Sky Sports F1 were at Donington park last week to film a feature on Ayrton Senna as part of the channels coverage to mark the 20th anniversary of the f1 legend’s tragic death.
Presenters and former f1 drivers, Martin Brundle and Damon Hill were on hand to drive two of Senna’s former F1 cars. They were also joined by Senna’s Nephew Bruno Senna. The sight of Bruno behind the wheel with his similar helmet made for an interesting sight as he drove the Donington Grand Prix circuit.
The two cars present were theToleman TG184 from 1984 and the Lotus 98T from 1986.
The Toleman was one of Senna’s first cars in formula 1 and one that got him noticed when he took it to second place and that years shortened Monaco Grand Prix. In torrential rain he had sliced through from thirteenth on the grid and actually took the lead from Alain Prost before a red flag. Rules for race stoppages meant the result was taken from before the overtake but it went down as one of his first great drives in Formula 1.
The 98T from 1986 was from Senna’s second season at Lotus. In the iconic John Player Special livery Senna took the car to two grand prix wins and six other podiums, after taking his first win in the cars predecessor the 97T the previous season. This was enough to put Lotus third in the constructors championship that year. He also took pole in half of that season’s races .
At the Donington filming day, all three of the drivers drove both of the cars at various points during the day, filming various sequences. Martin Brundle had the most mileage, doing quite a long run in the Lotus 98T.
The finished feature will be shown on Sky Sports F1 as part of it’s grand prix weekend coverage at a yet undisclosed future date. By by Marc Waller
