Ayrton Senna

“Ayrton set standards the rest of us can only dream about. His death doesn’t seem real. He was invincible and was going to keep on winning.”-Derek Warwick

“I was proud to compete against him. Professionally, he was the only driver I respected. In Senna’s honour, I will never sit in a Formula One car again.”-Alain Prost

“Ayrton was the best friend I ever had in F1, closer to me than anybody else in the business. During my three years driving with him at McLaren, I came to realize that he was the best, one level higher than the rest of us.”-Gerhard Berger

“This has been one of my hardest achievements in motorsport. The soul searching was very difficult, especially when my five-year-old daughter came and asked whether it was true that Senna was dead. It was tough, but we all had to face the same thing. Did we want to do this anymore? Is it crazy? It was a very emotional and difficult time.”-Martin Brundle

“He was the best driver who ever lived.”-Niki Lauda

“Ayrton Senna was an extraordinary racing driver. His skills, craft, subtlety and courage were of such magnitude that he dwarfed his generation of drivers.”-Ron Dennis

“His loss is impossible to quantify. Everyone who has ever met him, in whatever capacity, feels they have lost something very special.”-Frank Williams

The life of Ayrton Senna was an example in dedication and the love of the sports few athletes have had at international level. The world has lost the greatest athlete in the history of motor racing and I have lost a great friend. Grand Prix racing will never be the same without Ayrton.”-Emerson Fittipaldi

“When I first came round in the medical center after my accident, the first face I saw was Ayrton’s, with tears in his eyes. I had never seen that with Ayrton before. I just had the impression that he felt as if my accident was like one of his own. He helped me a lot with my career and I can’t find the words to describe his loss.”-Rubens Barrichello

“I always had a good relationship with him in our breif encounters. Senna was very good to us. He was very supportive of Michael. In fact, his was one of the first congratulatory messages Michael got after winning in Australia. I don’t know what else to say. It comes as a tremendous shock to all of us. It’s a devastating loss.”-Mario Andretti

“What has happened is so dramatic and so bad that I feel no satisfaction in winning.”-Michael Schumacher

“It’s a real waste. He still had a lot of racing and wins left in him. He was a good person. I can tell you that firsthand. Last year (1993), when I had my problems, he was one of the main people there supporting me. He was probabily the greatest driver of all time. This was not a driver error. There was no weakness in his driving.”-Michael Andretti

“As I already said on TV, I want to dedicate this success to Ayrton. This is the place, I believe, where my life changed. After everything I have been through, from the problems on the car to the problems with myself, I think that Imola this year has seen another changing point…”-Rubens Barrichello in post-race press conference at Imola GP 1999 . He finished 3rd.

After Senna's death it was discovered that he had donated millions of dollars of his personal fortune (estimated at $400 million at the time of his death) to children's charities, a fact that during his life he had kept secret. His foundation in Brazil, Instituto Ayrton Senna, has invested nearly US$ 80 million over the last twelve years in social programs and actions in partnership with schools, government, NGOs, and the private sector aimed at offering children and teenagers from low-income backgrounds the skills and opportunities they need to develop to their full potential as persons, citizens and future professionals.

In the documentary film "The Right to Win" made in 2004 as a tribute to Senna, Frank Williams notably recalls that as good a driver as Senna was, ultimately "he was an even greater man outside of the car than he was in it."

The greatest testament to his character was most evident at the moment of his death. As track officials examined the wreckage of his racing car they found a furled, bloodsoaked Austrian flag. A victory flag that he was going to raise in honour of Austrian Roland Ratzenberger, who had died on that track the day before.