Mansell at Ferrari in '90 remember? And Prost ran away from competing with Senna at McLaren.
Well, look at what Prost did to Mansell at Ferrari. That should tell you how Senna would have fared besides Mansell.
@Nik Wilomady lol...shitty HIll nearly won in '94...won in '96...Hill was runner up in '95, but had a shit load of retirements and would have been closer to Schumacher if not for that...and Senna shat upon Hill from a great height. If Hill could compete for WDCs in that Williams, then Senna would have smoked it in.
IDT you can compare drivers from different eras. All of his contemporaries, most notably his young teammate Stirling Moss, say Fangio was the best of his era. But I doubt he would fare very well against Clark, Senna, Schumacher, or Hamilton in their respective times. Beofore the Late Sixties the cars did not generate many lateral Gs so the physical demands were not as great. But the ability to to perform a balletic four wheel drift was a skill that was to become obsolete. Conversely, Senna might not have been able to keep up with Nuvolari around the Nürburgring in a prewar Auto Union. Verstappen may not have fared very well against Carraciolla if both were in the Mercedes W165. The skillset (and back then, the courage and the mindset) required for driving the cars from different times is constantly changing. For me, there is a pantheon of greats that transcends the time in which they raced. And, of course, all the names I mentioned belong there. But speculating as to who was better than whom when they competed in different decades is a futile and meaningless exercise.
The cars of this era were so much slower than the current machines. With old school brakes, engines and tyres. Slower reaction times. the modern equivalent of a wet race.... wonder if every current F1 driver has been pushed to a higher level...? and When the commitment needed negates family...
A huge loss to motor racing but to Brazil. They lost in all probability a future President
Nope. Senna would never ever run for president. Burocracy and being locked in an office everyday would kill him. He would be working with F1, married and raising his kids far away from politics. What he has done and still does through Ayrton Senna Institute is more than the government has ever done. He has donated half of his millions earned in F1 to charities.
I guess they have a page in English and Spanish as well. Please have a look. You'll be in awe.
This man is still helping brazilians through his Institute.
👍
Steering column Peter
Knee pads. FFS... .
Ayrton was dangerously unpredictable and who wants god to help drive the car ? A driver needs to be well balanced and not have peaks in their personal character.
LMAO He waS NOT a Taxi Driver my friend
He didn't drive with the Christian Louboutin high heels. He was a f1 driver. He wasn't dangerous, he was bold and brave. F1 isn't for barbies.
🤦♀🤦♀
@@theakyosmith Great statement.
let me ask a question, equal cars and tires, hamilton vs schumacher vs senna vs prost, who would win in a race?
Prost
Anyone of them could win. Can't choose between these legends.
@@AdityaSingh-pg9iy who's ur favorite to come out on top?
@@dickheder4940 All of them. Can't choose between them. However, most probably Senna or Schumacher will win the race.
if Schumacher couldnt cheat he would be fourth