Remembering Ayrton Senna’s Maiden Formula 1 Victory 

Károly Méhes looks back forty years to the 1985 Portuguese Grand Prix, where Ayrton Senna overcame treacherous conditions to record the first of his forty-one Formula 1 victories. Those who witnessed Senna’s historic maiden victory will never forget what the Brazilian driver achieved on that stormy spring afternoon.

Senna was already into his second year of Formula 1 when he arrived in Portugal for the second round of the 1985 season. After a successful duel against Martin Brundle in the 1983 British F3 championship, Senna had graduated to Formula 1 the previous season with midfield team, Toleman. The young Brazilian had already shown flashes of brilliance during his maiden season of Formula 1. He scored points in only his second race in South Africa, but the first real taste of things to come was on full display at the 1984 Monaco Grand Prix.

It was pouring with rain on the streets of the tiny principality that day, and Senna was in his element. He’d always enjoyed taking his go-kart out in the rain when growing up in São Paulo, and now he had the chance to show off his wet-weather prowess to a worldwide audience. After starting thirteenth on the grid, Senna slowly worked his way up the leaderboard. After thirty laps, he was within striking distance of race leader Alain Prost.

But the Frenchman thought the conditions were too dangerous and gesticulated animatedly for the race to be red flagged. Controversially, race director Jacky Ickx* duly complied with Prost’s request and the race was stopped on Lap 32. Senna had already overtaken Prost by this point, but the race was officially declared over at the end of the previous lap, when the Frenchman was still leading. Senna would have to be satisfied with second place on this day, but he didn’t have to wait too long to stand on the top step of the podium. (*Ickx was a works endurance driver for Porsche at the time, and Prost’s McLaren was powered by a Porsche designed and built TAG engine.)

Less than one year later, Senna had already torn up his three-year contract with the tiny Toleman team in favor of a switch to the better funded and more competitive Lotus-Renault team. The 1985 season began in Senna’s homeland. He started from fourth at the Jacarepaguá circuit in the suburbs of Rio de Janeiro, but was forced to retire on Lap 48 with an electrical failure.

Autódromo do Estoril: April 21, 1985

The opening round of the 1985 European Formula 1 season was held in Portugal. Senna had claimed his maiden pole on the previous day in good weather, but on race day, the rain arrived early and settled in. In such conditions today, the race would be abandoned or the field would be forced to circulate endlessly behind the Safety Car… but things were different back then. The race went ahead and Senna was presented with the ideal opportunity to show what he could do against the faster challengers from McLaren and Ferrari. It would turn into a pure demonstration of Senna’s wet-weather superiority.

Starting from pole position, Senna took the lead and never looked back. He’d already carved out a thirteen second lead by Lap 10. And as he ‘swam’ towards his maiden victory, drivers such as Alain Prost, Keke Rosberg, Gerhard Berger and Riccardo Patrese spun out of the race. When the chequered flag was shown after sixty eight laps (of a scheduled seventy laps), Senna had taken victory by more than one minute over the Ferrari of Michele Alboreto.

It would be the first of many more famous victories for the Brazilian, including another incredible wet-weather display at Donington Park in 1993. But whenever he was asked about his greatest win, he would always point to that day in Estoril, where he’d won in extremely wet conditions with a powerful turbo engine, manual gearbox and no driver aids.

Senna’s win at Estoril was the first for Lotus since 1982, but didn’t lead to another drivers’ or constructors’ championship for the legendary British team. The Brazilian scored a total of six victories for Lotus, but would not achieve his place amongst the sport’s greatest drivers until he moved to McLaren three seasons later.

View the highlights of the 1985 Portuguese Grand Prix on YouTube