Yahoo Autos Rain Can't Stop Lewis Hamilton From Driving Senna's 1990 Championship Winning McLaren at Interlagos
To honor Ayrton Senna's 40-year legacy in the sport, Honda and McLaren partnered to bring the 1990 championship-winning McLaren MP4-5B to his home country of Brazil on Sunday. A few weeks earlier, it was announced that Lewis Hamilton, who touts the Brazillian F1 legend as his hero, would have a chance to run the historic race car.
Senna was known as one of the best racing drivers in the rain, winning in 10 of the 18 rain races he competed in; Senna is the only driver in F1 history to have above a 50% win margin in rain races. They also make up nearly a fourth of his overall 41 victories.
The McLaren MP4-5B marks an era of extreme success for McLaren and Honda as in their four-year partnership from 1988-1992, the MP4-5B secured 44 of 80 possible victories and helped Senna win three championships in 1988, 1990, and 1991.
Hamilton, who brought McLaren their most recent world championship in 2008, took to the track after Sunday's early qualifying to the roar of the crowd and the Brazillian National Anthem. Before he pulled off the track, he grabbed a Brazilian flag from a race marshal imitating Senna, who had done the same after his 1991 victory on the track.
Originally, the Senna laps were supposed to be a surprise, with the Brazillian fans finding out only when they saw a white suit and a yellow helmet turning laps around Interlagos Saturday evening. Instead, it got out early. Hamilton, mostly for his own enjoyment, did surprise race officials when he stayed out to take more laps, taking in as much of experience as possible.
Notably, Hamilton secured his 2008 first WDC in the Brazilian Grand Prix, in a moment forever tying him to his childhood hero.
"It's very, very emotional," Hamilton said to F1TV. "I was just revisiting my childhood as I was watching him race here as a kid. Hearing that sound... watching him drive here, winning that race, I just couldn't believe that I just had that chance to do that, and it was really the greatest honor of my career."
Hamilton never expected to be able to have this honor, even though he considers every time he races in Brazil to be a way to honor Senna.
"I never in a million years thought I would get to driver Senna's car here," Hamilton told Sky Sports.
This was the second time that Hamilton had been honored with the chance to run laps in Senna's car; the first time was back during his time with McLaren around both the team and driver's home track of Silverstone.
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