Motorsports
Ayrton Senna’s historic first victory in Formula 1
The first victory for the Brazilian Formula 1 legend clearly came on April 21, 1985 in his second game with the Lotus team.
Sunday April 21, 1985. We are in Portugal, at the Estoril circuit, where the second race of the season is taking place. Ayrton Senna has jumped from the weak Toleman to the giant Colin Chapman’s Lotus team in his second year in Formula 1. And it rains …
The Brazilian had shown his skills from the previous one, taking pole position with the Lotus Renault 97T. In the race, Senna taught how to drive in the rain and took the first of his 41 victories in Formula 1!
Even more impressive though is that he lapped all the other drivers except for Michele Alboretto who finished second in his Ferrari, more than a minute behind the Brazilian!
This was Ayrton Senna’s first Grand Slam in Formula 1 as, in addition to taking pole and winning, he also set the fastest lap of the race!
In an interview with Chris Dinaz, Lotus’s chief engineer for the Senna car in 1985, he stated:Ayrton had not tested the car in the rain, it was the first time he had driven in such conditions. He arrived at Estoril and people were blown away by his performance because when he set the fastest lap they realized they were dealing with an excellent driver. Ayrton was more focused than any other driver. I haven’t met anyone like him“!
Source: sport 24
Sophia Jhon is a sports journalist and author. He has worked as a news editor for Sportish and is now a sport columnist for the same publication. Alberta’s professional interests lie largely in sports news, with an emphasis on English football. He has also written articles on other sporting topics.