Why Senna's Driving Style Wouldn't Work Today

When you watch Formula 1 now, if you’re eagle-eyed (or a driving coach) you will notice that all of the drivers use quite a similar driving style. Like, pretty much, EXACTLY the same.

They are VERY smooth coming off the brakes, then one sweep of the steering wheel into the corner, then out of the corner - and smooth on the throttle again.

That’s it, all of them do it. From Lewis, through to Nikita (mostly).

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Now, I have broken down a lot of different drivers’ driving styles on this channel. The Alonso video kinda kicked things off for Driver61.

He would drive in a deliberately horrible style, inducing massive understeer - heating up the famously hard-wearing Michelins to then give him grip on exit.

Then there’s Schumacher - he drove the car very hard into the corner and rotated it mid-corner. This meant that he was [actually slower] mid-corner - but he more than made up for it on the entry and with a brilliant exit.

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But, now if you look at Verstappen vs Hamilton - the way they drive the car is remarkably similar. Honestly, go watch some onboards! [After this obviously - I would LOVE to include them here, but we’re not allowed.]

So what’s up with that? Have they just cracked the secret to driving? Or is it the cars that mean everyone drives so similarly now?

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Well, let's look back at Senna. Over his time in Formula 1 - he drove a lot of different cars. All of which needed driving differently, so he always needed to adapt to the car.

And it’s quite a collection of cars.

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[Driver]

Nikita style = Senna amiright?

Jokes aside, would you like to see more aggressive driving styles back in Formula 1?

[Zeronightmarefox]

Through all his carrer, he adapted to everything. I'm certain he would figure something out.

[tommychan]

What makes Senna so special is not only his driving skill but his ability to adapt with superhuman instinct!

[roys.]

I feel like Senna would probably be able to adapt to the current era if he were still around. Like you mentioned in the video he was good at adapting to cars given enough time. Though he might have an old man moment and say that the spirit of F1 has long moved away from what he once knew.

[BritIronRebel]

Jackie Stewart wrote the book "Principles of performance Driving" where he explains why smoothness is quickest.
But I think Senna's aggressive style was more a function of the beast of cars that he was driving.
When Senna took you on a lap in a street car (there are videos) he drove it with the smoothness you'd expect.

[justinlafever]

I remember when Eddie Cheever criticized Senna’s driving style, and all I could think of was, “And how many F1 Championships have YOU won, Eddie?”

I’m kinda getting the same vibe from this video, too!

[billmcdonald]

If smoothness is the way to drive today's cars, can you imagine how fast the late, great Jim Clark would be? He was Mister Smooth back in the '60s, long before aero was considered fit to eat. Easy on both tyres and brakes, the man used minimal inputs to the steering wheel and pedals - and was the fastest of his era.

[Sverrehope]

Max has said that he doesn’t have a driving style, because it’s so dependent on the car, the track and the conditions. And I think that goes for most of the drivers. Todays cars require a smooth style so I’m sure Senna would be smooth.

[rasmusfabernrgaard]

Senna drove on pure instinct. He could have adapted his driving style to any car from any era

[juanmontoya]

You forgot to mention that in Senna's era, the cars were reasonably well dimensioned. Today's F-1 are
as long as city buses. Compare South Africa 1993 to one of today's races. Better still, 1990 USGP
where Alesi challenged Senna for much of the race. Sure the cars are "quicker" now, but exciting
true grit driving was back thirty years ago.

[SonicProvocateur]

Watch Senna's fast lap footage from Monaco 1990. Todays drivers also keep both hands on the wheel instead of having to take one off to shift. Senna had the skill to create all those blistering lap times ONE HANDED. Big difference.

[nicholastotoro]

Senna adapted to a few different eras of cars. Of course he’d be fast today, his style wasn’t totally static.

[hristoitchov]

Some things to correct and add - Senna changed his driving style significantly for the 93 and 94 season cars. He dropped his throttle pumping technique almost entirely (it was simply not needed) and he was very smooth with the steering wheel. And McLaren had already switched to paddle shifting since 92, so he was used to that. In fact back in those years drivers didn't even have to press paddles or buttons that much to shift gear - they had a system that would automatically go through the gears under deceleration or acceleration after just a single pressing of the appropriate button.

As for the tyres, it's actually quite the opposite - the softest compounds back then provided more mechanical grip than modern tyres. Modern tyres have to be extremely hard and rigid to sustain the high level of downforce, plus Pirelli just seem to be unable to produce a tyre that works with lower pressure without coming apart all of a sudden, so they run crazy high pressures, which removes mechanical grip even further.

Add to that the much longer and heavier cars compared to back then, and you get cars that are very sluggish and unresponsive at lower speeds. Back then the driver could make up a lot more of a difference because of that, rather than have to be restricted to prioritizing the aero package so much.

If you watch any of Senna's final year onboards, he's smooth as silk, so there's no doubt he could've easily adapted to modern day F1 cars. He was very good in preserving tyres already during the turbo years and seeing how important that aspect is nowadays, there's no reason for someone as talented as him to adapt. Of course this is talking about if Senna was driving modern F1 at his top form, not at an old age.

[AvatarCCP]

The thing that amazes me the most about Senna was his mindset. He was always working very close with the mechanics and engineers, I am pretty sure he would give us a masterclass on f1 driving if was still around.

[tarnish]

I remember my dad telling me about Senna and how he was the best F1 driver until his death. His favourite driver was Lewis Hamilton, so I asked him - who would be faster now, Senna or Hamilton? And even he said that Senna would probably be a little better. After all, there must be a damn good reason why McLaren named a car after him.

[Daniel_Sans]

the most important things you forgotten? in Sennas aera there was no Traction contol, no Abs, no automatic gears... That was also one of the reasons why the cars moved so differently...

[davidca]

I think Senna would have changed/created his own style with the new cars that matched the cars.

[boyfrmnewyork]

As an old racer I remember watching and studying Senna at the hairpin corner in Montreal 1989 F1 race. His techniques was like none other. He would dive in and diamond the corner with a quick flick and straight-line the exit with at a faster Amazing...

[TheEddie]

His pole at Jerez in 1990 is one of the highest displays of skill I've ever seen

[lclc]

Senna was an adaptive driver; he could get everything out of any car. With today's cars, it would be a walk in the park for him. I doubt anyone would come close or share a corner the way he did.
It is like the god is in the track please fight for second place