Ayrton Senna's Lotus years, by Ibrar Malik

As we mark the upcoming 26th anniversary of Ayrton Senna's passing, most will undoubtedly dwell upon the more celebrated cornerstones of his extraordinary career. His obliteration of the opposition during qualifying at Monaco '88, or the race at Donington Park '93. His compelling personality which shone through during interviews. Or what might have been with Williams had he not tragically met his untimely death at the '94 San Marino Grand Prix. This blog aims to be slightly different, by briefly looking at Senna's formative years at Lotus.

Coming into 1985, the Norfolk-based team had not won a race since the sudden death of its charismatic founder, Colin Chapman, in December 1982. Lotus had endured a turbulent '83 season. But it bounced back superbly to become a regular frontrunner again during '84, enjoying its most successful season since 1978. The newly-released book, Team Lotus: Beyond the Colin Chapman Era, details precisely how the team achieved this. But by the end of '84, it seemed a key ingredient to elevate Lotus back to the winner's circle was missing. Enter, Ayrton Senna – Lotus's new signing for 1985. 

Senna was widely touted as a future world champion following his stellar performances within the unfancied Toleman during 1984

Lehto at Benetton, by Ibrar Malik

1994 was supposed to be the year JJ Lehto became one of F1's top drivers, but the season ended his Grand Prix career. How did such a golden opportunity turn into a poisoned chalice?

Coming into that year Lehto was considered a rising star having tested for Ferrari and secured an incredible third at Imola 1991 driving for unfancied Scuderia Italia. 

After beating former race winner Michele Alboreto to the second Benetton seat for 1994, Lehto would have been forgiven for thinking regular podium visits were just around the corner. This was the Finn's first top F1 drive after five years within F1 and the new Benetton proved extremely quick in Michael Schumacher's hands. But that was as good as things got for JJ because on the 21st January 1994 he was lucky to survive a massive neck-breaking accident while testing the B194 at Silverstone. This month, therefore, marks the 25th anniversary of that. Few realised Lehto's girlfriend had just become pregnant only days before that accident. So you can imagine thoughts of not wanting his unborn child to grow up without him might have been circulating within Lehto's head as he laid in the hospital recovering.

Retro F1: Gilles Villeneuve tribute - the 1981 Monaco Grand Prix

Hey y’all. The latest Retro F1 took place today. And given that this week marks the 30th anniversary of the passing of the legend that is Gilles Villeneuve, I decided this one should double as a tribute to the great man.

We therefore watched the 1981 Monaco Grand Prix, one of Villeneuve’s best ever drives, using the YouTube link below. The only drawback was that the commentary is in German, but we managed to work around that.



Retro F1 is when we watch a classic F1 race in full online, and chat about it on Twitter as we go, using the #RetroF1 hashtag. All are welcome!

Highlights of the Twitter chat are below.

Welcome all to the latest Retro F1, which is a Gilles Villeneuve tribute special, watching the 1981 Monaco GP. Here’s the link to the Monaco GP '81 race footage, I’m clicking play now :)

@CamillaKristel Should be interesting.
@kanemelegatti Ready guys?
@mario_eb Fuel in for Retro F1 :)
Hi Mario. Glad you could join us. Should be a good one :)
@mario_eb Hi Graham. Surely it'll be fun. Although my server's a little slow now I'll be following Retro F1 maybe I'll need my KERS ;)
Or your DRS.

@mario_eb Haha :D Ok, let me activate it :D

Retro F1: the 1985 San Marino Grand Prix

The latest Retro F1 was held yesterday, watching the 1985 San Marino Grand Prix at Imola in Italy.

For those who don't know, Retro F1 is watching a classic F1 race in full on YouTube and chatting on Twitter with like-minded F1 people as we go. This race was memorable and controversial, featured Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost, as well as other great drivers, and was run in the classic turbocharged machines of the mid-1980s.

The YouTube footage that we watched is below (or you can click here) as are the highlights of our Twitter chat.



Right, ready, let’s do this. I’m clicking play now. Everyone else please do the same.

@mario_eb Of course. I couldn't miss this one :) All systems checked over here :) -O=O'
@DavidHer228 And here we go, 1985 Imola GP live Twitter commentary :)
...with the legendary Murray Walker and James Hunt :)
@kanemelegatti Here we go!
@djtrickster77 Never seen this one before so looking forward to it...
@mario_eb You'll have fun :)

Hordes of tifosi at Imola as you’d expect. After a difficult 1984 Ferrari was showing signs of returning to form in this early part of 1985.

Some scene-setting: this is race three of 1985. McLaren had dominated 1984 (Niki Lauda pipping Alain Prost for the title, despite Prost usually being the quicker of the two) and were expected to dominate again. Prost indeed won round one in Rio, but in round two Senna announced himself properly with his debut win in the pouring rain in Estoril. And he’s on pole again here at Imola...

@djtrickster77 Ayrton Senna on pole with the JPS lotus...Legendary.
@DavidHer228 Senna on pole position more than one second ahead...
@mario_eb Those names, those cars, Turbo Era, those races. GREAT!!!

@SartoMutiny Where is Gerhard! I MUST KNOW.
Gerhard (Berger) qualified 10th :)

Off we go... Senna leads team mate Elio de Angelis, with Michele Alboreto's Ferrari 3rd. The roar of the tifosi can be heard above the engines.
@ElenaF1 Clean start and Senna running away!

The next Retro F1: 1985 San Marino Grand Prix, this Sunday at 1500 GMT

Retro F1 number five is on its way this weekend. It'll take place this Sunday, 19 February at 1500 (3pm) GMT and we'll be watching the 1985 San Marino Grand Prix at Imola.

Retro F1 is where we watch a classic F1 race in full on YouTube, and post updates and chat about it on Twitter as live. The race we'll be watching this Sunday is memorable and controversial, it's around an excellent circuit and stars the likes of Ayrton Senna and Alan Prost in the turbocharged F1 monsters of the 1980s. So it will be a good watch!

It will be great if you can watch along with us and have some Twitter chat as we go. The ones we've done so far have been really enjoyable with lots of welcome insight and contributions on Twitter from a wide range of people watching along.

You can follow, and contribute to, the chat with the #retrof1 hashtag here, and the link I'll be using to watch the race is here.

Michele Alboreto in the Ferrari 156/85
Credit: Lothar Spurzem / CC

I also put a write up of the Twitter chat on my blog after the event. Those for the previous Retro F1 events can be read here (if you scroll down).

If you're anything like me, watching old F1 races is a real treat, and it'll be good to hear your thoughts through the race. I'll be delighted if you can join in.

You can work out how to convert 1500 GMT to your local time using this website.

Keke Rosberg in the Williams FW10
Credit: Lothar Spurzem / CC

Please let me know any questions or comments you have via the comments below or on Twitter. I'm also happy to hear requests for future Retro F1 races to watch (the selection of this race to watch is as a result of a request!), though bear in mind it needs to exist in full (and for free) on the internet.

See you Sunday, hopefully.