By now we really know everything about Ayrton Senna but we never completely talked about his love life and his relationship with the fairer sex. This aspect of Ayrton helps us to better understand his approach to his life as a driver and gives us a Senna perhaps different from the one we all know.
Ayrton Senna with a grid girl.
Ayrton Senna, Lotus, with Monique Evans.
Ayrton Senna with the JPS girls.
Ayrton Senna and a grid girl.
Ayrton Senna, Mclaren MP4-4, Portuguese Grand Prix, Rd 13, Estoril, Portugal, 25 September 1988.
Ayrton Senna and two Marlboro girls at the 1989 Brazilian Grand Prix.
Ayrton Senna with Lauren Hutton at Milan, Italy, in 1991.
Slavica Ecclestone and Ayrton Senna at Gstaad, Switzerland, in 1992.
Ayrton Senna with Marjorie Andrade.
Ayrton Senna with Marjorie Andrade.
The actress Marjorie Andrade, Senna’s former fiancée, in Cannes, France, in 1994. Photo by Micheline Pelletier / Sygma via Getty Images.
The love life of the Formula 1 champion, from his (only) wife Lilian De Vasconcelos to his numerous flirtations with models, actresses and television presenters.
Shapely support for Ayrton Senna at the Adelaide Grand Prix, on November 15, 1987. Photo by Brendan Read / Fairfax Media via Getty Images.
The yielding steering column, the start of the track on the seventh lap of the San Marino Grand Prix at full speed, the terrible crash against the fence at the Tamburello curve of the Imola circuit, and then that unnatural silence: on 1 May 1994 the world mourned the death of Ayron Senna. In front of the television there were also two women, whose lives were unknowingly linked by a red thread: one was Adriane Galisteu, at that time the official girlfriend of the Formula 1 champion (10 years older than her). The other was Carol Alt, who had a secret relationship with the pilot (it would only emerge some time later).
Ayrton Senna appears in a celebrity magazine in Brazil in 1984, with some very 1980s looking women.
“Women, always in trouble with them but can’t live without them.” Ayrton Senna
Ayrton Senna with the John Player Special promotional team.
Ayrton Senna with the John Player Special promotional team. Photo by Ercole Colombo.
“Ayrton Senna was movie star handsome. His eyes slanted like a big cat about to spring. Two of his front teeth were slightly crooked which added to his charm. His lips were full and perfectly shaped. (No collagen here). And his nose was pointed aristocratically so that in profile he looked distinguished. One heard Bossa Nova rhythm when looking into his face. He was Brazilian. The heart and soul of Brazil. Born in Sao Paulo. Ayrton Senna was a sex symbol. Despite Senna’s smoldering good looks, there is little footage on him with his girlfriends. I was curious as the sexuality of Formula one race car drivers is fascinating and incendiary. Their sparks ignite interest in their personal life, but this film keeps a lid on that part of Senna. I wanted to hear from his women. Footage indicates that he lived the life somewhat of a playboy in that we see him sailing and riding a motorcycle with a beautiful blonde and on a bizarre Brazilian Christmas show clowning around with one of his girlfriends, Xuxa.” From “Ayrton Senna was a real sex symbol”, by Carole Mallory, August 21, 2011.
A group of young women hold signs indicating the names and numbers of drivers during the San Marino F1 Grand Prix on the Imola Circuit, Imola, Italy, 30th April 1994. Austrian driver Roland Ratzenberger died on April 30th during a qualifying round and Brazilian driver Ayrton Senna died on May 1st during the race. Photo by Dario Mitidieri / Getty Images.
Senna won 41 races and secured 65 poles during a career which promised so much more.
Ayrton Senna's affective life, aside from the constant figures of his mother Neyde and sister Viviane, had "officially" 5 women. At the same time, there are two more female friends in his life. His only wife was Liliane Vasconcellos Souza. Then the protégé Adriane Yamin. The best-known relationships, Xuxa and Adriane Galisteu, sold hundreds of magazine and newspaper pages. Among them there was Cristine Ferracciu, who was the support and rebalance in the aftermath of the madness of the relationship with Xuxa. But, in between, there are two more women who turned Ayrton's head around: American Carol Ann Alt and Portuguese Vera Peres.
Adelaide, Australia, 01 - 03 November 1991. Ayrton Senna, McLaren MP46 Honda, 1st position with Elle MacPherson in the paddock. Portrait World Copyright LAT Photographic.
Senna variously dated models and TV stars, including Elle Macpherson (here in the photo), but never remarried.
Liliane Vasconcellos Souza, then a 19-year-old childhood friend and teenage girlfriend in Jardim Tremembé in São Paulo, was his only wife.
Lilian and Ayrton.
They lived together at the time when Senna was in England in Formula Ford. But the union only lasted 8 months.
Ayrton proposed to Lilian right after they went to bed for the first time, at the Chalé Motel. Senna told her: “if I go to Europe to race, when I come back you will already be married. So you better marry me now!”
Ayrton Senna at the day of his marriage with his wife Lilian de Vasconcellos.
Ayrton Senna at the day of his marriage with his wife Lilian de Vasconcellos.
In 2 months they got married and the trip to Europe followed. Senna didn't want to get married in church. Not even Viviane, his sister, could convince him. It was a civil marriage. But Ayrton allowed the ceremony to have a blessing given by a priest. The wedding night was classic with Senna carrying Lilian in his arms to the Maksoud Plaza Hotel suite. And the next 10 days were on a honeymoon in Chicago.
Ayrton's companion in the F-Ford 1600 in 1981, Alfonso Toledano says that the Brazilian was stubborn, talented, but he didn't think he would make it to F1.
Ayrton Senna knew Lilian de Vasconcelos Souza since childhood.
Ayrton and Lilian.
Ayrton Senna with his wife Lilian Vasconcelos Souza.
Soon the things began to twist. After a season in British Formula Ford in 1981, the pair moved back to the UK to give their marriage a chance to survive, while Ayrton contemplated whether he should remain in motorsport or work for the family business. Upon arrival in England, Lillian felt out of place. And Senna was, it is said, very professional in his preparation rituals, even sleeping in a separate bed on the eve of the race to avoid temptations. On the track, things worked out. He won 22 out of 28 races. But, outside of it, the relationship wasn't going so well with Liliane finding that life in England as the wife of an aspiring Formula 1 driver wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.
'I was his second passion. His first passion was racing. There was nothing more important in the world for him, not family, not his wife, nothing', she later said.
Ayrton Senna with his family.
Liliane revealed that Ayrton's big problem was what gave him the advantage on the track, but make him being errant off it. The Senna family did not give "permission to make mistakes". Lilian said: “… he spent his life charging himself. We lost a lot and he lost even more, due to the excess of obligations. The success of his father Milton forced Ayrton to be an example too. A morally rigid family, with principles, respect for people and the commitments of all kinds marked him. But that took away a lot of naturalness …”
In the end, he did return to the UK in early 1982 and the marriage last a few months more before the pair quietly divorced.
Despite their marriage being so long ago, Liliane still has a strong relationship with the Senna family, although her role in Senna’s life is never mentioned in the SENNA documentary. She now works as a successful interior designer.
Ayrton Senna and Adriane Yamin.
After separating with Liliane, in 1984 Senna got involved with Adriane Yamin, 15 years old at the time and heiress of the company Duchas Corona. She had known Senna since her childhood in the Santana neighborhood.
Adriane Yamin and Ayrton Senna dated from 1984 to 1988.
He was with her until 1988. In Angra dos Reis he was invited aboard her father's yacht. The courtship was long but kept secret and always away from the Formula 1 paddock.
Adriane Yamin and Ayrton Senna.
Senna had a lot of respect for Adriane but he didn't want their relationship to distract him from the essentials.
Ayrton Senna and Adriane Yamin flying by helicopter to Monaco in July 1988.
For Ayrton Adriane would never adapt to his type of life, although she represented everything he wanted in a woman: Family structure and habits similar to his, which included virginity. Senna would only change his opinion in relation to this principle of virginity when, years later, he met Adriane Galisteu.
Ayrton and Adriane Yamin.
The story ended in 1988 at Christmas, after Senna was crowned in Paris as world champion at the FIA party. They fell out and Senna ended it all.
Ayrton Senna and his girlfriend Xuxa on May 07, 1989 in Monaco. Photo by Patrick Siccoli / Gamma - Rapho via Getty Images.
After the flirt with Adriane Yamin, Senna dated a few other women – although none was hugely serious – until he met Brazilian TV presenter, actress and singer Xuxa Meneghel. The pair dated on and off for five years between 1988 and 1992, although she rarely accompanied him to Grands Prix because of her TV schedule.
XuXa was the most mediatic case. Senna fell in love to the point where he looked like a kid who didn't care about anything else, even his career. It was just Xuxa he saw. It was the off-season, after winning the 1st title at Suzuka. The secret didn't last long and everything was noticed when Senna went to meet Xuxa at Globo TV.
Ayrton Senna and Galvão Bueno at Angra dos Reis.
Ayrton didn't stop at Angra dos Reis or São Paulo. Every minute he had, he would fly to Rio, to be with her. Ex-wife Lilian de Vasconcellos confessed after Senna's death: “he really liked Xuxa!” The couple was not seen in public, not even for dinner. All demure, on account of the public figures they were. But Ayrton spent a lot of time behind the scenes at Globo, accompanying her in her work. And, that summer, Ayrton took Xuxa to the kart track in Rio for her to drive a Kart. The relationship throughout the 89 season troubled the driver. For the first time a man in his love relationship was seen in the paddock. It was a relationship in permanent tension. Emotion on the surface. And the fact that Xuxa was a businesswoman didn't help at all. Senna was not happy. It was even said that the relationship was just a staging. The girlfriend didn't control her image, as the champion controlled his. Senna said that he liked to love women, not show them off to others. A matter of style. He suffered inside. Until the day he flew to New York to meet her. Upon arriving at the apartment, Xuxa did not open the door. And Senna turned back. A love-disaffection ended with Xuxa's decision, considering that her professional life was incompatible with Senna's.
Despite Xuxa having not been a part of Ayrton’s life for some time before his death, she was cast as the official widow at his funeral having been adored by the Senna family. In fact, at the Brazilian premiere of the SENNA documentary, she was snapped with Senna’s sister Viviane on the red carpet.
Carol Alt and Ayrton Senna in the days of their love story. From Luxgallery.
Regarding the American Carol Ann Alt, there aren't many stories to tell. It's just that Senna made little or nothing known. The two were the same age. The affair became public with a public article in Caras magazine in the summer of 1995, after Ayrton's death.
Ayrton Senna and Carol Alt during a dinner in 1990, they met at the Monza Grand Prix that same year.
It was a story without the limelight or spotlight, since they met in Milan at the 1990 Italian GP in Monza.
Ayrton Senna and Carol Alt during vacations in the French Alpes in 1990.
Ayrton Senna and Carol Alt at a private party in 1990.
Ayrton Senna and Carol Alt at a private party in 1990.
Carol was married, a marriage in crisis. One night she created the bond. They created a compromise that suited both of them, as long as they had mental availability and it will go by fast. They've seen each other half a dozen times. But good times.
Ayrton Senna and Carol Alt, during vacations in French Polynesia in 1991.
Ayrton Senna and Carol Alt, during vacations in French Polynesia in 1991.
Ayrton Senna and Carol Alt, during vacations in French Polynesia in 1991.
Like the trip to French Polynesia. Far from everything else. Just for each other and whose photographs were made public after the driver's death. The adventure that kept going up and down to make a fit between the end of the relationship with Xuxa and the beginning of that with Cristine.
Ayrton Senna and his friend Cristine Ferracciu during the FIA Prize Giving ceremony on December 06, 1991 in Paris, France. Photo by Arnal / Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images.
Ayrton Senna and his friend Cristine Ferracciu during the FIA Prize Giving ceremony on December 06, 1991 in Paris, France. Photo by Arnal / Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images.
At a casual intersection in a shopping mall in Rio, Ayrton Senna looked at Cristine Ferracciu and was fascinated. Cristine belonged to the Carioca elite, lived in a luxury condominium but Senna didn't know anything about her. He went straight and invited her to dinner. Cristine told him that she had a boyfriend, Senna replied with the classic: “I'm not jealous!” During the relationship with Xuxa, Senna called Cristine to cry and vent. He said he was sorry for making Adriane Yamin unhappy. And what Xuxa did to him, he had done to Adriane. At the end of 1989, after dating Xuxa, Senna met Cristine, who had divorced.
Ayrton Senna and Cristine Ferracciu.
They lived for two years, between January 1990 and December 1991, in Monaco. With visits to the Algarve, to the house that Cristine helped to decorate, in Quinta do Lago. In 1991, at the Japanese GP where he became three-time world champion, Senna said that Cristine was the balance he needed. But there was the other side. The problem for Cristine was the ruthless and jealous side of Ayrton that restricted her, even her contact with childhood friends. Suspicious. He wouldn't let her have life. Just for him. Cristine lost her mind when her mother found out she had cancer. In the Algarve she wanted to return to Rio. Ayrton didn't want her to go and was annoyed. She did go. And Senna didn't speak to her for several days. He never called, not even to see how Cristine's mother was doing. Anything. One day Cristine went to Angra to tell him that she loved him but that she didn't want him anymore. She didn't want to go out into the world like a gypsy. She wanted to have another life. She knew that, loving him, it would end badly. But Cristine loved Ayrton the man, not Senna the driver. Senna replied: “Cristine, I was born this way, I grew up this way, I'm going to die this way!”
In Sintra, at Quinta de Penalva, Senna was always parading several affairs. Meetings passing through the Serra de Sintra, nothing serious. Just fun. On the eve of the Japanese GP, in which he became champion for the 2nd time in 1990, Senna tried his luck with a Portuguese woman, Vera Peres. She had been part of the team that organized the GP at Estoril in 1986. And on that date she had declined an invitation to dinner. This time, he invited her to dinner with friends. A night that could have ended at Alcântara Mar. Refused entry at the door, imagine. They went to the Plateau! It was October 07, 1990. The relationship was discreet. She was Senna's Portuguese girlfriend for some time. Watching the sunrise at Guincho inside Ayrton's Honda to the sound of Phil Collins was a favorite program. Vera would tease him: “I love the Beco (the nickname by which his mother called him) you have inside you. Ayrton gets in the way of everything.” It lasted until July 1991. In 1993, Senna called Vera again. It was just one night. At the Quinta do Lago House. It was she who packed his suitcase and guided him to Faro airport. A kiss. Goodbye. Adriane Galisteu would follow.
Adriane Galisteu shared an old photo with the pilot, from the time when both were related to the inscription: “forever”.
Senna was very focused in F1. His lack of attachment to his girlfriends even helped Nelson Piquet, his arch-rival, create a rumor in order to emotionally distract his opponent. Piquet gave an interview stating that Senna did not like women. Senna was damaged in his dignity and almost got to the physical confrontation with Piquet, which just didn't happen because Ayrton could be excluded by aggression from the Brazilian GP. In return, in an interview with Playboy (mentioned in this article), he came back to the story suggesting he had an affair with Catherine Valentim, Piquet's then wife.
Ayrton Senna and Adriane Galisteu at the British Grand Prix in Silverstone, United Kingdom, on July 11, 1993. Photo by Jean-Marc Loubat / Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images.
Ayrton Senna and Adriane Galisteu at the Hungarian Grand Prix on 15 August 1993.
Ayrton Senna and Adriane Galisteu at the Master karting indoor in Bercy, Paris, France, on December 19, 1993. Photo by Jean-Marc Loubat / Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images.
Ayrton Senna and Adriane Galisteu at the Master karting indoor in Bercy, Paris, France, on December 19, 1993. Photo by Jean-Marc Loubat / Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images.
It was after this 1993 Brazilian GP that Senna made known his relationship with Adriane Galisteu, at the time working a PR role for McLaren sponsor Marlboro. He said of her that she was the ideal woman.
Ayrton Senna and Adriane Galisteu.
Ayrton Senna and Adriane Galisteu.
And, according to Viviane, it was the happiest phase from an affective point of view for his brother. Until dead.
Ayrton Senna and Adriane Galisteu.
Ayrton Senna and Adriane Galisteu.
Ayrton and Adriane at Angra dos Reis.
Adriane gave up recording an advertising spot to go to Angra at the invitation of Senna for a barbecue. And … the courtship began.
Ayrton and Adriane.
Friends say that Ayrton's relationship with Galisteu was his affective emancipation in relation to his family. He freed himself from what was good and what was bad. Senna grew up there. When Senna was down, she was there happy.
Ayrton and Adriane.
She was his happy side, Senna said. Adriane didn't complain about anything. She totally respected what Ayrton wanted and was at his disposal, faithful.
Adriane Galisteu.
Those who followed closely say that Senna behaved differently from the beginning. Because he felt good.
Ayrton and Adriane.
She was his Spa. She made him laugh, relax, let him loose. But the secret is over. The press took it. And one day, after a movie session, Adriane and Senna were photographed. Peace is over. Worse, Senna's family did not understand that choice. Ayrton had immense respect for his mother. And for the father. Cutting the family off for Galisteu wasn't going to happen. Adriane was an important ally in the work with Ayrton, Nuno Cobra later said. He was already a three-time champion, strong on the track. But his psychological condition still needed to be improved. He would have to be happy.
In April 1994, 48 hours after Senna's death in Imola, Revista Caras covered Senna and Adriane in Angra dos Reis. Happy and in love.
Ayrton Senna and Adriane Galisteu in the driver’s private plane at Tatui, Brazil, on February 15, 1994. Photo by Gianni Giansanti / Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images.
Ayrton Senna and Adriane Galisteu on vacation in Tatui, Brazil, on February 15, 1994. Photo by Gianni Giansanti / Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images.
Ayrton Senna and Adriane Galisteu on vacation in Tatui, Brazil, on February 15, 1994. Photo by Gianni Giansanti / Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images.
The beginning of the 1994 season was difficult. The pressure was enormous. Ayrton knew he needed to be very strong emotionally. On the eve of his death and already experiencing the tragedy and anguish of Roland Ratzenberger's death that afternoon, Senna asked friends to take him by helicopter to Bologna airport after the race. He wanted to return to the Algarve immediately. Where was Adriane Galisteu waiting. He wanted to have an important conversation with her.
Ayrton Senna's partner Adriane Galisteu visits the Senna Chicane Memorial at the 1994 Adelaide Grand Prix.
After Senna's death, Adriane gave interviews at the Casa de Sintra that resulted in a statement later written for the book “O Caminho das Borboletas”.
When she received the copy to ratify she sent it back saying: “it cannot be counted in the singular. It has to be in the plural. It's not me Adriane, it's us, Adriane and Ayrton!”
Ayrton Senna and Adriane Galisteu in Bora Bora.
She was just 21 when he died and having accompanied him across the globe for the last year of his life. She later wrote a book titled “My life with Ayrton”. She enjoys a highly successful role as a TV presenter.
Formula One's greatest driver lost his virginity to a prostitute when he was 13. By Travis Okulski, January 01, 2013.
Ayrton Senna is widely considered the greatest Formula One driver to ever get behind the wheel. He was ruthless and faster than just about anyone.
Most elements of his life off the track were also squeeky clean. Senna was charitable and gave millions back to the people of Brazil. But then there is this little nugget that didn't feature highly: he had sex for the first time with a prostitute when he was 13-years old.
In 1990, Senna was at the height of his powers. He had just won his second Formula One World Championship and had successfully made himself McLaren's undisputed number one driver following Alain Prost’s exit to Ferrari. Life was good.
That meant it was time for an interview with the Brazilian edition of Playboy, which has since been translated to English. Even though people say they "read Playboy for the interviews" as a joke, there are actually some really great interviews on the pages that aren't stuck together.
His 1990 interview started off with a lot of racing talk but soon devolved into sex ... as you might expect from Playboy. Senna usually tried to keep his love life private from the public eye. He told Playboy the following:
“when I meet a woman who stirs up my emotions then I live with her for myself, not for the public. I respect the one I love.”
During his career Senna dated some of the most beautiful women in the world, like Xuxa, a children's TV show host in Brazil, but said he found that a hard relationship to keep anywhere near private.
But then Playboy went deeper and found out a couple of interesting revelations. First, Senna and Nelson Piquet were embroiled in a feud regarding Senna's feelings on women. Piquet had insinuated that Senna was a homosexual, which didn't sit well with the World Champion.
The interview gets quite passionate and Senna's language seemingly insinuates that he had a sexual relationship with Piquet's wife before they were married:
Playboy: you had a close relationship with Katherine, Piquet's current wife, before they got married, didn't you?
Senna: “we didn't have a close relationship. But ….. I knew her.”
Playboy: what do you mean?
Senna (emotionally): “I knew her as a woman, that's all. I knew her as a woman.”
That would be enough reason for Piquet to have a bit of an off-track vendetta against Senna.
But the juiciest nugget of all? Senna lost his virginity when he was 13 to a "large prostitute:"
Playboy: and what was your first time like?
Senna: “the first time? I was 13. I remember, together with one of my cousins who was 20 at the time, we went to a club in downtown Sao Paulo. I was very small at the time so they didn't let me in. Then I was sitting at the entrance watching the people going in. Suddenly I saw that a big, I mean really big, woman goes in. Soon after that my cousin came out with this big woman on his side. So that's how it happened.”
Playboy: was she blonde or brunette?
Senna (with a big laugh): “it isn't important.”
Playboy: why not?
Senna: “just because.”
Playboy: why are you so secretive?
Senna: “she was blonde. And a prostitute. Later, of course, I realized that it had nothing to do with what is important but at the time it was good. At the age of 13 it's difficult for a boy to find a girlfriend with whom he can have a relationship. Those 15 year old girls who are already willing are looking for 18 year old boys. So I had no choice.”
Playboy: just one more thing: did it happen there in the car?
Senna (laughing): “no. In the woman's flat. It was organized very well.”
This is interesting to hear, especially since Senna was a devout Christian who also says that he's heard God and had out of body experiences.
Ayrton Senna with his girlfriend Adriane Galisteu.
It is 25 years to the day since Ayrton Senna died following a crash at the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola.
To mark the 20th anniversary of the tragedy in 2014, Sportsmail's Jonathan McEvoy interviewed Senna's girlfriend at the time, the model Adriane Galisteu.
Brazilian model and TV Presenter Adriane Galisteu jogging at Leblon beach, Rio de Janeiro, on October 16, 2006. Photo by City Files / WireImage.
Brazilian model and TV Presenter Adriane Galisteu jogging at Leblon beach, Rio de Janeiro, on October 16, 2006. Photo by City Files / WireImage.
We republish that interview in full here.
A blonde model with blue eyes will say a prayer for Ayrton Senna on Thursday. It is the same ritual Adriane Galisteu has practised on each of the 19 previous anniversaries of the driver's death.
A person of faith like Senna - 'I believe in the Lord' - she has spoken to Sportsmail about that weekend 20 years ago when the Williams her boyfriend was driving crashed into a concrete wall at Tamburello curve at Imola, killing him.
She remembers the last hours spent at Senna's villa in the Algarve in the countdown to the San Marino Grand Prix.
'He phoned me,' she says. 'He was not well. His head was not right.' Rubens Barrichello, his good friend, was in hospital (after an accident in Friday practice). He was very upset by the death of Roland Ratzenberger, a fellow driver who died on Saturday (in qualifying). “He told me, 'I'm very sad.'”
'I had known him anguished before but never heard his voice like it was that day. I remember telling him, 'Ayrton, don't enter that race.''
While Senna was undoubtedly emotional having visited the site of Ratzenberger's crash, there is a suggestion that his relationship with Galisteu itself was preying on his mind.
In Ayrton, o heroi revelado (Ayrton, the hero revealed), author Ernesto Rodrigues claims that Galisteu had contacted her former lover and that Senna's brother, Leonardo, had played tapes of these secret conversations to him.
The author, a former London bureau chief of Brazil's Globo TV channel, visited seven countries and spoke to 213 people during two years researching the book. However, Senna's sister Viviane has denied that any member of the family talked to Rodrigues.
'My goal is not to talk about a book that I haven't read,' Viviane once said, growing upset when pressed on the claims about Galisteu's behaviour. I put the accusation to Galisteu herself.
'It never happened, no. I was 100 per cent honest with Ayrton. I recall his skin and his smell. I only told him truths. I was a young girl and shortly after I first knew him I took him home to get to know my mum and my brother, the place where I lived and how I lived.'
She says that she fell in love with him when they met at the 1993 Brazilian Grand Prix, where she was an umbrella girl. She had long admired him from afar but never imagined they would become lovers.
'When I tried to tell him not to race at Imola, he told me that he loved his profession and he couldn't just pull out of the race,' she remembers. 'It is my life'.
His strong inclination to race is corroborated by Senna's manager, Julian Jakobi, one of the most respected figures in the paddock.
He told me that, though Senna was upset like everyone else by the events of the weekend, he spoke to Frank Williams, the team boss and decided to compete. 'Stories saying he did not want to race are simply not true', said Jakobi.
Back in Portugal, Galisteu watched the race on TV. 'I saw the accident and thought nothing of it,' she said. 'In fact, I thought, 'good, he'll be back early, thank goodness.'
'But then I saw it was more serious than I first imagined. I stood in front of the TV and watched the replay over and over again. I could see the car was damaged but I never thought he had died.’
'I answered the phone and it was the wife of his best friend telling me I must get over to Imola. We went on a private jet from Lisbon. I got on the plane thinking he was still alive; hurt but not killed.'
Back at Imola, Senna had been taken out of the car and flown to hospital. After a 37-minute delay, the race restarted, to be won by Michael Schumacher, who was driving in a Benetton believed by Senna to have flouted that season's new rules outlawing traction control. No champagne was sprayed on the podium.
'When the plane was about to take off, the pilot said there was a call from the tower. I imagined it was Ayrton saying, 'you don't need to come, everything is OK.'
'It was a friend: 'Adriane, you don't need to come.' 'Wow, that's good', I said, thinking he must be improving. 'No, he's dead.' My world stopped at that moment.’
'In my head it was impossible: he could only die of old age. It was incredible that he died doing what he knew best in life.’
'It was very difficult for Brazil, for the whole world, but even more for me. It took me many years to recover my life, especially amorously.'
Adriane Galisteu.
Adriane Galisteu.
Adriane Galisteu.
Adriane Galisteu on March 02, 2019.
Galisteu, who has just turned 41, married Alexandre Iodice in June 2010 and has a three-year-old son, Vittorio.
'My time with Ayrton was a great love story. He was loved across the world more than he ever knew. His memory will never be erased. For me, it was special, but now I am married and have a child. It means I cannot say he was the love of my life.'
She remembers the remarkable funeral in Sao Paulo, when the whole sprawling city stopped to mourn its icon: the brooding, brilliant, ruthless, clever, mystical, megalomaniacal Senna.
'I spent as long as I could with his body. I didn't go home. I didn't wash. I stayed with him.’
Adriane Galisteu, seen here in 2009, claimed Senna wanted to end his career with the famous Italian outfit Ferrari.
'Ayrton had three dreams,' she says fondly. 'The first was to finish his career at Ferrari; the second was to get to know Disneyworld; the third was to become a father.’
'He was more than a champion. He had an enormous heart, a simple way of life and had simple dreams. He was entertaining. At home, he was like a child. He was full of happiness.'
Senna's death shook Formula One more profoundly than that of any other. Before the Austrian rookie Ratzenberger, no driver had died for 12 years.
Niki Lauda, the three-time world champion, said: 'God has had his hand over Formula One for a long time. This weekend, he took it away.'
Secondly, the whole dramatic scene was beamed around the world on TV, giving it a global impact never known before.
Murray Walker later described it as the hardest commentary of his life, treading a fine line between empty optimism and morbid fatalism as he watched, unable to know precisely how serious Senna's predicament was.
In Imola, today and for the next four days, there will be races in honour of the man who won 41 races and 65 poles. His death prompted safety provisions that have ensured no driver has died in a Formula One cockpit since.
Less favourably, his ruthlessness on track - most notably in driving Alain Prost off in 1990 - set the tempo for some of the less chivalrous driving that followed. (In fairness, as McLaren boss Ron Dennis observed, Senna's superlative talent and mercilessness was matched and abetted by Prost in their glorious rivalry).
Senna had led the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix at Imola before crashing out on the sixth lap.
The most intriguing question is raised by Bernie Ecclestone's trial in Germany and the doubts it prompts over the 83-year-old's future at the head of Formula One: could Senna have taken over from Bernie? Senna was clever, calculating, sharp, cowed by nobody and saw commercial opportunities way ahead of his time.
Just before he died, he struck a deal with Audi to import their road cars. The arrangement stood until Audi opened a factory in Brazil in 1999.
He even caused Ecclestone to change the terms of the super licence by doing a deal with Sega before a pan-F1 contract had been signed with Nintendo.
From then on, Ecclestone ensured that a driver's electronic media rights were signed over to him.
We mourn the loss of a driver of sublime brilliance. Perhaps we join Adriane in saying a prayer for him. But we should also ponder the role he might now be taking on in Formula One but for that afternoon at Imola.
Ayrton Senna and (secret) love with Carol Alt. The story of the clandestine love between the model and actress and the driver. By Annalisa Grandi.
Ayrton Senna and Carol Alt.
He, Ayrton Senna, was the idol of Formula 1 fans. She, Carol Alt, model and actress with ice eyes, enchanted the world. They loved each other, away from the spotlight. They loved each other until the day of that tragic crash in Imola.
Carol Alt.
A clandestine love story, which ended up on the covers all the same because it couldn't be otherwise. A great love which began in 1990, when she was 30 and ended on May 1st 1994. She was married to Ron Greschner, an ice hockey player, he was engaged to the Brazilian model Adriane Galisteu. A relationship made up of quarrels and jealousies, until the day when, Carol says, "for me another door opened, a beautiful door." That door, she explains in an interview with "Gq Italia", had a famous name: Ayrton Senna. "He was cute, full of attentions. My husband had never even given me a birthday present, you know? And I was so young and I worked so hard that I hardly even noticed it", she confesses. They met in secret, "he would join me on an island, at a fashion show, I loved him deeply", she says.
Ayrton Senna and Carol Alt at a party, Ayrton arrived driving a Ferrari.
«I remember a night escape in the Novara countryside in his Ferrari, she continues. At a certain point Ayrton turns towards me and says: Carol, the petrol ran out. And I: are you serious? Where do we find a gas station now? By a miracle, in the middle of nowhere, this gas station appeared. And I remember Ayrton getting out of the car and starting to tinker with the pump. Until at one point he knocks on my window and says: Carol, do you have any idea how the hell this works? Luckily a car stopped and saved us: I will never forget the scene of this mother of a family helping Senna to refuel." Ayrton and Carol loved each other for four years, albeit in a clandestine way and they also did that day, that of the crash in Imola, the one that broke their dreams and Senna's life. "The day he died, I decided to leave my husband", she reveals today.
The next day Carol should have received the Telegatto in Milan from the driver's hands. "I know where I was at the time of the accident, what I was doing. And that the world collapsed on me”, she explains to «Il Fatto Quotidiano». “Then the next day something would happen that would have been special for me, I would have received the Telegatto in Milan and he had to deliver it. Unfortunately he never came. I don't remember who gave me the prize, but for me it was one of the most painful moments in life. I received the award, Ayrton who was supposed to take it to the stage was no longer there. That day my life took another direction. I still cry today. It's a huge lack, a part of me went away.” A pain that has never faded since that May 1st: “Ayrton is my only regret, I miss him every day.”
Ayrton Senna and Carol Alt.
Ayrton Senna and Carol Alt.
Ayrton Senna and Carol Alt.
Carol Alt in an interview in 2012 also said about Ayrton: "he told me that God was always with him ... It was beautiful and my positive Ayrton, with its unbridled passion for life, for driving, for his work and also for women. He lived in great excitement, he was stubborn and had to get what he wanted, but he was a righteous man, generous and especially strong, with an incredible charm ... Even if we lived hiding, for me our story was very serious and important. We met in 1990 in Milan, both guests at a fashion show of Gianni Versace: I was married, but my marriage was in crisis, he had an official girlfriend. But the agreement between us was reached that same evening. It lasted for four years, during which we ran one after the another in every corner of the world, amid of long distance phone calls bills, between airports, race tracks and quiet places to stay together, away from reporters and our own guilt. We also projected to come out into the open sooner or later.”
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