Message from Ayrton Senna to 2017 Mclaren-Honda

[gold333]

As some may know Senna would have been 57 years old today. It got me thinking, what message would he have had for Mclaren-Honda at the start of this 2017 season, had he been alive today?

From what I knew of him I came up with this. See what you think of it. What do you think he would have said?


Message from Ayrton:

"Thank you for the happy birthday congratulations, I am getting old yes, but Alain is getting older than me still so I'm happy!

As I said years ago; I have no idols, I admire hard work, competence and dedication.

It is difficult for Mclaren now, yes. What they are going through with Honda is open for us all to see and it breaks all our heart. But it was with Mclaren and Honda that I learned and teach myself to never give up. Even in situations with tremendous odds against you.

6 wins at Monaco five in a row, a little record still unbeaten today, we achieved because I never stopped believing that winning was possible. In those moments, giving up is not available to us as an option. If we let it be we should rather be doing something else.

If you ask me a message to Mclaren and Honda, it is a simple one:
don't give up, instead only try harder.

-Ayrton Senna"

[JonoNic]

This is kind of silly, but I will bite. Senna could say,
"You must take the compromise to win, or else nothing. That means: you race or you do not." or
"It's going to be a season with lots of accidents, and I'll risk saying that we'll be lucky if something really serious doesn't happen." or
"These things bring you to reality as to how fragile you are; at the same moment you are doing something that nobody else is able to do. The same moment that you are seen as the best, the fastest and somebody that cannot be touched, you are enormously fragile."

[gold333]

This is kind of silly, but I will bite. Senna could say,
"You must take the compromise to win, or else nothing. That means: you race or you do not." or
"It's going to be a season with lots of accidents, and I'll risk saying that we'll be lucky if something really serious doesn't happen." or
"These things bring you to reality as to how fragile you are; at the same moment you are doing something that nobody else is able to do. The same moment that you are seen as the best, the fastest and somebody that cannot be touched, you are enormously fragile."

Yeah those are quotes he actually said in 1991, 1994 and 1988. I suppose they could apply to the current situation.

[PlatinumZealot]

Dear MacLaren,

You will never know the feeling of a driver when winning a race!

Ayrton Senna

[Manoah2u]

"You ask me what i would have to say for Mclaren for this year?"

- yes

"Good luck. what do you want me to say?"

- do you have some advice?

"yes, watch the first race and then ask me again"

- you don't think Mclaren is in trouble as we saw in testing?

"again, watch the race in Australia, then ask me again"

- you think Mclaren is able to compete for the win this season, then?

"It doesn't matter much what i think. it matters what happens in Australia. Mercedes looks fast. RedBull looks fast. Ferrari looks fast.
Mclaren - not so much. My Toleman wasn't that fast. The Lotus wasn't always that fast. Neither always was the Mclaren. Nor the Williams."

- So, you're saying, it depends on the driver?

"I am saying, we will see in Melbourne, then ask me again. Then you can come with a proper question. Now, you come to me with speculation.
There are a lot of other things going on in F1 right now. Politics, owners, rules. we not need to worry about Mclaren winning the first race in Melbourne.
we need to worry about what is going to happen to F1. We need racers, not drivers. Today, F1 is all about who brings money. You bring money,
and you get a pink car. not a good car. not a good driver. you get a pink car. you get a driver who's daddy can buy you it's main sponsor but you're
not old enough to legally drink. You have people who are smart, who are fast, who are enthusiastic, who have not enough money, who do nothing in F1
because of that."

- so, you say, the sports needs to change?

" You ask me a question, i give you an answer. if you want a good answer, i cannot give that to you, i am not part of Formula 1 right now. You need
to ask Jean (Todt.) You need to ask Alonso. You need to ask Lewis. "

- is that an invitation for you to bring some advice to the FIA or F1's new owners?

" No, i am happy with what i do now. My family is important to me. F1 does not depend on me. "

- is there anything else you would like to say then about F1?

"I will watch the race in Australia from my house in Brazil. And then you will call me and ask me again"

- and what will you answer me then?

" Watch the next race and then ask me again."

- thank you mr. Senna.

[Manoah2u]

Also, if Senna still lived, he would have been a Sir. Sir Ayrton Senna da Silva.

[ENGINE TUNER]

If Senna had lived he may have won more championships with Williams than with McLaren and could be more aligned with Renault rather than Honda... that's the problem with these "Ifs"

Prost would have died with a heart attack if Senna took over Renault's affection from him, but Prost only won 1 title with Renault, Senna "could have" conceivably won 4(straight).

[Manoah2u]

Senna was to go to Ferrari after his Williams stint, iirc already in 1995 he should have gone there.
Senna's death caused an opening at Ferrari which Schumacher happily took instead.
It's interesting and mind-bending to imagine how F1 would have looked like if Senna's deadly accident never occured.

He probably would have lost the 94 season anyway as the Williams simply lacked compared to the Benetton of Schumi.
Had the car never had TC its likely the Williams would have been indeed the WDC car. The team had to anticipate to the Benetton and
it has been theorized they compromised stuff which indirectly unfortunately lead to the ingredients leading to Senna's death, but that's a lot of speculation.

1995 would have seen Schumi win the WDC again, and Senna working closely with Ferrari to get a WDC with the Reds. I think it would have happened in 1996,
and that would mean Hill never would have won that WDC, though i think it would have been close competition. Schumi in the Benetton vs Hill in the Williams and Senna in the Ferrari.
There's a chance Schumacher would have went to Mclaren instead, and i think he would have done still a marvellous job there.

the question is, who would have went where in that scenario, and not just drivers, but key staff personel too. Did Brawn and Todt go to Ferrari because of Schumacher or were they
going there anyway and would we have seen a Senna-Brawn-Todt combo? Perhaps Todt would have stayed or gone to Ferrari anyway, but Brawn to Mclaren alongside Dennis? In any
way, the Mclaren was mighty in the hands of Hakkinnen (a absolute great imho) and would probably also been in the hands of 'Der Schumi'. How would a Schumacher-Hakkinen pairing have looked like? Or Hakkinen to Williams? Ferrari alongside Senna?
Or, even better, the absolute créme de la créme: Senna AND Schumacher in the Ferrari.

There are some downsides too though; the head protection would have not been installed in 1996; which would have guaranteed Jos Verstappen's death in his infamous Spa Francorchamps 1996 massive crash, that was actually somewhat reminiscent of Senna's accident. Had the headrests not been there, it would have caused mortal damage to Jos (i remember clearly those investigations and reports back then) and that means we would never have Max as the absolute talent of today, as he atleast would have missed his father's unmissable guidance to get to where he is now.

Senna probably would have ended his F1 career at certain point though, and perhaps would have gone to Indy at a certain moment. I think Senna atleast would have driven untill 1998 or 1999 even.

How different would it have been, but fate had it go differently.

[Jolle]

Probally the same message he had i n 1993: "I'm off to Williams (or Mercedes in this case)"

[gdogg371]

From mid 1994 to the end of 1997 the Williams was the best car on the grid, but it was driven by the likes of Coulthard, Hill, Frentzen and Villeneuve who all owed their seat to Senna's death in varying degrees.

If he'd stayed till Newey left he would in my view have finished his career as a seven time champion, by which time he would have been 38 years old. He died at the absolute peak of his powers too, so it is possible he could have maintained a sufficient level to see of Schumacher for four years.

The big question marks are:

1) Would Senna have progressively built up the same intense rivalry with Schumacher that Hill did and used that as the fire he needed to stay motivated and keep giving his all.

2) Would the Benneton contingent all still have gone to Ferrari.

3) It is a lot less likely Benneton would have been in a position to bully engines from Renault with Senna still around and Williams still that dominant team as a result. That acorn was the basis from which the return of Renault as a constructor happened. Would Renault have still bought Benetton in that case or maybe started from scratch. What if they had bought Tyrrell instead? No Brawn GP, no Mercedes...