'Ayrton knew he was the best in the world before anyone else did'

Almost 30 years ago, Ayrton Senna crashed at the Imola circuit. Since then, the Brazilian has never been forgotten. To this day, the three-time world champion is remembered as one of the best drivers in Formula 1 ever.

Senna made his debut in 1984 for the Toleman team. His engineer at the time was Pat Symonds, currently CTO of Formula 1. The Brit can well remember seeing Senna in action for the first time during a Formula Ford race. "Everyone was talking about this guy", Symonds says on the Formula One website. "We had a spate of Brazilians at that time, but everyone was talking about Ayrton."

'Never seen before'

So later Symonds worked with Senna, when the latter made his first metres in Formula 1. "He’d tested a couple of F1 cars and people were raving about him. We managed to sign him at Toleman; I was pretty pleased about that. I thought he’s good, competent, but he’s young. When we first ran him in a test, I thought, ‘Ooh, actually he’s a bit more than that.’ He’s one of these people who makes you really sit up and take notice."

Symonds and Senna worked closely together and so a bond developed between the pair. Reflecting back on the Brazilian's character, the Briton says: "The thing that struck me was I had never actually met anyone before who had such high self-esteem. Ayrton knew he was the best in the world before anyone else did. I mean, all racing drivers have it, but I’d never seen it like this before.”