Editing Ayrton Senna (section)

===Racing persona===
Senna was often quoted as using driving as a means for self-discovery and racing as a metaphor for life, saying: "The harder I push, the more I find within myself. I am always looking for the next step, a different world to go into, areas where I have not been before. It's lonely driving a Grand Prix car, but very absorbing. I have experienced new sensations, and I want more. That is my excitement, my motivation."{{sfnp|Collings|Edworthy|2002|p=238}}

Senna was proud of his driving ability, and responded angrily to criticism. In 2000, ''Autocourse'' noted that "Senna was the one driver who genuinely cared where he was ranked in [''Autocourse''<nowiki/>'s ranking of the year's] Top 10 drivers," and took being placed below his rivals as a personal slight.<ref>{{cite book |title=[[Autocourse]] 2000-01 |date=2000 |publisher=Hazleton Publishing |isbn=9781874557791 |editor-last=Henry |editor-first=Alan |editor-link=Alan Henry}}</ref> (Senna was ranked No. 1 in 1988, 1991, and 1993.) In 1990, ''Autocourse'' dropped Senna from No. 1 to No. 2 to criticize him for wrecking Alain Prost at Suzuka in 1990. Senna was so outraged that despite being given the No. 1 driver award in 1991, Senna refused to write the usually customary foreword by the year's World Champion; Honda's Head of Racing wrote the foreword instead. In 1993, ''Autocourse'' ranked Senna No. 1 even though Prost took the title that year, writing that Senna had "intense egocentricity and uniquely flawed genius" and "matchless genius in the wet".<ref>{{cite book |title=[[AUTOCOURSE]] 1993-94 |date=1993 |publisher=Hazleton Publishing |isbn=1-874557-15-2 |editor-last=Henry |editor-first=Alan |editor-link=Alan Henry |page=14}}</ref>

Although Senna cultivated a public image of "an inward-looking, aloof driver who is hard to get along with,"<ref>{{Cite news |last=Siano |first=Joseph |date=1991-03-17 |title=Senna Has Room To Improve Driving |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/03/17/sports/auto-racing-senna-has-room-to-improve-driving.html |access-date=2024-10-08 |work=The New York Times}}</ref> Senna was close friends with McLaren teammate [[Gerhard Berger]]. The two frequently played practical jokes on each other.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Veenstra |first=Rob |date=16 September 2015 |title=History: The story of Berger and Senna |website=GPToday |url=https://www.gptoday.net/en/news/f1/205039/history-the-story-of-berger-and-senna |access-date=7 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221209193255/https://www.gptoday.net/en/news/f1/205039/history-the-story-of-berger-and-senna |archive-date=9 December 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref> Berger summed up their relationship by saying "He taught me a lot about our sport, I taught him to laugh."<ref>{{Cite web |date=21 March 2012 |title=A star was born {{!}} Ayrton Senna - A Tribute to Life |url=https://www.ayrton-senna.net/ayrton-senna-a-star-was-born/ |access-date=7 July 2022 |website=ayrton-senna.net |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220523102140/https://www.ayrton-senna.net/ayrton-senna-a-star-was-born/ |archive-date=23 May 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref> Senna's press officer selected Berger and [[Emerson Fittipaldi]] to lead the procession of Formula One greats at Senna's funeral.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2014-05-06 |title=Formula One champions Jackie Stewart, Alain Prost were not allowed in front of Ayrton Senna's coffin |url=https://www.autoweek.com/racing/formula-1/a1895296/formula-one-champions-jackie-stewart-alain-prost-were-not-allowed-front-ayrton/ |access-date=2024-10-08 |website=Autoweek}}</ref>