Adriane Galisteu, a twenty-one-year-old Brazilian model, had not received a full approval rating from his entire family. Even so, Senna had invited her to join him at his home on the Algarve and she had just arrived in Portugal that weekend to begin life at his side.
Leonardo Senna had been dispatched to Imola to tell his brother that the family had an audio tape to prove Adriane was unsuitable for him.
Adriane would tell me five months later: 'I flew from Brazil to his house on the Algarve to be there when he came home on Sunday night. Ayrton telephoned me on Saturday and he was shaken. Crying, really crying. He told me Roland Ratzenberger had just been killed and that he did not want to race. He had never spoken like that and I didn't know how to react.’
'By then, Ayrton had had a long discussion with Frank Williams and this time he sounded better. "I'm going to race," he said. "But I can't wait for the whole thing to be over." His last words that night were, "Come and pick me up at Faro Airport at 8.30 p.m. tomorrow. I can't wait to see you." We were going to grow old together, I was sure of it.'
Adriane had opened Senna's mind to aspects of life beyond obtaining the optimum performance from his racing car. She wore her blonde hair long, and her dark eyes sparkled with life. She was girlish and uncomplicated. He felt relaxed and unworried in her company. To her he was Beco, his childhood nickname, and she was taking English lessons at his encouragement.
But there was a fundamental concern: Adriane came from an extremely humble background, which caused much of Senna's family great anxiety as they feared she looked in his eyes and saw dollar bills.
The Senna family came from the opposite end of the social spectrum. The family business required almost 1,000 staff, involved in making spares for cars and the distribution of soft drinks. His parents also farmed around 90,000 acres, on which they reared 10,000 head of cattle, and they had servants to attend to their household needs. His sister Viviane, two years older and a psychologist, came on occasions to grand prix races; they were also very close. For a time, he shared an apartment in São Paulo with his younger brother, Leonardo. These were the people Senna came home to Brazil to be with at every opportunity – the people he knew never wanted anything from him other than his presence and his love. Within his family, Senna was at peace.
Adriane Galisteu was not the type of woman the Sennas envisaged their son, a privileged man, rich beyond imagination and a national icon, becoming romantically involved with. Only his mother Neyde, it was said, had time for Adriane. His father Milton did not like the fact that his son was moving in a direction that was taking him outside his influence. Until this point,
Senna's character had been largely shaped by his father, a man whose wealth meant that he expected his voice to be heard without challenge. For example, Senna had posed for photographs taken with Adriane wearing a bikini. His father most definitely did not want those pictures to be published as he believed them to be harmful to his son's image. Senna listened to his father's argument – then authorised the publication in Brazil anyway. More and more, he was taking total responsibility of what he wanted from life, and that included Adriane.
Yet Senna never had any such misgivings about what motivated Adriane Galisteu to fall in love with him. He protected his privacy, so he never spoke openly of his emotional attachment to her; but his invitation to her to live with him at his home on the Algarve, in Portugal, was an illustration of his contentment and commitment to the relationship.
'Ayrton's romanticism was about taking pleasures from simple things,' said Adriane. 'At his beach house, I would often sit on his lap on the pier and marvel at the beauty all around. He would say, "Times like this make everything worthwhile."
Ramirez felt sure she was the one for Senna. 'Adriane was the love of his life, one hundred per cent,' he said. 'But he was conscious the family did not accept her. It was a battle.'
Adriane Galisteu was one of the promotion girls working for Shell at the race and Senna met her for a second time at the post-race party.
Meneghel, according to writer Tom Rubython, who is the author of a comprehensive biography of Senna, was 'adored by the da Silva family'.
As the months passed, he agreed to picture shoots with Adriane that he had never entertained before. One set of pictures included Ayrton hugging Adriane from behind while she was wearing a bikini. The family wanted to veto those pictures from being published – but Ayrton insisted that they should be used. Through that year, Ayrton started to change.
Senna's third win of the season came at Monaco, where he won
for a sixth time to establish a new record. And this was accomplished after
a heavy 160mph accident on the first day of practice. 'Ayrton hit his thumb
hard on the steering wheel,' said Leberer. 'I treated him, of course, but
it was still difficult especially at a track like Monaco with all the bumps
and gear changes. But for the race I fixed the taping on his hand so that
he could change gear. I was doing no more than my job, which was why I was
there.' Prost, on pole, had been penalised for jumping the start. Once again,
Senna had revelled in the embarrassment of his nemesis. He wore a wide smile
when he was accompanied to the black tie gala dinner that night by Adriane, the woman who was broadening his perspective on life.
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