Ayrton Senna never hid the fact that he was a big fan of Madonna – who turns 58 today, August 16. The American singer’s pop music was always blasting from Ayrton’s headphones, especially during his long trips between Brazil and Europe.
The Brazilian driver also liked other American musicians, like Michael Jackson and Tina Turner, but the queen of pop was certainly one of his favorites – an opinion shared by Bianca Senna, the three-time champion’s niece.
A mishap involving a Madonna laser-disc and sage advice from Ayrton ended up teaching Bianca an important life lesson:
“I was probably 11 and we were spending our January vacations in Angra dos Reis (RJ), as usual. I wanted to watch one of Beco’s laser-discs. It was a Madonna one that he loved. Only it slipped from my hand and landed on the floor. It broke in half. I was freaking out because I knew that he loved that LD. Naively, I put it back in place and pretended nothing had happened. Later, he asked me if I knew who had cracked the Madonna LD. I got nervous and wasn’t able to lie. I ended up confessing and apologizing profusely. Beco, as calm as ever, said, ‘I don’t care that you broke the LD. The bad part was that you tried to hide your mistake. You shouldn’t do that. Not to me, not to anyone.Especially not to yourself. It will only hurt you’. At the time, I probably turned redder than a tomato. But overtime I was able to understand that lesson and I always think about it when something goes wrong.”
