At the F1 Monaco Grand Prix, all qualifying rounds are held as ball games.
On this day in 1988, Ayrton Senna won an amazing ball game.
On that day, Senna wiped out the rest of the grid and qualified for pole position by an astonishing 1.4 seconds over rival and McLaren teammate Alain Prost. His performance that day still stands as perhaps the greatest qualifying effort in the history of the sport, as Senna was able to push McLaren and himself beyond their limits.
In that era of F1, qualifying was done on race tires rather than qualifying tires, so drivers stayed for as many laps as possible to push themselves and their cars to the brink. His lap times ticked down as Senna pushed his MP4/4 around the streets of Monte Carlo, squeezing everything he could out of the car.
It was unlike anything the sport, and Senna’s competitors, had ever seen.
Neil Autry, a McLaren engineer who worked with Prost, recalled other McLaren drivers watching in awe as Senna’s increasingly faster lap times. “I was driving Alain Prost’s car. Alain cut his time down to 1 minute 26.9 seconds, and Ayrton set a second lap of 24.4 seconds.” Autry later recalled.
“Alain cut his time down to 25.4 seconds, while Ayrton’s time was 23.9 seconds. I remember a ghostly look on Alain’s face. He was wondering how Ayrton’s time had gone from where. I couldn’t understand what was going on. This showed that despite all the technology, drivers can still make a big difference.”
Of that qualifying session, Senna recalled that he had already put his McLaren in pole position but kept pushing the MP4/4 further than necessary. Because, as the driver recalled, it was as if he wasn’t actively driving the car.
“Monte Carlo 1988, last qualifying session. I was already in pole position and I was getting faster and faster. Lap, lap, faster and faster. At one stage I was on the verge of pole position. But then it was half a second, then a second…and I kept going. Suddenly I was almost two seconds faster than everyone else, including my teammate who was in the same car. “All of a sudden I realized that I wasn’t consciously driving the car,” Senna said. What happened to motorsport journalist Gerald Donaldson?.
“I was driving according to my instincts, but I was in another dimension. It was like being in a tunnel. It wasn’t just the tunnel under the hotel, the whole circuit was a tunnel for me. I just went, went, more, more, more and more. I was way over the limit, but I still managed to find more limits,” Senna continued.
That’s when the legendary driver decided it was time to start defending himself, as he was approaching an uncomfortable limit for a man with no fear at all.
“Then, suddenly, something hit me. I woke up somehow and found myself in a different atmosphere than usual. My immediate reaction was to back up and slow down. “I did,” Senna added. “I drove slowly back to the pits and didn’t want to go out anymore that day.”
“I realized that it was far beyond my conscious understanding, and it scared me. Such things rarely happen, but I keep these experiences inside me because they are important for self-preservation. continues to live on.”
Senna returned to the track that afternoon., even if only for a short period of time. The driver followed up his amazing performance by attempting two different push laps, but retired both due to traffic on the street circuit. At that point, his days were truly over and a new chapter in his legendary career was written.
Senna told journalist Russell Balzin years later that the afternoon was “a great experience”.
“Because in that moment, I was vulnerable to pushing my own limits and the limits of the car, limits that I had never touched before.” Senna said.. “It wasn’t something I wasn’t in control of, but I wasn’t aware of exactly what was going on. I was just going back and forth. It was a great experience.”
Gordon Murray, McLaren’s technical director at the time, outlined how even those who knew Senna best were surprised by his performance that day in Monaco.
“His qualifying stunned everyone.” Murray said after qualifying:. “Everyone. Even the teams that were used to him. Success, especially in Monaco, is absolutely proportional to courage. It’s precision and courage. Stick to the braking points and put the car on top. Qualifying is about these two things. It was a combination of things.”
Unfortunately, no actual footage exists of perhaps the greatest qualifying effort in F1 history. Senna’s performance in 1988 took place long before the era of onboard cameras on all current drivers, and while F1 had been toying with onboard cameras during the 1988 season, onboard cameras Only one team was selected each race week to carry the.
McLaren was not the team chosen by Formula One Management (FOM) to introduce such equipment in Monaco that year.
Additionally, qualifying was broadcast live in only a few countries, and broadcast cameras did not track Senna’s legendary laps.
The best we get is this recreation done by McLaren, with Murray Walker’s legendary voice taking you to the rap.
Interestingly, Senna did not recreate that magic the next day.
He once again dominated the field and at one point had a lead of around 50 seconds over second place Prost. Senna was instructed by his team to slow down to ensure a clean finish and a 1-2 result for McLaren. However, on lap 67, with just over 10 laps remaining, Senna momentarily lost concentration.
And in the blink of an eye, he entered the barrier and withdrew from the race.
The driver disappeared to his home in Monaco and did not return to the track until late that evening. Ron Dennis, McLaren’s team principal at the time, recalled years later that Senna felt angry at himself after that mistake. “It was a lack of concentration. We were trying to slow him down and when you go backwards in a race car, you effectively lose concentration. It was just a blunder and nothing else. was.” Dennis said. “He was so angry that he did something very uncharacteristic. He didn’t go back to the pits, he went to his apartment.” He just went through the circuit, went to his apartment and sat down. was. He did not appear again until later that night. He was very angry with himself. ”
The F1 world returns to Imola this week for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, but to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the tragic 1994 San Marino Grand Prix in which Senna and Roland Ratzenberger lost their lives at Imola, fans from around the world Tributes are starting to pour in. The world of motorsports.
We already covered Cena’s “Rap of God” this week. His incredible first lap performance at the 1993 European Grand Prix saw him go from fifth to first in just one lap, taking the lead in wet conditions. That performance is considered by many to be one of the best in the history of the sport, and perhaps Senna’s best race performance.
But on this day in 1998, the Legend delivered perhaps his best qualifying performance, conquering the field and the streets of Monte Carlos in spectacular fashion. It was an out-of-body experience for both the driver and those watching him.
Times have been dropping by the minute over the years, but with the technological advancements the sport has seen, we may never see a dominant performance like the Monaco Grand Prix again.
