“That was special,” said a crying Ollie Bearman after taking Ayrton Senna’s 1985 Lotus around the Silverstone circuit. Bearman was choking up, unable to say anything as Karun Chandhok asked him a question. 

Bearman just nodded and continued to weep even as he took off his helmet. He walked straight over to Chris Dinnage, Senna’s number 1 mechanic, thanked him and said sorry for doing another lap. 

Dinnage consoled him and said that Bearman wasn’t the first driver to get into a historic car and have such an emotional reaction after driving it. 

Ollie Bearman finished the British Grand Prix in 12th in his Ferrari-powered Haas, and the following day he was back with Sky Sports F1 to take Senna’s iconic 1985 Lotus in which the legend got his first-ever F1 win.

Bearman looked like a ‘kid in a candy shop’ as Chandhok, the Sky broadcaster, said when the Haas driver took the Lotus out of the pits. Before he got into the car, Bearman exchanged notes with Chandhok about how different the car was. 

It was the first time the 21-year-old Brit was driving a single-seater with a stick shift. Once he got back into the pit, having driven the same car as Senna, he hugged his father and cried. Getting out of the car, he said, “I didn’t want to stop.”

Chandhok and Bearman sat and discussed the car a bit more while sitting on each of its front wheels. Bearman was still filled with emotions, and he said that he got a reminder of why he loves racing. He said to Chandhok on Sky F1:

“Sometimes you have these days in racing where it reminds you of why you fell in love with the sport. Of course, I was never around to watch Ayrton and his victories. When I was growing up, he was like the king of F1. Being able to drive his car and having that opportunity was a very special moment for me. I feel incredibly grateful.”

Bearman felt the magic of the turbo-charged V6 engine, but the story of the win was even more magical. 

Senna’s first victory: A sign of dominance to come

Racing against drivers like Niki Lauda, Keke Rosberg, and Nelson Piquet, who had already won drivers' titles, as well as Alain Prost, who won the title in 1985, Ayrton Senna entered the Portuguese Grand Prix in Estoril without any wins. 

It was his first season with Lotus, having debuted with Toleman a year earlier. The Lotus that year was a beast. With the turbocharged V6 Renault engine under it, Senna had never driven it in the rain. 

Starting on pole, Senna got off to a flying start and within a few laps, he was clear of anyone behind him. The rain got heavier, and Senna’s lead got bigger. At one point, he even waved his hands to ask for the race to be stopped because the Estoril track was getting undrivable. 

A total of 16 cars DNFed that day. Multiple spins, cars in the gravel trap, and every champion mentioned before are out of the race. Senna held his nerve. Just 25, leading his first Grand Prix and not slowing down because every time he caught a backmarker, the spray made visibility difficult. 

Senna won that day by over 62 seconds, as F1’s official classifications show. The only car he didn’t lap was Ferrari’s Michele Alboreto, who finished in second. 

As Senna swooped through the wet track at a pace that looked unreal, it felt like an announcement for the Formula 1 World: Senna had arrived. 

Although it was his only win that season, Senna in the black John Player’s Special livery Lotus zooming through the turns at Estoril remains one of the most iconic images in F1 to date. 

Which Senna win is your favourite? Let us know. 

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Written by

Debrup Chaudhuri

Edited by

Suyashdeep Sason