The legendary, 94-year-old F1 commentator, Murray Walker joins forces with Codemasters to recreate a moment of F1 history by lending his voice to a computer-generated lap of Monaco and at the same time reminiscing about Senna. The year was 1988, the venue was the Monaco Grand Prix and the top driver of the moment was Ayrton Senna who claimed pole position by a massive margin over his equally as fast team mate Alain Prost. A bitter feud for supremacy was slowly developing between the McLaren teammates. They had the best car on the grid and both represented the greatest F1 teammate lineup not just of the day but perhaps of all time.
Monaco’s twisty street circuit is seen as the “great leveler” often equalizing performance advantages between teammates and rival racing outfits. Senna stood out as the master and during qualifying secured pole position by a massive 1.4 seconds over Prost.
As a young lad in 1988, I remember watching the qualifying session on TV, watching Senna claim pole position was normal, that’s what he did in the McLaren in 1988. And when Senna led the race by a significant margin that was also normal, its what Senna did.
And when Senna crashed out of the race… oh wait that’s not Senna like at all. But Senna did make mistakes, rarely but this was one of the biggest mistakes of his career. Senna, famously, was so upset at crashing out he wasn’t seen or heard of again for the next two days.
Senna had walked straight back to his Monaco apartment which was not too far away from the scene of his agony. There, He spent the next two days alone and extremely upset at his unforced error. When he finally made contact with his team manager the tears were still flowing.
When Senna was alive and competing in F1 much of the British press didn’t think of him as highly as they do today. The press was very patriotic towards Nigel Mansell and Senna was seen as the foreign enemy. Somethings really do not change, the characters do but the story is still the same. Even in the digital age.
I was conditioned into believing Senna was the enemy, that’s the power of the press you don’t question the motives of journalists who are seen to be upstanding citizens dispensing the truth because journalism is seen as an ethical profession. Ethical people do not lie.
However, when I watched Senna’s performances it became clear to me how the press manipulates the reader. But to what end? Senna’s victory in Donnington 1993 in an underpowered car that was an ant to the Williams giant changed my perceptions for good.
Not just on Senna but in general and just how unethical the press and journalism can be and has become, although in the digital age the delivery is different, the platforms are able to reach the masses quickly and therefore the impact is instant, for better or for worse. But the memes are admittedly fun.
I stopped reading into the jingoistic one-sided coverage, (back then it was print dominated) and determined that Senna was indeed the driver that is now venerated so much today. Senna’s Donnington victory seemed quite normal back in 1993, its what Senna was capable of. It was normal.
Of course, Senna had his flaws, but as time passes the legend grows, just as I was fascinated to read about drivers such as Fangio, Clarke, and Villeneuve a new generation is reading about Senna much in the same way and now watching him on YouTube.
Whenever I hear the British press saying how great an F1 driver Senna was I think back to when he was competing in his prime and I say to myself, what bloody hypocrites they have become.