Ayrton Senna is and will forever be one of the greatest drivers in the history of motor racing, and that was not just in Formula One. That was also in karting. He was able to finish P2 for two years in a row in the CIK FIA World Championship of 1979 and 1980, with his epic rivalry with Terry Fullerton that he described later on in his F1 years as the major rivalry he ever had in his career, and where he felt the purest form of racing.

He always said that karting was the purest form of racing, without all the politics of Formula One.

But what made Ayrton Senna so unique as a racing driver, not only in Formula One, but also in karting?

Well, I think there are many, many aspects of his driving that made him unique. For sure, the mastery of wet weather driving. He trained a lot for that, and he became one of the greatest ever in those conditions. But also the feeling of driving on the limit, and nailing that perfect qualifying lap we are all aiming for. I think it was one of the things he was most obsessed about, and you can also relive it from the Netflix series about Ayrton himself.

But how did Ayrton Senna approach his qualifying laps?

I mean, his obsession to chase the perfect lap really drove him to visualize that perfect lap in his head so many times, so that when he got to the track he would almost do it subconsciously. And I would say that was the number one thing that drove him to a staggering 65 pole positions out of 161 races entered in F1. That is unbelievable. If you think about it, it is about 40% of the races he entered, which is something that no one will ever achieve.

And if you think about it, he was able to get pole positions with karts that were not really the best in the period where he was at Lotus. But then, of course, when he was in the best kart, he would still get more pole positions than his teammates. So yeah, I mean, he was just sensational when it came to qualifying.

He would visualize that perfect lap over and over again, and he would be ready. When qualifying came, he would be ready. And I think karting drivers can learn from that. He would relive that perfect lap in his mind so many times that when the green light went out and he came out of the pit lane with new tires, you would probably bet on him for qualifying, and you would probably be right.

Then, yeah, I mean, it is sensational what he was able to accomplish. The level of focus he was able to put in, and also the feeling of being on the limit, the feeling of being on the limit of the tires and the grip level, is just something extraordinary.

What Mentality Did Senna Bring to Racing?

I think he took discipline and training to another level. Back in the day, it was not common for drivers to prepare physically or mentally, or do all the sorts of preparation that are obviously quite common nowadays for all drivers. But I think he was probably the number one who started that trend and basically raised the bar for everybody else in that moment.

And later on, Michael Schumacher did the same. He raised the bar even more. But yeah, I feel that in that moment in time, Senna was just more obsessed than anybody else. And of course, that level of obsession, together with discipline and training, really helped him become the legendary driver he still is.

Yeah, I just feel that he was unbelievably obsessed, like hugely obsessed, and that really made the difference when it came to going for the qualifying lap. He would be driving on autopilot more than anybody else, because he had relived that perfect lap many, many times in his head, over and over again. And he would probably drive as if he was in a subconscious state, which is pretty much what you should experience when you are driving on the limit.

And he also described that. For example, when he was racing at Monaco, not only in qualifying, where he was more than a second in front of Prost, but also during the race, where he was about to lap Prost in the wet conditions, he felt like he was in a tunnel. He was driving and felt like he was in another state, like a deep flow state where the whole kart was driving on its own, basically. And that is really what you are going to experience when you are so connected with everything you are doing and so aligned.

So yeah, that is really what the end goal is.

Why Was Senna So Exceptional in Wet Conditions?

Well, if you watch the Netflix series, you will see that he was not exceptional at first. As a young one starting out, he was not naturally gifted in a way that he was born with that wet weather driving skill. It was not really that. It was the training, the discipline, the hard work that he put in, and he did more laps than anybody else.

I mean, in his local kart track in Brazil, he would drive over and over and over again until he got good at it. And I think that really was the turning point in his career. I mean, yes, at first he said that he was a disaster and horrible in the wet. But as with anybody, it is where you start, and then it is all the way up from there. And of course, it depends on how much you want it, how obsessed you are about it, how much you really want to improve.

And that is really what made him different from any other driver.

What Can Karting Drivers Learn From Ayrton Senna?

I would say probably the number one thing is the discipline that he put in all those years into his practice to become the number one. I believe he really put in 10x more effort and 10x more obsession than any other driver of his age, and it really made the difference.

Nobody has ever visualized the perfect lap as he did. I mean, obviously it would be hard for me to know for sure, but you can see from everything around him what made him a great athlete. He really was a 360-degree athlete. He would not just train physically. He would also train mentally. He would visualize. He would do all sorts of things in order to increase his chances of winning.

He would really be obsessed also with the engineers who tried to tune up the kart, even when he was at Williams and the kart was not performing right away after the regulation changes and the removal of the electronic aids from 1993.

Besides that, I feel that his overall feeling of grip and limit was something extraordinary, and you cannot really compare it to anybody else. I just believe that is unmatched.

And yeah, I mean, just getting 65 pole positions out of 161 races. Yes, he may have had the best kart in many cases, but again, his teammates were not able to match him. So I guess it always comes down to the one-lap pace he had. It was just another level.

And I believe it is something that drivers nowadays can try to emulate. Because yeah, when you are able to start at the front of the grid, then it is a much easier race. It is a downhill race compared to when starting at the back.

How Was He So Quick in the Wet and Over One Lap?

As we already mentioned, I believe it was not just talent. I mean, yes, you can always say he was gifted, but at the end of the day, he himself stated that at the beginning in the wet he was horrible. So the only way he became not only good, but legendary in the wet, by winning races and almost lapping drivers, was through discipline and hard work.

He nearly won Monaco with a Toleman, and then they red flagged the race. That could have made him win ahead of Prost in a Toleman, which was a kart good enough for P20 that year. And then he would still win races in the wet by huge margins.

So what made him so good in the wet and also over one lap in qualifying? I think it was mostly discipline and hard work, which always comes down to more and more repetitions, more and more visualization, and working hard with his team.

Nowadays, obviously, drivers can do a lot of sim racing and simulator practice. Of course, that is one of the ways drivers nowadays can prepare a lot for a specific track. And yeah, that is everything that I believe really made him such a legendary driver.

The work he put in was beyond any other driver. And of course, he got better results than most drivers, given his short F1 career of just 10 years from 1984 till 1994 due to his tragic crash at Imola.

Why Does Ayrton Senna Still Matter So Much to Karting Drivers?

Yeah, I feel that Ayrton was just a legendary driver, not only on the track, but also outside of the track, not only in F1 but also in karting. And yes, while he was not a multi world champion in karting, he was still able to finish P2 twice, and that is something not many drivers have been able to accomplish.

I mean, I can say that winning a world championship in karting takes a lot of effort and a lot of hard work. He was three times world champion in F1 in 1988, 1990 and 1991, and he also won a Formula Ford series as well as the British Formula 3 series that launched him into Formula One with Toleman. Then the rest was history.

He became one of the greatest drivers of all time, and possibly could have become the greatest ever if it was not for that crash in Imola.

But yeah, besides the number of world championships, I believe that the influence he had in Formula One, and not only Formula One but also in karting in general, the influence and the motivation and inspiration he created in all drivers and in all people in Brazil as well, like his mentality and his hard work and his discipline, really pushed things to another level.

And I feel that karting drivers nowadays can learn from him a lot, and I still try to learn as much from him as possible. I have watched the Netflix series twice, and not once but twice. And the second time I watched it with my drivers at BabyRace, and I feel that it was such a great tribute to his career and the human being he was. They could not have done a better job, I believe, at Netflix producing that series.

So if you are trying to win your next race or trying to get your next pole position, listening and learning from Ayrton Senna is one of the best things you could do. And if you can manage to emulate him, try to copy what he did, and try to take him as your example and as your role model, then I believe you are going to go very far in your career.

So it is not easy, of course, to get as good as Ayrton got, but I think you can have a shot at it by putting the hard work in, reading books and biographies about Ayrton, there are a bunch, and rewatching videos that you can find on YouTube, as well as watching the Netflix series.

I believe that you can really emulate most of his character traits. And yeah, I mean, it is going to be very hard to emulate what he was able to accomplish. But for sure, you can become at least 1% better as a driver by following the roots of Ayrton.

So I hope this was helpful, and I will see you in the next one.