He was an ideal: a flag bearer for a poor country who was able to show his great talent and gratify his obsession with success in a rough and unforgiving world. He was light years from every day reality.
A living legend, loved by those even uninterested in Formula 1, Ayrton Senna was a hero in every sense of the word.
Next weekend in China, two young men who both idolized this man will both try and take one step closer to achieving what he did three times: a world championship.
To think that anyone could take Ayrton Senna’s crown is impossible. This is a man who instantly became even more immortalized after the tragic weekend in Imola. No one like him has been seen since, nor will anyone like him be seen again.
The fact that the two world championship contenders both wear yellow helmets in tribute to their hero further strengthens that opinion. There are only imitations on the grid nowadays.
Even Michael Schumacher, arguably the greatest there ever was, does not command an audience like Senna did. Why? He’s too human and too accessible. People love a tragic hero; unimagined success will always beat real success. There will always be a "what if" attached to Senna because of his premature death?
Senna was to motor racing what Kurt Cobain was to music or what Martin Luther king was to black America. He was both wonderful and tragic, and I'm afraid no matter what any other racer achieves, they can't beat that.
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