Ron Dennis on Senna - Part one: the early years
http://www.formula1.com/news/features/2014/4/15769.htmlRon Dennis on Senna - Part two: the later years
http://www.formula1.com/news/features/2014/4/15771.htmlAlcuni estratti:
On Senna instigating joining McLaren…"All great drivers realise the importance of the team, and don't just wait but facilitate securing the drive. Ayrton put out the feelers: he saw the team was very competitive and made it very clear that he wanted to join. He reached out and said maybe he could convince Honda to come, and of course that opened the door and I engaged with Honda. Niki (Lauda) had pretty much decided to stop, so there was an attraction for the driver and for the engine. That was when I realised Ayrton as an ally was very useful - he was very politically astute."
On Senna and Prost's intra-team battles to have the best engine"There was a degree of obsession with Ayrton and Alain over engine selection. In the end there were three engines, Honda would recommend two they thought we should race, and then it came down to a coin flip. Two people had to witness it; it was an internal drama, but it was clearly the easiest way to make sure there was no favouritism."
On Senna's infamous first-corner crash with title rival Prost at Suzuka in 1990"I looked at the traces (from Senna's car), the brake and the throttle pedals, and you didn't need to be Einstein to work out what had happened.
"He came back to the pits, and I said, ‘I'm disappointed in you.' He got it. I didn't have to say any more. It was one of his rare moments of weakness. I don't think it was anything that he was particularly proud of, but it was the finishing touch when pole position was on the wrong side of the road.
On Senna's tolerance for pain"I remember in Mexico (in 1991), Ayrton made a rare mistake and inverted himself into the gravel trap and the car was upside down and no one really knew how he was. He was taken to the medical centre and I could hear him screaming with pain.
"Sid (Watkins, F1 doctor) came out of the medical centre with a smile on his face. I said, ‘how is he?' and he said, ‘he's fine, he's not hurt. He's just a little shaken up'. I said I had heard him scream, and he said he had a big stone stuffed in his ear, where gravel had gone right up his helmet and into his ear and was giving him a lot of pain.
"His pain tolerance was an interesting part of his make-up. He had a degree of tolerance when he was driving, but less so when he wasn't. He was very conscious of pain outside the car."
On managing Senna as the competitive advantage ebbed away from McLaren and towards Williams at the end of 1991"If you're experienced and you know your driver, you know what levers to pull, what to say, how to say it, when to say it etc. If you do a lot of winning together you've got to be prepared to do a bit of losing together. Ayrton won 40 percent of all the races he started for McLaren, better than one in three, which is a tremendous statistic. But at the same time he would always wrestle with not being competitive.
"There was a menu of things I would say to him. If I got really frustrated I'd say, ‘If we weren't paying you so much we could spend more money on the car - Frank (Williams) is not paying his drivers a lot of money.' And then he would say, ‘Yeah but you don't have to be paid a lot of money if you've got a competitive car.' Then I'd say, ‘Hold on a second, let's go back to the fact that this is how much I've paid you over the last three years - if I was spending that on the car…' We'd go round and round. There were lots of levers you pulled."
On Senna's enduring influence"I raised my game because I could see the commitment he brought to his driving. Like any team situation, if someone demonstrates that you can try even harder, then you do. He showed what he was prepared to do to achieve his objectives.
"He raised my game because I think that you try to be as good as the person you are with. I liked his principles - they played to my strengths. He changed Formula One because he raised everybody's game."
, anche perché non avevo seguito con attenzione come il film ha consentito, all'epoca dei fatti del 1989 (pensavo ancora di più alla f**a che alla F1 
).
