I know that Ayrton was probably a one off and many of you will say that, but if you had to compare him to a present day F1 driver, who would it be? In both driving style and personality. You can obviously use two examples if you must.
Since I didn't have the honour of being able to watch him when he was alive, it'd be nice to be able to piece together what he was like through comparing him to drivers I know today.
No one.
Just like the cover says: No fear, no limits, NO EQUAL.
Senna was unique. He was able to drive a F1 car like no one else. When the others focused on keeping the car on the track, Senna was trying it's limits. He always drove the car at it's limits, pushing the limits and if even that wasn't enough he drove the car over the limits. And yet... he managed with it! Surely there was couple times when he went too far, but even then it was clear that he was the master of the track. The car just couldn't handle what he would have.
The past, at least, 10 years has been so boring that I can't even name one person who could come even close to Senna (or few other great ones). I can't even name a person who could stand up from the rest. Surely it's partly because of the over strictly rules of modern cars to make the game fair... and safe. (Interestingly enough, legacy of Senna...)
And don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that Senna had the equipments to beat all the rest... Quite the contrasty, he was able to compete with the inferior car against the far superior one! It did not matter which car he drove, he pushed it past any limits anyone could. Because he had to win. It's the only reason to take part of any competition.
He was the best. Still is.
http://www.alizeeart.com/
the best of his era. fix
shareThere isn't one. simple as that.
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I think there are a lot of racing fans who would like that, me included.
Anyway, I'd also say no one. Alonso probably comes closest because of his consistency and intelligence, though.
And what are the two of you within my heart?
any homosexual pilot is his modern equivalent, because he was a homosexual
shareHe was unique. He hated politics and didn't grasp them as deeply as Prost did. His driving style was pure fury. He danced the car around in ways that no one else did.
In modern day comparisons I would say that Kimi Raikkonen, Sergio Perez, and Fernando Alonso demonstrate Senna's go for it style.
I don't think there is one.
F1 drivers today are "poster boys", they bang on about "racing" and just use fvcking team-tactics all the time, the only way anyone can overtake is if someone else's tyres are wearing out, or less fuel load, or something like that.
F1 is a shadow of what it once was (just advertising on wheels now), Senna and his era (Prost, Mansell etc) were the last of the "real racers" no one today comes even remotely close as they go round and round in their boring start-finish positions and rely on "tactics" to get them a win.
I would say the closest "recent" driver to Senna's talent, attitude and ability was Jacques Villeneuve, and even he was still a long way off.
I'm leaving. I've assessed the situation, and I'm going.
No one and not even close.
I watched him race till the day he died.
That 1989 Japan Race, and that 1986 Spanish race where he beat Mansell on the finish line by 0.01 seconds.
I have never seen anything like that ever since.
No one.
Agreed. Just watch some of his Monaco onboard footage from '90. He was lighting up that track in record lap times, practically steering half the course with one hand(manual transmission). The suspension was incredibly rigid on those older carts, so the physical strain on the pilots were immense compared to the gliders of today, yet he mastered that track with six wins! That's simply incredible, which is why there is no mortal man past/present who had the skills that Senna possessed.
shareI don't think there is a modern equivalent of Senna, but the closest right now would be Alonso who is the most complete present driver. If you could combine Alonso with Hamilton's outright speed and talent (minus the inconsistency of course), then you're a little closer to the modern day equivalent of Senna imo. But as I and many others have said, no one driver appears to be at his level, nor his charismatic character tbqh.
shareWell ... there aren't any cowardly sooks who can only win by having the best car and cheating - the way Senna did - so ... there are no modern equivalents. Senna's personality was like Donald Trump's - i.e. he was a gutless, lying, cheating windbag who refused to accept reality and blamed everyone but himself for his problems - and his driving style was like any young learner driver whose father is rich; i.e. he had no special driving skills but had a much better car than everyone else.
I had the misfortune to watch Senna's dishonourable driving - and his constant, cowardly bitching and moaning - with disgust when he was alive. He admitted that he cheated in 1990 to steal the championship from one of the truly great drivers, one who DID have honour - Alain Prost - and then he went on to some more wins by having the best car and continuing to lie, cheat and steal. The tragedy is not that he died, it's the fact that because he died, everyone stopped talking about his cheating, his constant complaining, and the fact that he won because his car was so superior - not because he was a great driver - and now people like you, who never saw him drive, and didn't experience all the dishonourable, cowardly things he did on and off the track, now think he's one of the greats. Hopefully one day someone will make a documentary that shows what he was really like and his name is forgotten, or relegated to the footnotes of history, where it belongs...
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The 1990 incident was payback for what Prost did ´89. Prost took him out in Japan, only for Senna to win the race anyway and then have him be disqualified because he "missed" the chicane he crashed on. The ruling by Balestre, who was also one of Prost´s best friends was absurd because it meant that in order for Senna´s race to be deemed legal, he would have had to have driven back into oncoming traffic to complete the chicane, a major safety hazard, in order to "complete the race". Senna said there was no way they were going to *beep* him again in Japan after what happened in 1989. There is a reason nobody mentions Prost when they consider the greatest driver ever even though Prost won more titles.
In response to the OP. I would say Lewis Hamilton. His pole position % is better than any other modern driver including Vettel´s when Vettel had years dominating in the best car. Pole Positioning I feel is highly indicative of driver ability. Senna´s was 40% almost double Schumacher´s fyi...
Lewis Hamilton is desperate to assume that role. He has the bravery and probably the speed.
He overplays the bemusement and lack of comprehension over how the world could be so unfair that other people are capable of beating him though.
As much as Hamilton wants to be Senna, he's nowhere near him... different species to be honest...
I'd bet Hamilton wouldn't have been able to hang with Schumacher, much less with Senna, if they were driving the same car without playstation aids... Formula one in the past decade has become a very video-game sport compared to the 1990s... Hard to say who is the best driver in the current era, much less compare them to the past...
Even during the early 2000s it was clearer to be able to discern who are actually the better drivers than we can now... It's unfortunate that this is the case, but it's also very unlikely that Hamilton is anywhere close to Schumacher, much less Senna...
It's unlikely that the current era drivers as as good as the past ones, from 1990s/early 2000s... Why? because the cars take care of so much and the rules have made the race much less competitive in racing skill/courage and more reliant on strategy/engineering...
Is Hamilton as good in the rain as Schumacher? Can he push when he needs to the way Senna did? Is he that competitive when it could cost him dearly? I doubt it...
Hamilton couldn´t hang with Schumacher? Tbh, I don´t think anyone could in the Ferrari 00-04 years, but Alonso was beating Schuey in 05 and 06 and Hamilton beat Alonso in the same car in ´07 so I´d say Hamilton would have quite easily held his own with Schumacher.
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