"Ayrton was someone I admired very much", Rubens Barrichello

Rubens Barrichello

Driver, Jordan

Ayrton Senna and Rubens Barrichello

Ayrton was someone I admired very much. He was a great champion and, when I think of him, I see his smiling face staring down at me. That is my strongest memory of him but the best time I had with him was at the Australian Grand Prix in 1993. Christian Fittipaldi, me Ayrton and our girlfriends went out to dinner somewhere in the centre of Adelaide, far enough away from our hotels to have to drive.

I knew that Ayrton was a bit of a practical joker because I had heard stuff about throwing briefcases out of helicopters [actually it was Berger throwing Senna's briefcase] but I hadn't seen it myself - and I wanted go!

We drove in three separate cars and I told Christian before leaving that I was going to bump into the back of Ayrton's car on the way to the restaurant, just to see what sort of reaction we would get out of him.

So,at the first set off traffic lights, I went thundering into the back of his car  - bam! But there was no reaction from him or Adriane [Senna's girlfriend], who was in the passenger seat.

Then Christian had a go at the next traffic lights - bam! Again, there was no reaction from Ayrton. He continued to drive quite slowly through the traffic towards the restaurant. I thought he must have been having a bad day or something.

Anyway, we had a really fun dinner, a nice Italian meal. Then Ayrton stood up, saying that he had to get back to his hotel because he had some work to do before going to bed. He said he didn’t want to split up the party and asked us to stay a little longer and enjoy ourselves. No problem, we said. Off he and Adriane went.

I glanced out of the window as he drove away to see him reversing flat-out towards my car – crash. His revenge! The front was a real mess. You cannot believe how much trouble I got into with Hertz when I handed the car back.

Senna’s logic was that the Williams was now the dominant car and would be for a long time. He prepared to join the team.

HILTON, Christopher. Memories of Senna: Anecdotes and insights from those Who knew him.  Sparkford: Haynes Publishing, 2011.