European Grand Prix

Proof that the car isn't everything

People who claim F1 is only about the car need to watch Donington 1993. The Williams FW15C was the most dominant car of its era and Senna made it look pedestrian. From fourth on the grid, he dismantled Hill, Schumacher, and Prost in a single lap in the pouring rain. Then he pulled away from everyone. Lapped the field up to second. The McLaren had no right to be anywhere near the front, let alone a minute ahead of everyone. Senna made the impossible look routine.

Strategic perfection in the chaos

Beyond Senna's legendary opening lap, what gets overlooked is the tire strategy. The conditions kept changing and Senna's team got every call right, switching between slicks and wets at exactly the right moments. He made four pit stops and still won by over a minute. The McLaren team read the weather better than anyone that day. Prost in the vastly superior Williams finished a lap down. That's not just driver brilliance, that's the whole team operating at another level.

The day I understood what genius looks like

I've been watching F1 since the 1970s and nothing compares to what Senna did in the first lap at Donington. The track was soaking wet, he started fourth, and by the time he came back around he was leading. The rest of the race was just him extending that gap until he had lapped everyone except the second-place car. Over a minute ahead at the flag. In an inferior car. In the rain. That's not racing, that's art.

The ultimate wet-weather drive

If you want to show someone what a rain master looks like, show them Donington 1993. Senna was operating on a completely different level to everyone else. The opening lap alone – P4 to P1, passing three world champions on a soaking track – would be enough to make this a legendary race. But then he kept pulling away. And pulling away. Four stops for tires, a minute ahead at the end. In a car that was clearly slower in the dry. The rain was Senna's equalizer and he used it to produce the greatest drive of all time.

The lap of the gods

Senna qualified fourth but dropped to fifth at the start when Wendlinger jumped him. By the end of lap one: first. He passed Schumacher, then Wendlinger, then Hill, then Prost – four passes in one lap in the rain at Donington. And he was driving a McLaren-Ford against the dominant Williams-Renault. He went on to lap the entire field up to second place. Won by over a minute. This wasn't a race, it was a recital. The single greatest individual performance in F1 history.