An obituary of Ayrton Senna
One time I got an assignment on English, where I had to write an "obit" for somebody (either known personally or only apperciated from afar).
Today marks for the F1 world the 30th anniversary of the worst weekend in the sports history - the infamous 1994 San Marino Grand Prix at Imola that saw three horrible accidents and death of two drivers. Roland Ratzenberger passed away on Saturday and the triple World Champion Ayrton Senna on the next day, few hours after crashing on lap 7 at Tamburello.
For most of the class we had been reading aloud and filling the gaps in a modified obituary from ‘Time’ Magazine of Stanisław Skalski (1915-2004), Polish fighter pilot and Ace from the Second World War. After finishing that, with everybody present in the classroom we saw at the end of the handout with the obit that there’s an assignment to try writing our own one, whether for someone we knew or only admired from the distance, but the teacher allowed us to write as well of someone or some animal/thing real or fictional. The assignment’s type was in-class writing, meaning we had just about 10-15 minutes to make it, but we were allowed to check facts on our phones. I initially briefly thought about writing one for the deceased pet rats of mine and brother’s, but quickly turned to the late F1 champion.
I have chosen to write about Ayrton Senna, because I was known among my peers and the teacher as the “motorsports expert” and I was feeling that could’ve been the best way of utilizing my knowledge of F1’s history. Though it was a bit weird to write about (and consider myself a fan of) him, because I wasn’t even born when his fatal accident happened, and have seen Senna’s racecraft only via archival recordings and the documentary about him.
I checked some of Senna’s statistics and personal trivia on Wikipedia, while other facts I wrote from what I have memorised during reading stuff on official Formula 1 website. The result was what you can see below. Although re-reading it I feel there were some phrases that could’ve been improved, I’m satisfied with the result, and so was the teacher, given I got maximum points and highest mark available.
Without further ado, here is my attempt of an “obit”.
An obituary of Ayrton Senna by Max Kucharski
He was a Brasilian triple Formula One World Champion who drove for Toleman, Lotus, McLaren and Williams. One of the sport’s greatest talents, considered by many to be the greatest driver of all time.
Ayrton Senna da Silva was born on the 21st of March, 1960 in Sao Paolo, Brasil. He started competing in karting as a teenager, winning multiple championships in Brasil and South America in the 1970s. Between 1981 and 1983 he was racing in junior single-seater categories in Europe, winning in British and European Formulae Ford, as well as the famous Macau Grand Prix.
1984 was the year in which he made his debut in Formula 1, driving for the Toleman team. His rookie campaign has been successful, as he scored* three podiums and almost won the Monaco Grand Prix.
His performance earned him a move to [the] Lotus team, for which he raced between 1985 and 1987, winning six races, with the first (being his maiden) in Portugal in 1985.
Between 1988 and 1993 Senna represented McLaren, which was the peak of his career. He won 35 races for them and three World Drivers’ Championships in 1988, 1990 and 1991.
He was known for his non-compromised, hard and fierce driving style. His mentality always pushed him to break the limits of the car and maximize the package and weather [conditions] he was given, such as in 1993 during the European GP on Donnington Park. But he was also a great human being, always concerned for his fellow drivers’ lives, as in 1992, when he stopped on track to shut off the engine in the other car, whose driver crashed and was knocked unconscious. He anonymously donated vast amounts of money to the charity.
Ayrton Senna da Silva tragically passed away on May 1st, 1994, after his crash during the San Marino Grand Prix on Imola**
* [note from the teacher: I’m not sure if we say that in English]. In my defense I’m just gonna say that’s how they write in multiple articles on the F1’s website.
** here was the mark with comment “Very nice indeed”