VIDEO: Senna's 'lap of the gods' at Donington

Ayrton Senna

VIDEO: Senna's 'lap of the gods' at Donington

Matthew Scott

Wednesday 1 May 2019 11:02

As Formula 1 pays tribute to Ayrton Senna 25 years on from his tragic passing at the San Marino Grand Prix, the time is right to look back at some the great man's finest moments in F1. This opening lap in the wet at the 1993 European Grand Prix at Donington goes down as one the greatest single tours of a circuit in the sport's long and storied history.

The general theme of the 1993 season had been followed through the weekend, with the dominant Williams cars of Alain Prost and Damon Hill qualifying on the front row.

As Prost and Hill made decent getaways, Sauber's Karl Wendlinger was sharpest off the line from fifth, jumping Senna and Michael Schumacher into third, with Schumacher then crowding out the lead McLaren into the first corner.

Schumacher, who would go on to develop his own stern reputation in the wet during his record-breaking career, was no match for Senna on this occasion as the Brazilian made his way through at turn three.

Wendlinger was similarly helpless at the Craner Curves, with Senna completely unperturbed by having to take to the wettest parts of the track to make his moves stick.

Hill was next in Senna's crosshairs, McLean's Corner the site of another breeze through for the great man.

That left only Prost, Senna's great rival and former in-house foe at McLaren.

The turbocharged Williams ought to have been unrivalled by the McLaren, but Prost's comparative rookie-like appearance in damp conditions gave Senna the advantage.

Again pulling onto more treacherous ground, Senna squirmed alongside The Professor on the approach to the Melbourne Hairpin, taking an inside line which would hand him the race lead.

The one-lap performance was matched over the following 75 tours, with Senna taking victory in wet-dry conditions from second-placed Hill and Pros completing the podium.

Senna also set the fastest lap of the race, it was the final time he would do so in a grand prix.