The Brazilian Grand Prix has produced some unforgettable moments in the history of Formula 1, from champions being crowned to heartbreak on the track. But one thing that sticks out is the personal stories of the drivers to have taken to the track at Interlagos. From Ayrton Senna’s heroic home win to Rubens Barrichello’s never-ending resilience, here are three stories from Brazil that every racing fan should know.
Senna’s home win was so grueling he could barely lift the trophy
Next to the Drivers’ Championship title itself, the success most F1 drivers cherish above all others is a win at home. And when Senna finally achieved this in 1991–after seven unsuccessful tries, which included three retirements and one disqualification–it was after such a grueling effort that he needed help getting out of his car, and was just barely able to lift his winner’s trophy as he stood atop the podium.
Senna got pole during Qualifying, and had a great jump of the line to maintain his lead on the race start. In fact, it looked like it was going to be an easy win for him as he built up a gap of over half a minute between himself and the rest of the field by the time the race was more than halfway over.
But things rarely stay so simple in F1.
From around lap 50 his car slowly started to lose gears one by one until only the sixth remained, leaving him without the ability to downshift and smoothly slow down into turns, and accelerate efficiently out of them. His only choice was to literally wrestle his car around the track, putting every ounce of his strength into the steering wheel to stay on the racing line.
And then, as is often the case in Brazil, the rain came. The slippery track made it all the more difficult to stay steady, and Senna was soon caught in the crosshairs of the competition, with Riccardo Patrese of Williams closing in fast.
But the prospect of a home win does something to a driver.
“I saw Patrese coming and didn’t think I would make it,” Senna said after the race, “but I felt it was my duty to win here. I pushed the car regardless of the rain, but I was getting cramps and muscle spasms in my upper body.”
All of the pain paid off, however, when he crossed the finish line to secure his first-ever win at Interlagos. Though the exertion did mean that Senna needed assistance getting himself out of his car and, when the time came for the podium ceremony, he could barely lift the trophy above his head. But when he did, the already-cheering crowd got even louder, celebrating their hero’s success on home soil for the very first time.
Barrichello’s 19 attempts to break the home race curse
Whether it’s Charles Leclerc’s long-running misfortunes in Monaco or the number of drivers who retired or DNS’d in their home country just this year alone, there is truly something to be said for the home race curse. And while Senna may have been able to overcome it himself in Brazil, his fellow countryman Rubens Barrichello never did.
Out of the 19 total times that he contested the Brazilian Grand Prix, Barrichello landed on the podium only once, with a P3 finish during the 2004 iteration of the race while he was driving for Ferrari.
As for the rest of his attempts, he would suffer a total of 11 retirements. Most of these were the result of technical issues, from gearbox and engine failures to even once running out of fuel before the end of the race in 2003.
"All the problems I've had in Brazil have sort of been human failures," Barichello said ahead of the 2009 race, one which he would ultimately finish in P8.
"For me it's not bad luck that I finish a race without fuel in the car. I don't believe that is bad luck, so I'm fine.
"I have all the possibilities to have the best race of my career here and now and that's what I'm prepared to do."
This is the mentality that Barrichello carried throughout his entire F1 career. And while he never realized his ambitions of winning at home, this attitude is what helped him build out a rather successful F1 career, finishing in the top three of the World Drivers’ Championship four separate times and collecting 11 total wins and 68 podiums along the way. He may never have been able to break the home curse, but to this day he definitely remains a beloved figure in Brazilian racing.
When Massa was the Drivers’ Champion for 38.907 seconds
Some F1 Championships are decided with several races to go on the calendar, like that of the latest champion, Kimi Antonelli, who claimed his first-ever title with four races still to go. Others go down to the wire. The latter was the case for the 2008 title fight between Lewis Hamilton of McLaren and Felipe Massa of Ferrari.
What looked like it could be a five-way fight in the first half of the season between them, Fernando Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen, and Robert Kubica eventually narrowed down to just Hamilton and Massa. And it would all be decided in the season closer and Massa’s own home race: the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix.
Yet while the crowd may have been on his side, the numbers were not in Massa’s favor. He was on the back foot, trailing Hamilton by seven points. For Massa to get the title, he would need to win the race, with Hamilton finishing no better than sixth.
Fortunately, Massa set himself up for success by securing pole during Qualifying, which he then converted to a race win, crossing the finish line first while Hamilton was indeed in sixth. The crowd was on their feet. Massa’s father and brother were celebrating in the Ferrari garage. Massa was the Champion… right?
Not quite.
In the final turns of the race, Hamilton caught up to Toyota driver Timo Glock, and then overtook him for fifth. When he crossed the finish line 38.907 seconds behind the race winner, Hamilton’s P5 meant that he now had exactly one point more than Massa, and was therefore the actual Drivers’ Champion.
Massa took the loss with grace, saying after the Grand Prix, “I am so proud about that race, I am so proud about the team, and I am so proud about the people around who supported me more than ever – more than 100%.”
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