Ayrton Senna repeatedly made the same gesture when he saw Michael Schumacher’s qualifying lap times

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Jonathan Wheatley, the Sauber team principal, followed Ayrton Senna closely when he was growing up. Senna did what very few others had at that point by forging a path from karting to Formula 1.

Wheatley, who competed in the starter discipline himself, watched Senna ascend to Formula Ford in 1981 after he finished runner-up in the karting world championship the previous year. Three seasons later, he made his F1 debut for Toleman.

After a stint at Lotus, Senna won all three of his world championships at McLaren between 1998 and 1991. He then joined Williams, but only competed in two races before a fatal accident at Imola.

Based on how the season had started, Senna was poised to battle Benetton’s Michael Schumacher for the world championship. The Brazilian didn’t finish either of the first two races, but he showed the speed of his FW16 by taking three consecutive pole positions.

Ayrton Senna would shake his head in disbelief at Michael Schumacher pace – then beat him

Senna and Schumacher shared the front row in those first three qualifying sessions, operating on another level. Wheatley was working as a mechanic for Benetton at the time, and recalled the ‘camaraderie’ between the two drivers on the Beyond the Grid podcast.

He used to show Senna Schumacher’s qualifying benchmark on the pit board, prompting the Brazilian to shake his head in disbelief. However, he then took to the track himself and went even quicker.

Senna is one of the fastest drivers over a single lap in F1 history. He ranks third all-time for pole positions with 65, corresponding to more than 40% of his total starts.

“I grew up in karting, and nobody had really made it from karting to Formula 1 that I could remember from these magazines when I was a kid,” Wheatley said. “Ayrton was a name that just kept coming up; he won this race, won that race in karting.

“Then suddenly, he’s on this path towards Formula 1, and I followed his career, Formula Ford, Formula Ford 2000, that incredible season of Formula 3 with Martin. He was my hero, then suddenly I’m in the garage next to him in Formula 1.

“We had this ongoing relationship in ’94 where Michael would set a pole position, and then Ayrton would come out of the garage, I’d show him the pit board with Michael’s time on it. He’d open his visor, shake his head, close it.

“He’d come in, go faster than Michael, and he’d be looking at me for the pit board to say ‘well, where’s my time?’. There was this camaraderie that maybe people aren’t aware of.”

What Michael Schumacher said about his idol Ayrton Senna

After leaving Benetton’s successors Renault for Red Bull, Wheatley worked with Max Verstappen. Many have drawn comparisons between the reigning champion and the Regenmeister.

In the same podcast, though, Wheatley gave Verstappen the edge over Schumacher. He views him as the complete driver.

Schumacher gave Verstappen karting lessons when he was a child, so he was likely one of the Dutchman’s idols. Likewise, Schumacher looked up to Senna during his ascent.

Schumacher named Senna as the fastest driver ever back in 2001. He broke down in tears when he equalled his win record in Monza that year.