Sebastian Vettel will be present at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, in two weeks at Imola. The four-time world champion will take part in a tribute to Ayrton Senna, the 30th anniversary of whose disappearance is being celebrated on this same circuit on May 1st. The German driver, now retired from Formula 1, will on this occasion be behind the wheel of the McLaren MP4/8 that the Brazilian drove in 1993.
“Ayrton Senna is not only a driver that I highly regarded as one of the best that motorsport has ever known, he was also a man of immense compassion”explains Sebastian Vettel. “It’s been 30 years since his accident, and I would like to pay tribute to Ayrton. I will be at Imola for the Grand Prix and to drive his car, the McLaren MP4/8. I hope to see you there on Sunday May 19.”
Sebastian Vettel, a fan of historic F1 cars in which he drives using clean fuel, has already taken the controls of this single-seater in the past, as part of the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
VIDEO – Ayrton Senna, 1960-1994
The McLaren of the 1993 season was the first designed after the end of the historic partnership with Honda and featured a customer Ford V8 with limited performance. Which did not prevent Ayrton Senna from shining several times at the wheel, taking second place in the championship behind Alain Prost and signing at Donington, in the rain, one of his most legendary victories. At the end of this final campaign with the team McLarenthe three-time World Champion had left the structure led by Ron Dennis to join Williams In 1994.
“I could see that Ayrton was struggling with his loyalty by leaving the team”said Ron Dennis in an interview. “And, as disastrous as our experience with Peugeot was, as soon as we announced that we were going to use their engines, which was after he left, he called and said: ‘If you had done this for two months sooner I would have stayed’, because he just didn’t see how to win without a factory engine.”
