WARWICK: EVERYONE WAS EXCITED ABOUT AYRTON’S VICTORY
The Portuguese Grand Prix in
1985 has passed into motorsport folklore. Ayrton Senna’s dominance was complete, and it was the first of two wins in the wet during a season where the Brazilian finished fourth in the points with six podiums in the Lotus.
Only one other car – the Ferrari of Michele Alboreto – finished on the same lap as the winning Lotus in Estoril and only nine of the 26 starters made it to the chequered flag. Briton Derek Warwick had lined up in sixth spot on the grid and was another to master the conditions, bringing his factory Renault home in seventh place after a pitstop following a midrace brush with the barriers.
Warwick had a unique insight into the Lotus that Senna was driving. He had tested for the Norfolk team with the distinct possibility of a race seat in 1986
– a move that was later scuppered by Senna himself. But Lotus was also using the turbocharged Renault powerplant.
Warwick remembers: “The Renault was a great engine. It was very pliable, which was great for wet weather, but my car didn’t have a lot of downforce. In that year, I also drove the
Lotus at Brands Hatch at a test. It was away ahead of us in terms of downforce.”
That might have put the mockers on Warwick’s hopes.
But just getting to the end was a success despite the unplanned pit halt.
“There was an extraordinary amount of spray,” recalls Warwick. “It was as much as you could do to keep the car in a straight line.
The race, the conditions were as bad as I have ever driven in. That was what made the legend of Ayrton greater, and that is because his first win was in the conditions he excelled at. There was a lot of people that were excited by his first win.
“It was a victory just keeping going and getting to the end. There was a lot of jubilation in the pitroad because of the new King of Formula 1 called Senna. You have to remember, I was excited because I thought I was joining him for the 1986 season. It was good for me to see that car competitive. I was going to be Ayrton’s team-mate for 1986.”
The myth of Senna was made that day in Portugal, and it showed all the hallmarks of a truly great driver. Mastering a slippery surface is always the calling card of a truly great competitor.
“A lot of natural talent comes out in the wet, because it didn’t rely so much on downforce, or on engines, so you could make up for a deficiency in the car,” says Warwick. “That’s probably why I was able to shine in the wet: because I didn’t have the best cars.
“It is the way you drive and the car and way you feel the car. You knew where to get on the power, where to stop, etc. With the natural drivers like Senna, there is an unbelievable feeling for the grip. It is about bravery too. You have to be brave in the wet and you can’t really see anything. You have got to have so much selfconfidence above anything and everything else. It is instinctive.”