What Was Senna’s Bizarre F1 Technique About?

What's your take on this technique?

Senna was a keyboard user at heart)

So basically the man had anti lag, abs and traction control all in his right foot.

A constant battle for grip, always at the limit. Forever remembered as the number one. The most spectacular racing driver ever.

This sounds almost like ABS in reverse. Rather than rapidly tapping the brakes to decrease stopping distance, he was tapping to get constant feedback from the car/tires and be on the very knife edge of traction at all times. This is why he was such a wizard in the wet, he was able to find the absolute limit of traction and keep the car right at that limit longer than most if not any driver ever.

That reminds of a Nigel Roebuck quote: "If you see Prost driving a Formula 1 car, you'd think you could do it yourself. If you see Senna driving the same car, you'd abosolutely knew you couldn't".

“The normal technique on corner entry is to keep as smooth as possible,” explains Takeo Kiuchi, Senna ‘s Honda race engineer of 1990-92. “But Ayrton would use the throttle to put more torque through the tyre and change the yaw, a little bit each time. This way he could get a better trajectory before the apex without as much steering. When we did our simulations, usually the actual time a driver set was slightly slower than the simulation; with Ayrton, he was nearly always slightly quicker. That was because we couldn’t model what he was doing with the throttle and how it affected the car.” -motorsport mag 2004

Senna's car dancing in the rain is something out of this world.

As someone who done a similar technique my entire racing career, it's because the blips are short enough, that it enables you to feel out the limit of traction. For me this started as a karting technique for finding grip on slick racing surfaces, in the wet, and works just as well in the dry. It's not really something I have ever thought about until now, but if you do lose traction, because of the pedaling, you don't generally lose it for long, and it generally doesn't wildly affect the car other than to give you more rotation. The less responsive the motor, the longer the chops can be. Because if you look at the comparison of his data vs the test drivers, you can just see how much sooner he is able to find where the limit of grip is and is able to use the throttle. Just my two cents as someone who just naturally started doing this.

Senna traction control system. Pushing his car to the limit.

Inventor : Let me introduce you to traction control Senna : Here's my foot

Jonathan Palmer - when he said ‘I raced against Ayrton for 6 years’ He meant ‘I followed in dust for 6 years’

Died before i was born and still makes me proud of my country. What a legend :'^)

In summary, Senna was faster than the car itself.

He's controlling rotation with throttle and brake, he's almost creating his own stability and traction control.

Senna and Jim Clark where just grandmaster in F1. No one could touch them. Taken from us too soon Rest In Peace you master 🙏🏽

I just came here to express my deep love and respect to Ayrton Senna. He was one of the truly illuminated ppl in this world. He will be forever missed.

Hello Driver61, here's what Honda's Takeo Kiuchi said about the Senna throttle blipping technique: "He had a way of jabbing the throttle that people thought was all about keeping up the boost pressure of the turbo engines. Maybe it started that way but he was still using it even with the normally aspirated engines..He would use the throttle to put more torque through the tyre and change the yaw, a little it each time before the tyre stalled and slid. This way he could get a better trajectory before the apex without as much steering. He was the only driver I ever saw doing this."

The iconic loafers and white socks - the secret to Senna's speed!

Absolutely amazing. I have always been fascinated with Senna’s driving. His technique is different, and unorthodox. But, man did he make it work! When you watch him in qualifying mode, it’s like he was truly a part of the car and a man almost possessed. He could have easily won two or three more championships. For me, F1 has never been the same after we lost him. I still miss him😢