{"id":275824,"date":"2025-04-07T04:28:23","date_gmt":"2025-04-07T04:28:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/07\/is-max-verstappens-brazilian-gp-win-better-than-ayrton-sennas-masterclass-at-donington-and-estoril\/"},"modified":"2025-04-07T04:28:23","modified_gmt":"2025-04-07T04:28:23","slug":"is-max-verstappens-brazilian-gp-win-better-than-ayrton-sennas-masterclass-at-donington-and-estoril","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/07\/is-max-verstappens-brazilian-gp-win-better-than-ayrton-sennas-masterclass-at-donington-and-estoril\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Max Verstappen\u2019s Brazilian GP win better than Ayrton Senna\u2019s masterclass at Donington and Estoril?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Red Bull\u2019s Team Principal Christian Horner compared Max Verstappen\u2019s win from 17th place<\/a> in the rain at the Brazilian Grand Prix on Sunday to the late Ayrton Senna\u2019s drive in treacherous wet conditions at Donington back in 1993, considered one of the greatest performances on a Formula One track.<\/p>\n

Verstappen\u2019s win at the Interlagos circuit even as his championship rival McLaren\u2019s Lando Norris finished in sixth place after starting on pole gave Verstappen a 62-point lead, up from 44 before the British Grand Prix with three races to go.<\/p>\n

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\u201cToday was an emotional rollercoaster,\u201d Horner said. \u201cMax\u2019s mental strength and attitude to deal with that is outstanding and his start was electric. That first lap was up there with Donington 93. I think he (Verstappen) passed six cars on the first lap,\u201d Horner said.<\/p>\n

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What happened in Donington 1993<\/h2>\n

Senna was fifth at the exit of Turn 1 at the rain-hit Grand Prix in Donington but went past four cars before the first lap was completed to go on and win the race. <\/p>\n

The great Brazilian started fourth on the grid and then passed Michael Schumacher\u2019s Benetton as he exited the first turn and then overtook Sauber\u2019s Karl Wendlinger before zipping past Damon Hill in a Williams. Only Alain Prost, his great rival, was ahead of him and Senna amazingly went past him before the end of the first lap to ultimately win by 83 seconds. The first lap by Senna in a McLaren is often described as the \u2018lap of the gods.\u2019<\/p>\n

Horner rated Senna\u2019s Donington performance highly but Senna himself rated his performance at Estoril in the Portuguese Grand Prix in 1985 as his best. This was the year Senna joined Team Lotus and was already making a mark.<\/p>\n

This was Senna\u2019s first ever pole position and though he was in the lead from start to finish to win there are a number of reasons this drive in Estoril after the heavens opened is rated even higher than Donington.<\/p>\n

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Lotus had seen glory days but they had won just one race in the past six years.<\/p>\n

In 10 laps, Senna had already taken a 13-second lead over his teammate Elio de Angelis and the gap grew to over 30 seconds over the next 10 laps.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople later said that my win in the wet at Donington in \u201993 was my greatest performance. \u2018No way\u2019. I had traction control OK, I didn\u2019t make any real mistakes, but the car was so much easier to drive. It was a good win, sure, but compared with Estoril \u201985 it was nothing, really,\u201d is how Senna put it. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n