Ayrton Senna lays out his rules for winning, from education and clear principles to refusing second place. Alain Prost weighs in on knowing when to quit. Senna reflects on the 1994 San Marino crash and his duty to inspire the next generation.
Chapters
By being a racing driver, you are under risk all the time.
I use those lines and those guidelines to move as a man, as a professional.
I like to do well. I like to be the best.
I am as committed as ever to my passion.
Everyone is responsible for the race having been started.
I'm only 32 and it's no sense for me to stop.
He's a Brazilian race driver who won 3 Formula One World Championships.
He was killed in an accident while leading the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix.
He's considered by many as the greatest race car driver of all time.
He's Ayrton Senna, and here are his top 10 rules for success.
You should know that by being a racing driver, you are under risk all the time. By being a racing driver means you are racing with other people. And if you no longer go for a gap that exists, you're no longer a racing driver, because we are competing. We are competing to win, and the main motivation to all of us is to compete for victory, is not to come third, fourth, fifth, or sixth.
Muita calma, tranquilidade e assessoria. Você precisa de ter gente que realmente está na retaguarda, te dando as dicas, te ensinando e procurando minimizar as mancadas, né? E ir com calma. Acho que a regra principal é saber se segurar. E é um grande problema, porque um jovem tem o ímpeto, tem a vontade de fazer tudo correndo, e eu sou muito assim por dentro. Você é ansioso. É, exatamente. Mas errando eu fui aprendendo, e estou aprendendo ainda que você tem que de vez em quando dar uma freada.
I have had all my life a very, very strong and good education. And from that education I have got, again, clear and strong principles in way of behaving. And that's where I'm guide for. I come, I use those lines and those guidelines to move as a man, as a professional. And I don't regret anything. I just feel I'm doing things for the right reason. Some understand, some don't. In the end, you never get everybody to understand, to agree, and to accept. But most of them, I'm sure, admire after all what I'm doing as a professional and as a man. And as many drivers do, we are exposing our lives, they are consistent. And the reason for it is only one, is to succeed, is to win, is to get the thrill when you cross finish line. In first place.
I am very competitive. I think any racing driver that gets to Formula 1 has in its personality a lot of competitiveness. I particularly believe to be extremely competitive in anything I do. But it depends where you are and what you're doing, what is your state of mind. If I am on holiday, off-season, it's a different way of living totally than when you doing interviews, when you testing during the season, racing, competing during the season. You have to allow yourself different mental approach, a different way of looking at the day and night. And only that way I find possible to get the necessary equilibrium to then give everything I have when it really matters. But in normal things, I am competitive. I like to compete, and I like to do well. I like to be the best.
Talvez maior do que todas, principalmente com a meninada, com as crianças, porque a gente realmente sente nas crianças uma admiração e um carinho grande. E isso motiva mais ainda você procurar transmitir alguma coisa de especial para eles. Então eu sinto sobretudo uma responsabilidade com a infância. Com as crianças que gostam de corrida, levantam cedo e pegam na calça do pai, na saia da mãe, que querem que leve ao autódromo, a uma pista. Enfim, e é para quem eu tô realmente aberto, para quem eu, quando encontro, me sinto bem.
Ayrton, it has been a quite incredible season for you. You are the youngest ever 3 times world champion, 3 times in 4 years. I have to ask you, on behalf of your despairing rivals, Is your motivation still as high as ever?
I think so.
I am, as you said, young, I am healthy, I am as committed as ever to my passion, to our passion and to my profession. And the main thing is to find ways time after time to stimulate myself in my own world, in my own funny ways, to dedicate a lot of my time and a lot of my thinking and keep up with the commitment that is quite high to continue to be successful.
If we were to run into rain conditions of this kind again, is there a better method, Ayrton, for us to look into how the race should be stopped earlier or more positively?
We shouldn't start.
But whose decision is that, Ayrton?
I think it's very hard for the officials to make such a decision because there is a lot of pressure, television all over the world, and it's difficult, we understand. But I think it's, in a way, it's our own fault. We should have started as drivers. If we just get out of the cars, stick together, and make a decision ourselves, then the race wouldn't start in first place. It's always very difficult to get everyone together. I experienced it myself 2 years ago. Today again, because also we have a lot of responsibility to the teams and the sponsors that give us so much. And there are moments that we have to also try to give them something, but it's very difficult to find the equilibrium, the balance on making the right decisions at every single time. But as I said, I think, um, it was a mistake to all of us to have started, not only from the officials. It was also a driver's mistake, was a team's mistake. We all should have had courage as a group, everyone that is here, to get together and go against it and not risk and not start the race. So it's not officials only. I also take responsibility, think as drivers and also the team, everyone is responsible for the race having been started.
I expressed the feeling some time ago, a couple months ago, that I I wouldn't be prepared to continue driving next year unless I felt I could compete competitively. And that meant not that I had to leave McLaren or anything, it just meant if you feel you, you have some light at the end of the tunnel in which you can work and make up and be back there in a competitive way. And if that situation did not turn up for me, then I wouldn't drive. Without really wishing to stop, because I mean, I'm only 32 and it's no sense for me to stop. I mean, the peak of my career is still with quite a few years ahead. I have achieved so much credibility and so much experience that is, is not the time to stop. But, uh, on the other hand makes absolutely no sense to just be a number out there, given the fact that whether you're fighting for first or second or a fifth or a sixth, you're just exposing yourself to a lot of danger continuously, a lot of stress, and a lifestyle that not always is, is attractive for me. Therefore, considering everything, the material benefits I got up until now and the ones I could get in the future, the personal satisfaction, the achievements that you can get. The only real motivation for me to continue was to be in a position where I could compete, improve, learn more, and be there, you know, be there fighting at least for it. And anything else, just, I could not justify to myself.
Eu realmente sou privilegiado, eu sempre tive uma vida muito boa, mas tudo isso que eu consegui foi através de dedicação, perseverança e muito desejo de atingir os meus objetivos, muito desejo de vitória, vitória na vida, não vitória como piloto. E a vocês todos que assistiram e estão assistindo agora, eu digo que seja quem você for, seja qualquer posição que você tenha, seja na vida, no nível altíssimo ou mais baixo social, tenha sempre como meta muita força, muita determinação e sempre faça tudo com muito amor e com muita fé em Deus, que um dia você chega lá, de alguma maneira você chega lá.
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