The ride Senna took with Mansell
Photo: Printscreen – Youtube
The strong start to the 1991 season, with four wins, was instrumental in helping Senna achieve his third F1 title. In England, where the eighth race was taking place, Ayrton had an inferior car to Nigel Mansell’s Williams. Even so, the Brazilian was pushing hard for his fifth win.
The “Lion” took the pole position, posting a time 0s679 faster than the Brazilian’s, and dominated the race from start to finish, until the 59 laps were over. Senna, who also had an uneventful race after Riccardo Patrese’s retirement in the second lap, had a podium finish all but guaranteed when his McLaren ran out of fuel in the final lap. The car stopped, even though its panel informed there was more than enough fuel to keep going.
With Senna out of the way, McLaren’s Gerhard Berger finished in second and Alain Prost was third with his Ferrari. Ayrton finished in fourth place, since all other drivers had already been lapped by the Britton.
During Mansell’s cool down lap, the Williams driver stopped in front of Ayrton’s McLaren. The Brazilian driver put one foot inside the cockpit of the Britton’s car, held on to its roll-over hoop ant took the most iconic ride in F1 history – something that wouldn’t be allowed by today’s rulebook.
A steward even tried to stop them, for safety reasons, but by then there was no one that wasn’t moved by the moment: tow Formula One legends, literally sharing the same car.
