SUPER GENIUS ​

 

Jim Clark and Ayrton Senna were geniuses in their respective eras. Along with Fangio, the two of them were the drivers with the most amazing performances in the history of F1. They competed for several titles with an inferior car and won races with a damaged car, something rare in the history of this sport, which is why they are on a unique level of great geniuses in F1.

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Both were born in the same month, Clark was born on March 4, 1936 and Senna was born on March 21, 1960.​

 

In the QUALIFYINGS both were absurdly fast. In the percentage of success compared to his teammates in training, Senna has 89% against Clark's 83%, and in pole positions per race disputed, Senna has 40% against Clark's 46%, very similar percentages.

 

Under NORMAL RACING CONDITIONS, which are those not arising from retirements or car problems or pit orders or delayed pit stops, Clark was only beaten 3 times (once by John Surtees in 60 and twice by Innes Ireland in 60/61 ) while Senna was beaten just 5 times (all by Alain Prost in 88).

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Experts who have seen the two race (Peter Warr (*), Jo Ramirez, Stirling Moss, Christopher Hilton, Alex Hawkridge, Gerard Crombac, Francisco Santos, etc) see many similarities in their talent. Both drove with a high standard of genius, capable of going fast in any circumstances: training, racing, dry, rain, street track or fast track, other than that, both Senna and Clark had many more poles than victories (Senna 65 x 41 , Clark 33 x 25), another coincidence between them.

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(*) Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ineo4m2AvT8&t=774s

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But the similarities don't stop there, they even go to the facts that happened in the career of each of them.

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GENIUS

 

Before arriving in F1, Jim Clark had 23 victories in 53 sports car races in 1959 (Lister, Jaguar and Lotus Elite), was English F3 Champion (Junior) 1960 and in 1964, already racing in F1, he was BTCC-Championship Tourism English with Lotus Curtain. In 1965 Jim Clark was even better, he won everything he competed in: F1 Championship, Indy 500, 200 Miles of Riverside, Race of Champions, Tasmanian Cup and French F2.

 

Before reaching F1, Senna won the F Ford 1600 titles in 1981, F Ford 2000 titles in 1982 and British F3 titles in 1983, winning 47 wins in 68 races (70% wins per race) in 3 years. In his first contact with F1 he beat the times of the teams' official drivers (with the exception of Piquet on the Brabham test), the first time he raced in Monaco in the rain he almost won the race , the first time he raced in a Touring car with a Mercedes 190E, he defeated all the medallions in F1 and in the 1st test in the F Cart in December 1992, he went faster than the main driver (Emerson Fittipaldi).

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FIRST POINTS, PODUIM AND VICTORY IN F1

 

Jim Clark and Ayrton Senna scored their first points in their 2nd races in F1 (GP Belgium 1960 and GP South Africa 1984). They also scored points in their respective 3rd races (GP France 1960 and GP Belgium 1984) and their first podiums in their respective 5th races (GP Portugal 1960 and GP Monaco 1984).

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Senna won for the first time in his 16th race, while Clark won in his 17th race in F1, both for the legendary Lotus team.

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AWESOME FIRST TURN

 

At the 1962 German GP, ​​Jim Clark overtook 17 drivers on the 1st lap, a feat considered impressive even today, given that the Nurburgring was a "road track", difficult to pass because of the succession of curves and short straights.

 

In the 1993 European GP, ​​Senna passed 5 cars and opened 1s on the first lap in the rain, and then opened 4.2s on the second lap of the Williams. We should point out that Donington Park was a short track and the Williams in the dry was around 1s faster than the McLaren, that is, Senna managed to make up around 2s of difference to Williams' performance in a single lap, so it was a considerable feat impressive.

 

Many compare their two performances and consider them to be the greatest performances by a driver in a 1st lap of F1.

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WINNING RACES WITH A DAMAGED CAR ​

 

In the 1963 French GP, Jim Clark won with an engine limited to 9,500 RPM. In the 1963 Belgian GP, ​​the Scotsman won with a broken gearbox (a similar situation to Senna in the 1991 Brazilian GP). In the 1964 Belgian GP, ​​his car's radiator was "boiling", he stopped in the pits for 1 minute to add water, came back, recovered and won the race. At the 1967 US GP, Clark won with a broken rear suspension and at the Mexican GP he won without a clutch.

 

In the 1965 British GP Jim Clark won the race without oil pressure and to do so he turned off the engine in the curves and restarted it when entering the straights (Source Book the History of Jim Clark pg 114 and Revista Auto Esporte September 1965 pg 40 and 42) in a similar situation to Senna, who won the 1991 San Marino GP with the oil light indicating loss of pressure and had to change his driving to avoid breaking the engine. ​

 

Senna also won the 1989 Monaco GP, without 1st and 2nd gears (Source: Yearbook F1 1989 pg 27), he won the 1991 Brazil GP with only 6th gear in the last laps, on a track where using the lowest gears is essential to not let the engine die. In the 1991 Belgian GP he won again with a broken gearbox and in the 1992 Italian GP he won with a broken gearbox and exhaust.

 

 

Amazing situations that show the talent of these two track geniuses. ​

TITLE DISPUTE WITH LOWER CAR ​

 

Another feature between both is that they disputed titles with inferior car. ​

 

Clark competed for the title until the last race of the year against Graham Hill at BRM in 1962 and 1964, and against John Surtees at Ferrari in 1964. In those years Lotus had a good car, but it had reliability problems and Jim Clark abandoned many races. Due to bad luck, the Scot broke down in the last laps of the last races of those seasons (South Africa 1962 and Mexico 1964) when he was leading and had the titles in his hands. ​

 

Senna led the 1986, 1987 and 1993 championships, competing for the title until the final part of the championship, even though he did not reach the last race of the year with a chance of being champion. In these seasons, Senna was aboard the Lotus 86/87 and the McLaren 93, which were the 3rd forces of those seasons, but Senna still managed to win 9 races in those 3 years, a fantastic feat, given the high competitiveness of that time.

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OPPONENTS ​

 

They didn't have it easy, as they raced against drivers more experienced than them and considered above average, such as Graham Hill, Jack Brabham, John Surtees, Denny Hulme, Jackie Stewart and Dan Gurney (Clark's opponents), and Niki Lauda, ​​Nelson Piquet, Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell, Keke Rosberg and Michael Schumacher (Senna's opponents).

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Of those mentioned, only Stewart and Hulme were less experienced than Clark, and Schumacher was less experienced than Senna.

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TEAMMATES

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Another coincidence is that both Clark and Senna had teammates who were champions (or would be champions) of F1 within their teams and both also had teammates who were average to below. ​

 

Clark had teammate Graham Hill at Lotus in 1967 and 1968, who had already been champion in 1962, and before that he had John Surtees at Lotus in 1960, who would be world champion in 1964. But the Scott had: Trevor Taylor and Peter Arundell, who were well below the average F1 driver. ​

 

Senna had the brilliant Alain Prost at McLaren in 1988 and 1989, and had for just 6 races Mika Hakkinen and Damon Hill who would be world champions in 1996, 1998 and 1999. And the Brazilian had weak teammates like Johnny Dumfries and Satoru Nakajima.

LOSS OF TITLE DUE TO BREAKS ​

 

Jim Clark lost 2 titles because of breakdowns in 1962 and 1964 (as mentioned above): in the 1962 South African GP, ​​Clark ran out of oil in his engine with 21 laps to go and in the 1964 Mexico GP his engine ran out of oil on the last lap of the last race of the year, in both cases he was already close to being champion.

 

Senna lost the 1985 and 1989 titles because of the crashes. In 1985 he was the driver who led the most races (270 laps and 9 races), but he had 6 breakdowns and two crashes (5 of them when he was leading) and lost around 45 points. In 1989 he was also the driver who led the most races, but he had 4 breakdowns (3 of them when he was leading) and lost around 33 points. We must remember that the McLaren team cleared him of all the breakdowns: Canada 1989: water in the engine air intake, USA 1989: electrical problem, France 1989: gearbox, Italy 1989: engine oil leak (Source: Yearbook F1 1989 pg 27/28).

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DEATHS AT THE HEIGHT, WITH COMPANION HILL, DUE TO MECHANICAL FAILURE AND SKULL FRACTURE

 

Jim Clark and Ayrton Senna were in their prime when they died and had teammates with the same surname (Graham Hill and Damon Hill). Without a doubt, they would take more pole positions, win more races, more F1 titles and be more easily recognized as F1 SUPER GENIUS on the same level as Fangio.

 

Clark died in an F2 race at Hockenheim 1968, in a crash against one of the trees on one of the curves, where Graham Hill said it was due to a failure in the car's Steering System. (See Reproduction below from Jornal O Globo 08/04/1968) But other sources point to a loss of pressure in one of the tires. (Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wr2oKvmo4nM&t=200s)​

 

Ayrton Senna died in San Marino in 1994, although Williams denies it, everything indicates that it was a mechanical failure, caused by a broken steering column (SEE TAB ABOUT SENNA'S DEATH IN 1994). ​

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Another coincidence this time with Fangio is that the Argentine had the same problem with a crack in the steering bar in the 1956 Italian GP, ​​he could have suffered an accident and died, but he managed to make it to the box.

 

Both died from skull fractures.