From dating models to claiming walls 'move', a look at F1 legend Ayrton Senna's controversial life on his 25th death anniversary

From dating models to claiming walls 'move', a look at F1 legend Ayrton Senna's controversial life on his 25th death anniversary
F1 legend Ayrton Senna (Source : Getty Images)

Late F1 legend Ayrton Senna was well known not just for his extraordinary talent but also his very single-minded personality. He was an extremely confident racer who believed so much in his ability that any crash or failure was attributed to external factors including "moving walls". 

He was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, to a wealthy family who supported his dreams and aspiration to race and he started to drive karts from an early age. His earliest recorded race was when he was just four years old. By the age of 17, he had won the South American Kart Championship.

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Senna had started his career with Toleman in 1984. His race engineer Pat Symonds remembers a very remarkable story from the US Grand Prix in Dallas in 1984 which describes Senna's personality both on and off the track. In 2014, Symonds shared with grandprix.com, "We were looking for a pretty good finish but then Ayrton hit the wall, damaged the rear wheel and the driveshaft and retired, which was a real shame."