What Was Senna’s Bizarre F1 Technique About?

Ayrton Senna had a really unusual throttle technique that simply doesn't make much sense. What is the technique, why did you do it and would it work in today's modern F1?

You may have read online that Senna had this really unusual technique where he would stamp on and off the throttle as he was exiting a corner.

In this video, we take a look at footage from Senna where you can clearly hear this blipping of the accelerator as is driving through the corner in his McLaren F1 car.

Jonathan Palmer was a test driver at McLaren Formula One team and he describes Senna’s technique while they were driving together.

“Although I spent six years racing against Ayrton Senna in formula one, it really wasn't until I joined McLaren as a test driver in 1990 that I had the chance to see exactly how fast he was and exactly how he did it.

Normally I do the first day or two pounding around getting down to what I thought was a very respectable time before Senna came along and within 10 laps, he would have been a second faster."

Senna had such an unusual technique with many people saying it was because of his days driving turbo cars. The idea being that you can spool up the turbo with a flip on the accelerator pedal to reduce the turbo lag - basically when you get on the accelerator it spins the turbo up, which in turn forces air into the engine.

This means you can add more fuel and produce more power. When you're braking and going through a corner only on part throttle the turbo won't be spinning quite as quickly and therefore you won't have as much power.

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[Driver]

What's your take on this technique?

[guzu]

So basically the man had anti lag, abs and traction control all in his right foot.

[vinzegcs]

Senna's car dancing in the rain is something out of this world.

[paulocapelas]

A constant battle for grip, always at the limit. Forever remembered as the number one. The most spectacular racing driver ever.

[pranavps]

In summary, Senna was faster than the car itself.

[DaviMourao]

That reminds of a Nigel Roebuck quote: "If you see Prost driving a Formula 1 car, you'd think you could do it yourself. If you see Senna driving the same car, you'd abosolutely knew you couldn't".

[lgjurich]

This sounds almost like ABS in reverse. Rather than rapidly tapping the brakes to decrease stopping distance, he was tapping to get constant feedback from the car/tires and be on the very knife edge of traction at all times. This is why he was such a wizard in the wet, he was able to find the absolute limit of traction and keep the car right at that limit longer than most if not any driver ever.

[TheThejpmshow]

Jonathan Palmer - when he said ‘I raced against Ayrton for 6 years’

He meant ‘I followed in dust for 6 years’

[eightv]

“The normal technique on corner entry is to keep as smooth as possible, ” explains Takeo Kiuchi, Senna ‘s Honda race engineer of 1990-92. “But Ayrton would use the throttle to put more torque through the tyre and change the yaw, a little bit each time. This way he could get a better trajectory before the apex without as much steering. When we did our simulations, usually the actual time a driver set was slightly slower than the simulation; with Ayrton, he was nearly always slightly quicker. That was because we couldn’t model what he was doing with the throttle and how it affected the car.” -motorsport mag 2004

[sporkybutterz]

Senna traction control system. Pushing his car to the limit.

[drugsommelier]

Died before i was born and still makes me proud of my country. What a legend :'^)

[SMlFFY]

His speed was entirely down to his loafers.

[FjordTrotter]

Inventor : Let me introduce you to traction control
Senna : Here's my foot

[VideosFernandes]

25 years after his death, Senna is still a reference in terms of piloting technique

[vnigallahoir]

As someone who done a similar technique my entire racing career, it's because the blips are short enough, that it enables you to feel out the limit of traction. For me this started as a karting technique for finding grip on slick racing surfaces, in the wet, and works just as well in the dry. It's not really something I have ever thought about until now, but if you do lose traction, because of the pedaling, you don't generally lose it for long, and it generally doesn't wildly affect the car other than to give you more rotation. The less responsive the motor, the longer the chops can be.

Because if you look at the comparison of his data vs the test drivers, you can just see how much sooner he is able to find where the limit of grip is and is able to use the throttle. Just my two cents as someone who just naturally started doing this.

[toryrhoden]

Senna and Jim Clark where just grandmaster in F1. No one could touch them. Taken from us too soon Rest In Peace you master 🙏🏽

[backroadbeetle]

He's controlling rotation with throttle and brake, he's almost creating his own stability and traction control.

[migy]

The iconic loafers and white socks - the secret to Senna's speed!

[thironmike]

I just came here to express my deep love and respect to Ayrton Senna. He was one of the truly illuminated ppl in this world. He will be forever missed.

[chuckheinze]

Absolutely amazing. I have always been fascinated with Senna’s driving. His technique is different, and unorthodox. But, man did he make it work! When you watch him in qualifying mode, it’s like he was truly a part of the car and a man almost possessed. He could have easily won two or three more championships. For me, F1 has never been the same after we lost him. I still miss him😢