Ayrton Senna’s ‘Lap of the Gods,’ revisited

Photo by Mike Hewitt/Allsport/Getty Images

As the F1 world remembers Ayrton Senna, let’s recall one of his most iconic performances

This week’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix is sure to be an emotional affair.

Not only does Formula 1 return to Imola after the cancellation of last year’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix due to heavy flooding in the region, but the race marks 30 years since the tragic weekend that was the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix. F1 lost two drivers that weekend at Imola rookie Roland Ratzenberger and three-time champion Ayrton Senna.

Tributes are already underway for those drivers, and more are to follow from a generation of racers who began their own journeys emulating Senna, the legendary Brazilian driver. But for a newer generation of F1 fans, who grew to love the sport due to names like Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen, and Charles Leclerc, this week may serve as an introduction to one of the greatest — if not the greatest — the sport has ever seen.

To aid with that introduction, it is a perfect time to revisit the “Lap of the Gods.”

That brings us back to the 1993 European Grand Prix, set at Donington Park in Leicestershire, England. It was the first European Grand Prix in eight seasons, and the first time an F1 race was held at the circuit.

It was the third race of the season, and as they did in the previous race the Williams duo of Alain Prost and Damon Hill locked out the front row during qualifying. The FW15C — designed by the legendary Adrian Newey — was the dominant package that season and Williams would eventually capture the Constructors’ Championship, with Prost taking his fourth, and final, drivers’ title.

Michael Schumacher, driving in just his second F1 season, took third during qualifying while Senna settled for fourth. Karl Wendlinger, driving for Sauber, qualified in fifth.

As the race approached on that Easter Sunday, conditions at Donington Park were wet. Very wet. While in the dry conditions the FW15C was the dominant package on the grid, the wet conditions opened the door for Senna, given the Brazilian driver’s demonstrated ability in such elements.

But the 1993 European Grand Prix did not start perfectly for Senna.

Right at the start Schumacher defended against Senna, which opened the door for Wendlinger to overtake both drivers and settle into third, behind the Williams duo. As the lead pack reached the third turn at Donington Park, Prost was up front followed by Hill, Wendlinger, Schumacher, and Senna back in fifth.

That is when the magic began.

Senna was able to wind around Schumacher on the inside of “Redgate Corner” to get into fourth, and quickly caught Wendlinger as the front pack worked through Turns 3 and 4, known as “Craner Curves” and the “Old Hairpin.” He then caught Hill, getting to the inside of the Williams driver at the right-handed Turn 7, “McLean’s Corner” and making the overtake stick on the exit.

All that was left in front of Senna was his rival, Prost.

Senna slowly reeled the Williams driver in, getting right behind Prost through Turn 8 and down “Starkey’s Straight” toward “The Esses.” It was at Turn 10, the tight “Melbourne Hairpin,” where Senna completed the overtake, getting to the inside of Prost and making the overtake stick coming out of Turn 10. Senna went on to hold on the lead the opening lap of the 1993 European Grand Prix despite sliding back to fifth at the start.

Four overtakes, in the wet conditions, on just one lap.

He would go on to win the race, and during the podium celebration Senna contributed to a one of the sport’s iconic photographs. The 1993 European Grand Prix was sponsored by Sega, and as part of the podium celebration the sponsors had a second trophy, promoting one of the gaming company’s main characters:

The trophy was rumored to be lost, but McLaren shared photographs of it last summer, along with the news that the trophy had found a final resting place at the team’s Woking Technology Center:

But it was that opening lap that lives on in F1 lore.

It was not just the fact that Senna completed those passes on the opening lap, and in wet conditions, but it was who he overtook to lead the opening lap of the 1993 European Grand Prix. Between Prost, Hill, and Schumacher, you have a whopping 12 F1 Drivers’ Championships in front of Senna. Those three also combined for a stunning 164 F1 victories.

Yet on that day at Donington Park, Senna walked on water.

“I thought, ‘Oh, it’s him!’” Wendlinger recalled later. “On the other hand, it was also my line in the warm-up out there on the right, because it’s off-line… Most of the tracks and most of the corners in the rain [offer] more grip off-line, because you’re not on the rubber.

“Maybe I was a bit too much focused on the cars in front, just going down the hill and seeing what’s going on. I knew, of course, that this is the faster line, but maybe I didn’t expect in the first lap, with cold [tires] and a full tank [of fuel], that he does it already so fast this corner…

“I remember, and this is maybe a little bit my character, ‘Okay, first lap of the race, full tanks, cold [tires], let’s see, try to survive this lap, try to find a rhythm and then go on’. I think when you watch Ayrton’s first lap it’s the opposite – don’t wait and see, just be there and destroy everybody!”

Wendlinger then summed up Senna’s “Lap of the Gods” like this: “He was like walking on water. For me afterwards, watching this race on television, it was very, very impressive what he showed.”

You can watch the entire “Lap of the Gods” on F1’s YouTube channel here, or you can watch this video of the lap with commentary:

Writing about that lap in their year-end compilation, Autocourse described Senna’s performance as “a compelling display of driving genius” and “a performance that was brilliant even by his own dynamic standards.”

Senna’s career was filled with memorable drives such as the “Lap of the Gods.” Another moment from his legendary career was his qualifying performance at the 1988 Monaco Grand Prix, often termed the “Greatest Lap You Never Saw” due to broadcast cameras not catching Senna during his legendary lap that saw him take pole position by a stunning 1.4 seconds.

That qualifying run was memorable not just for Senna’s massive advantage over the field, but for how the driver posted the lap. Speaking with Canadian journalist Gerald Donaldson, Senna described it as almost an out-of-body experience. “I was at one stage just on pole, then by half a second, and then one second … and I kept going,” said Senna. “And I suddenly realised that I was no longer driving the car consciously.

“I was kind of driving it by instinct, only I was in a different dimension. I was way over the limit but still able to find even more. Then, suddenly, something just kicked me. I kind of woke up and I realised that I was in a different atmosphere than you normally are.”

Senna’s exploits, and approach to the sport, continue to inspire the current drivers on the grid. Perhaps one of the driver’s most well-known maxims is this: “If you no longer go for a gap that exists, you are no longer a racing driver.”

Speaking with the media, including SB Nation, at the Miami Grand Prix following an opening-lap incident during the F1 Sprint Race Hamilton cited that maxim regarding a gap that he saw. Asked by the fantastic Ian Parkes if that opening-lap lunge was a case of “ … if you don’t go for a gap, you’re not a racing driver,” Hamilton responded “Exactly. We went for the gap.

“And we’ll go for the gap tomorrow.”

But that fateful Sunday at Donington Park was not just a case of Senna going for the gaps. It was one of the rare moments in this sport where a driver shows not just complete mastery of their craft, of their machine, and of their opponents, but a mastery of the elements. Senna displayed complete command of everything around him, from his rivals to Mother Nature itself.

He did not just walk on water that day.

He conquered it.

Delivering a lap that lives on in the rich history of this sport.