Twenty years after Ayrton Senna’s tragic death, Ron Dennis still struggles to speak about the special bond he shared with the Formula One great.
Dennis, whose McLaren cars took Senna to three F1 world titles, rarely delves publicly into his memories of a man who “was so good for the whole time he was on the planet.”
Senna’s death left Dennis devastated and the McLaren chief executive still regards it as a private and complex affair, preferring to keep his emotions to himself. But as the 20th anniversary of Senna’s passing is observed this week at the Imola track where he had his fatal crash on May 1, 1994, Dennis remembered one of the most fruitful collaborations in the history of the sport.
Dennis signed Senna to McLaren in 1987 on a day he will never forget. As negotiations neared conclusion, Senna and the McLaren boss could not agree on the money.
“We were arguing over half a million dollars, and I came up with the idea of us flicking a coin to decide,” Dennis said in an in-depth interview with McLaren-Mercedes website.
“But Ayrton’s English wasn’t so good at the time, so there was a five-minute conversation about the details. I had to draw pictures on a piece of paper. I just wanted to find a way forward. So the coin was thrown into the air, spinning. It landed and it went off like a rocket.
“You could hear it rattling under the curtains, I pulled them back and I won the bet.”
That episode speaks volume about Dennis and Senna’s playful mindsets. It also marked the beginning of a five-year relationship, sometimes marred by feuds and disagreements, but mostly made of joy. During his time at McLaren, Senna triumphed in 35 grand prix races.
Senna left McLaren at the end of 1993 to join Williams and was killed in only his third race for the team when the 34-year-old Brazilian crashed on the seventh lap of the San Marino Grand Prix.
Over the years Senna drove for McLaren from 1988-92, the moments of fun Dennis shared with a man who was not exactly famous for his mischievous side have a special place in his heart.
Driven and focused at races, Senna was indeed game for a laugh with people he knew intimately.
When asked about his fondest memory of Senna, Dennis mentioned a bet he won.
“He gave me an envelope once, I still have it at home,” Dennis said. “The envelope’s been opened, but when he gave it to me it had US$10,000 (Dh36,700) in it, the result of a bet we made that I could not eat a container of chilli in Mexico.
“Before he could pull the bet back, I wolfed it down. That was about the fourth time that he had lost a bet, a big one. And I can remember him giving the envelope of money to me, and saying he was never going to bet ever again, that I’d got him into betting and that it was not a good thing to do!
“That’s a fond memory because getting a smile across Ayrton’s face was not easy, but getting him to part with money was even more difficult.”
Dennis said one of the reasons many people consider Senna to be the greatest ever is because he died too early.
“I can see no positives from the fact that he had an accident and lost his life, but it means that you didn’t see his decline,” Dennis said. “There are lots of drivers that stay in the sport too long and tarnish their greatness.”
On the track, Senna was ruthless as can be and infuriated many of his rivals, including French nemesis Alain Prost. Senna and Prost spent two years at McLaren together in 1988-89 and Dennis was there to witness first-hand their long-lasting feud.
At the San Marino Grand Prix in 1989, Prost accused Senna of breaking a pre-race agreement but Dennis said both drivers were to blame.
“They broke each other’s confidence,” he said. “They both made commitments to each other several times, that was one that came into the public domain. There was tremendous tension and anger ... Those two were perfectly matched in deviousness.”
The dispute reached its climax in 1990, with Prost now at Ferrari, at the penultimate race of the year in Japan in 1990 at the first corner when Senna crashed into the Frenchman, guaranteeing his second world title. The move disappointed Dennis.
“I remember looking at all the traces – the brake and throttle pedal – and you didn’t need to be Einstein to work out what happened,” Dennis said.
“When he came back to the garage, I told him I was disappointed in him. He got it. He didn’t have to say any more. I don’t think he was particularly proud of what happened.”
But according to Dennis, that was just a moment of weakness in an otherwise flawless career.
“He’s remembered because he was just so unbelievably competitive,” Dennis said. “He was great, but he had good, human values. He had a few lapses in his life, but he was incredibly principled. And he was a good human being.”
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Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
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Manchester United 1 (Greenwood 77')
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Cricket World Cup League 2
UAE results
Lost to Oman by eight runs
Beat Namibia by three wickets
Lost to Oman by 12 runs
Beat Namibia by 43 runs
UAE fixtures
Free admission. All fixtures broadcast live on icc.tv
Tuesday March 15, v PNG at Sharjah Cricket Stadium
Friday March 18, v Nepal at Dubai International Stadium
Saturday March 19, v PNG at Dubai International Stadium
Monday March 21, v Nepal at Dubai International Stadium
The schedule
December 5 - 23: Shooting competition, Al Dhafra Shooting Club
December 9 - 24: Handicrafts competition, from 4pm until 10pm, Heritage Souq
December 11 - 20: Dates competition, from 4pm
December 12 - 20: Sour milk competition
December 13: Falcon beauty competition
December 14 and 20: Saluki races
December 15: Arabian horse races, from 4pm
December 16 - 19: Falconry competition
December 18: Camel milk competition, from 7.30 - 9.30 am
December 20 and 21: Sheep beauty competition, from 10am
December 22: The best herd of 30 camels
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Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
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Monday, Sept 30
Al Sadd v Esteghlal (8pm)
Persepolis v Pakhtakor (8pm)
Al Wasl v Al Ahli (8pm)
Al Nassr v Al Rayyan (10pm)
Tuesday, Oct 1
Al Hilal v Al Shorta (10pm)
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More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
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Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
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The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl, 48V hybrid
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 325bhp
Torque: 450Nm
Price: Dh359,000
On sale: now
TRAP
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Director: M Night Shyamalan
Rating: 3/5
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
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