Ayrton Senna was already a two-time world champion with 26 Grand Prix victories when he arrived at Interlagos in March 1991. None of those wins had come in Brazil.
Seven attempts at his home race had brought disappointment, missed opportunities and two podiums. He had won on some of Formula 1’s most demanding circuits, but the Brazilian Grand Prix kept slipping away.
He would eventually win it twice. The first required him to bring a failing McLaren home. The second demanded a recovery through a penalty, rain and changing conditions.
The win that kept escaping him
Senna’s first six Brazilian Grands Prix took place at Jacarepaguá in Rio de Janeiro, from 1984 through 1989.
Three ended in retirement. Another brought disqualification. His best result was second for Lotus in 1986, followed by an 11th-place finish in his final appearance there in 1989.
When the race returned to Interlagos in 1990, Senna had a clear opportunity. He was leading when he caught Satoru Nakajima’s Tyrrell to lap it. Contact damaged the McLaren’s nose, forcing a pit stop and costing him the lead.
Senna finished third. Another home race had passed, and the wait continued.
1991: A failing gearbox and 2.991 seconds
On March 24, 1991, Senna started from pole at Interlagos.
He built a lead and appeared on course to win. Then his gearbox began to fail, taking away gears as the race approached its finish.
In the closing laps, he was left using only sixth gear. Every slow corner became a problem: the car had to be kept moving through sections that normally demanded lower gears, while Riccardo Patrese’s Williams closed behind.
Senna reached the finish 2.991 seconds ahead.
His 27th Grand Prix victory was finally his first in Brazil, secured on his eighth attempt.
The effort left him exhausted. He stopped on the circuit afterward and returned in the medical car. His cries over the radio and the difficulty he had lifting the trophy made the physical cost visible.
Senna had already celebrated world championships. At Interlagos, the celebration followed a victory he had spent years trying to deliver.
1993: A penalty, rain and another chance
His second Brazilian victory came on March 28, 1993, under very different circumstances.
Senna qualified third behind Alain Prost and Damon Hill. Williams held the advantage, and a stop-go penalty for overtaking under yellow flags made his task harder still.
Then rain changed the race.
Prost crashed out, the safety car gathered the field, and Senna worked his way back into contention. As conditions improved, the switch back to dry-weather tires became decisive. Senna passed Hill and took control.
This time, he finished 16.625 seconds clear.
It was his second Brazilian Grand Prix victory and McLaren’s 100th Formula 1 win. Senna would win five races that season, his last with the team, before moving to Williams for 1994.
The two Interlagos wins showed different sides of his driving. In 1991, he preserved a lead while his car was failing. In 1993, he recovered from a setback and seized the opportunities a changing race offered.
Winning at home had taken longer than winning a world championship. Once Senna finally did it, he gave Brazil two very different races to remember.
