Portuguese GP, Estoril, 21st April 1985

Lotus 97T. Senna's first pole position and first victory in F1.

Monaco GP, June 3rd, 1984

For the 1984 season Senna debuted in F1 in the lowly Toleman team. At the sixth round - a rain soaked Monaco no less - Senna would prove that the TG184 (designed by Rory Byrne and Pat Symonds, who would later go on to fame with Ferrari and Renault respectively) wasn't quite the lame duck it was made out to be.
Alain Prost was on pole with Nigel Mansell joining him alongside. After a 45-minute rain delay, (the track was so wet that the drivers requested that the officials water down the tunnel section because the soaking wet cars would be more difficult to drive on a dry surface with wet tyres) Senna started a lowly 13th place. On lap 9, Mansell passed Prost to take the lead, but crashed out six laps later on the run up to Casino Square after slipping on a painted white line and damaging the car on the armco. By then Senna was third, behind the two McLarens. On lap 19, Senna passed Niki Lauda for second, and just to add insult to injury, would suffer the ignominy of going off five laps later; proof that even F1 legends were struggling with the atrocious conditions. At this point, Prost was still 30 seconds ahead, but Senna was rapidly catching him, despite his inferior Toleman. On lap 29 and again on lap 31 Prost waved to the stewards of the race to indicate that he felt the race should be stopped. The red flag to stop the race was shown at the end of the 32nd lap after clerk of the course Jacky Ickx decided that conditions were too poor for the race to continue. Senna passed Prost's slowing McLaren before the finish line, but according to the rules, the positions counted are those from the last lap completed by every driver - in this case lap 31, at which point Prost was still in the lead.

As an aside, the stoppage was controversial; many felt it benefited Prost, driving a car with a Porsche-designed engine, as Ickx was under contract with Porsche as a group C sportscar driver. Ickx was suspended from his race control duties as he had not consulted with the stewards before making the decision. Because the race had not been allowed to continue beyond 75% race distance, half points were been awarded; had it gone beyond 75%, Prost could have had 6 points from a 2nd place instead of 4.5 points from the win. Prost would eventually go on to lose the championship to Niki Lauda by half a point.
But this is not to take away from the sheer brilliance of Senna; to take the TG184 and potentially win the race with it, which to translate to 2012 would be like taking a HRT or Marussia to the giddy heights of a podium finish. As James Hunt prophetically stated in his race commentary about Senna: "He's got a big future."

How right you were, Mr Hunt.

The Legend Begins - The Race Of Champions, 12th May 1984

Ayrton Senna's legend is complete now, but everyone's reputation has to start somewhere. In his case it probably started at the 1984 Race Of Champions.
The irony is, he should not have even been competing - he wasn't an F1 champion at that time, and had only competed in three F1 races. He was, however the reigning Formula 3 champion, although including him in a race with F1 household names was maybe stretching credibility a touch. However the organiser of the event, Gerd Kremer of Mercedes, knew Ayrton from his F3 days, and when Emmerson Fittipaldi declined to take part in the event due to commitments at Indianapolis, Kremer used his position to get Senna into the event.

Interestingly, this was also the start of the legendary rivalry - the first time Prost and Senna met. Prost actually picked Senna up from the airport and drove him 2 hours to the circuit, no doubt chatting a little on the way. For all that would come later between these two, it seems somehow fitting that they got to know each other sitting side by side in a car.
The saloon car race at the Nürburgring was meant to be a casual affair, a christening for the new Nurburgring F1 circuit; quite why the organisers thought this would be the case is not known, but the christening would soon turn into nothing less than a baptism of fire. Some of the greatest F1 drivers of all time, all in identical Mercedes 190E 2.3-16's, sounds like a recipe for nothing other than a four-wheeled version of a bare knuckle boxing match.

There were some incredible names competing that day - Prost, Alan Jones, John Surtees, Stirling Moss, Jack Brabham, Phil Hill, Denny Hulme, Niki Lauda, James Hunt, Keke Rosberg, Jodie Scheckter, John Watson, Klaus Ludwig and Manfred Schute, amongst others. Prost qualified on pole, only just edging out Senna. But when the race came, it was raining so the track was very wet; little did the other drivers know that thses were the sort of conditions that Senna excelled in. He quickly took the lead from Prost, albeit by forcing the Frenchman off the circuit; a portent of things to come and an incident that surely cast the die between these two. Senna then disappeared off into the distance, which to be fair was a feat probably made easier not all the drivers taking the event particularly seriously - especially James Hunt - but make no mistake Senna, thrashed everyone that day. He took the Mercedes by the scruff of the neck, squeezed every ounce of performance out of it and won the race ahead of Lauda.

It was an absolute driving masterclass by a young snot-nosed rookie that most of the drivers there had never even heard of; well they certainly remembered him afterwards. To quote Stirling Moss:

"From that moment he just continued to rise until he got to where he was only equalled, in my opinion, by Fangio".

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