I was not even born when Aryton Senna joined McLaren, but somehow over the years I have learnt alot about this amazing driver and often controversial driver.

I was so inspired by his driving that I managed to obtain tickets to see the public viewing of the film that would allow me to see the film and meet the director Asif Kapadia and writer Manish Pandey. I was all set to go. The one this I did not have was the time off. Unfortunately my job disallowed my annual leave request and eventually had to give up my tickets. Something I am still fuming about. So I cannot advise you all of how brilliant this film is, so instead I am going to talk about his life at McLaren.

Senna joined Honda at McLaren in 1988, with Prost helping Senna by recommending him to the team. Ron Dennis quickly signed a deal with Senna to drive to the team. Honda pushed with the Turbo engines and saw a battle between team mates commenced. 

This year would see a combination of incidents between Prost and Senna. At the 1988 Portugese Prost made a slightly faster start than Senna but the Brazilian dived into the first corner ahead. Prost responded and went to pass Senna at the end of the first lap. Senna swerved to block Prost, forcing the Frenchman to nearly run into the pitwall at 180 mph. Prost kept his foot down and soon edged Senna into the first corner and started pulling away. Though Prost was angered by Senna's manoeuvre, the Brazilian got away with a warning from the FIA. Senna would later apologise to Prost for the incident. Ultimately, the pair won 15 of 16 races in the McLaren MP4/4 in 1988 with Senna coming out on top, winning his first Formula One World Championship.

In 1989 we saw Senna not able to win the championship with McLaren and handing it over to his fellow driver Alain Prost. Senna took an early lead at the start of the season winning in San Marino, Monaco and Mexico. Tensions began to rise between Prost and Senna and there were many battles on and off the track. Ultimately unreliability in Phoenix, Canada, France, Britain and Italy, together with collisions in Brazil and Portugal, swung the title to Prost.

Senna got a suspension of his Super License in the winter of 1989 for a dangerous manouver on track at Suzuka and an irate Senna engaged in a bitter war of words with the FIA and its then President Jean-Marie Balestre. Senna came second in the championship.

In 1990, Senna took his second championship with the team. His most memorable victories were at the opening round in Pheonix, in which he diced for the lead for several laps with a then-unknown Jean Alesi before coming out on top, and at Germany where he fought Benetton driver Alessandro Nannini throughout the race for the win. Alain Prost caught up in the championship for the prancing horse.

At the penultimate round of the Championship in Japan at Suzuka (the same circuit where Senna and Prost had their collision a year before), Senna took pole ahead of Prost. Prost's Ferrari made a better start and pulled ahead of Senna's McLaren. At the first turn Senna aggressively kept his line, while Prost turned in and the McLaren ploughed into the rear wheel of Prost's Ferrari at about 170 mph, putting both cars off the track giving Senna his second title. 

Senna captured his third title in 1991. Prost, due to the downturn in performance at Ferrari, was no longer a serious competitor. Senna won the first four races. There were great battles on track between Senna and Mansell when they went wheel to wheel with only centimetres to spare, at over 200 mph down the main straight, a race that the Briton eventually won.

At Silverstone Mansell gave Senna a generous lift back to the pits after Senna broke down on the final lap due to his Honda engine giving up.

Senna told Honda to step up their development of their engine which Honda responded to. Senna was able to make a final attack in the later part of the season and won at Japan (again) when Mansell crashed out on the first lap.

In 1992 we saw Senna struggling as the Honda V12 engine was no longer the most powerful engine on the track and the new car was not introduced until the third race of the season. The Williams FW14B was untouchable with Mansell and Patrese behind the wheel. Senna's determination to win manifested itself in dismay at McLaren's inability to challenge. Senna finished 4th in this season. Throught this season there was doubt of Senna staying at McLaren. 

In 1993 Honda bowed out of F1. Prost had put a clause in his contract to stop Senna driving for a team that he was racing for, so joining Williams was not an option. McLaren tested with a Lamborghini V12 unit which proved useless. McLaren were forced to have a supply of Ford V8 engines which were two specifications behind that of Ford's factory team, Benetton. Dennis persuaded Senna to return to McLaren. The Brazilian, however, agreed only to sign up for the first race in South Africa, where he would assess whether McLaren's equipment was competitive enough for him to put in a good season. After driving McLaren's 1993 car, Senna concluded that the new car had a surprising potential, albeit the engine was still down on power and would be no match for Prost's Williams Renault. Senna declined to sign a one-year contract but agreed to drive on a race-by-race basis, eventually staying for the year.

Senna began to lead the championship, surprisingly ahead of Alain Prost. Unfortunately Prost and Damon Hill's superiority returned leading to Prost winning another championship. Senna concluded the season and his McLaren career with two wins and finishing second overall in the championship.

For 1994 Senna made the switch to Williams, which would lead to his death.

I will be heading to see the film, if the local cinema shows it and will write a review when it has been seen.

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