Meet Ayrton Senna whose 20th anniversary being observed

Rome: It is a testament to Ayrton Senna's lasting impact on Formula One that the 20th anniversary of his death will be observed this week with five days of commemorations at the Imola track where he had his fatal accident. Current and past F1 drivers, mechanics, racing officials and fans will pay their respects to Senna and Austrian driver Roland Ratzenberger, who also died at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix.Lets know about this formula 1 legend Ayrton Senna was one of the most fast and furious drivers of his time who won the hearts of many during the 80's-90's but died competing and leading San Marino Grand Prix, Italy 1994.Ayrton Senna da Silva was a Brazilian racing driver who won three Formula One world championships. He was killed in a crash while leading the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix. Senna began his motorsport profession through karting, stepping up to open-wheel racing in 1981, and conquering the British Formula 3 championship in 1983.He made his Formula One first appearance with Toleman-Hart in 1984 afore moving to Lotus-Renault the following year and winning six Grands Prix over the ensuing three seasons. In 1988, he competed with Frenchman Alain Prost at McLaren-Honda. Between them, they won all but one of the 16 Grands Prix that year and Senna claimed his first World Championship. Prost claimed the championship in 1989, and Senna his second and third championships in 1990 and 1991. In 1992, the Williams-Renault grouping began to rule Formula One.Senna on the other hand managed to finish the 1993 season as runner-up, winning five races and swapping a move to Williams in 1994. Talking about Ayrton's popularity and records, Senna has often been designated as one of the utmost Formula One drivers of all time in various motorsport polls. He was renowned for his qualifying speed over one lap and from 1989 up to 2006 held the record for most pole positions. He was also much admired for his wet weather performances, such as the 1984 Monaco Grand Prix, the 1985 Portuguese Grand Prix, and the 1993 European Grand Prix. He holds a record six victories at the prominent Monaco Grand Prix, and is the third most successful driver of all time in terms of race wins. Senna saw controversy throughout his career, particularly during his tempestuous rivalry with Alain Prost. Both the 1989 Championship won by Prost and the 1990 Championship secured by Senna witnessed collisions between the pair at those years' Japanese Grands Prix. Now, let's talk about the unfortunate time of Senna's life. It was his third and final race of the 1994 season, the San Marino Grand Prix which was held on the "Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari" circuit located in Imola, Italy.Imola had by tradition been considered the beginning of the F1 season, on European soil. Ayrton, who did not finish the two inaugural races of the season, affirmed that this was where his season would start, with fourteen races, as opposed to sixteen, to win the title.Williams brought modified FW16s to Imola in an effort to upsurge the car's handling. But Senna complained about the FW16's handling and stated that the car's performance was generally worse after the engineers' latest modifications. Senna spent his last morning chatting to former McLaren teammate Alain Prost to review the re-establishment of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association in an attempt to mend safety in Formula One. As the most senior driver, Senna was asked to take the role of leader, starting from the next race in Monaco. In the course of the drivers' briefing, objections were raised about the use of a Porsche 911 lead car for the warm-up lap, and it was decided to abandon the practice. At the start of the race, Senna reserved the lead from Schumacher but race soon interrupted by a startline accident. On lap 6, the race resumed and Senna instantly set a quick pace with the third quickest lap of the race, followed by Schumacher. As Senna entered the high-speed Tamburello corner on lap 7, the car left the track at around 307 km/h, hitting the concrete retaining wall at around 233 km/h, after what telemetry indicated application of the brakes for around 2 seconds. The red flag was shown as a result of the accident. Within two minutes of crashing, Senna was removed from his race car by Professor Sid Watkins and his medical team.Preliminary treatment took place by the side of the car, with Senna having a weak heartbeat and substantial blood loss. Ayrton was immediate airlifted to Bologna's Maggiore Hospital, where he was declared dead hours later. It was later disclosed that, as medical staff examined Senna, a furled Austrian flag was found in his car that he had intended to raise in honour of Ratzenberger after the race. Ayrton Senna lived for his passion and enthusiasm for this sport and his soul left his body on the circuit of love of his life.