Many safety improvements were made in the sport following Senna and Ratzenberger’s deaths. These include improved crash barriers, redesigned tracks, higher crash safety standards (such as larger sills along the driver cockpit) and major cuts to engine power. Ironically, these knee-jerk measures resulted in further major crashes that year (e.g. at the Spanish Grand Prix). Also ironically, entry to the fatal Tamburello corner and other chicanes on the Imola circuit had been significantly altered for 1995. This was despite calls for action in 1989, after a serious high-speed crash that saw Senna’s best friend, Gerhard Berger, suffering burns to his hand. No action took place after that crash because, following an inspection by Senna and Berger, they ended up siding with officials who had, for years, claimed that the wall could not be taken further back due to a nearby small river.
Soon after his death in 1994, the Brazilian football World Cup winning team dedicated their win to the great racer in order to recognise his contributions to Formula 1.
After Senna’s death it was discovered that he had donated millions of dollars of his personal fortune (estimated at $400 million at the time of his death) to children’s charities, a fact that during his life he had kept secret. Based on a desire to contribute effectively, with the help of his sister Vivianne, a foundation was established in Brazil, Instituto Ayrton Senna, which has invested nearly US$80 million over the last twelve years in social programs and actions in partnership with schools, government, NGOs, and the private sector aimed at offering children and teenagers from low-income backgrounds the skills and opportunities they need to develop to their full potential as persons, citizens and future professionals. The “Senninha” (“Little Senna”) cartoon character born in 1993/94, was another means by which Senna extended his role model status in favour of Brazilian children.
In his home country of Brazil, the main freeway from the international airport to São Paulo and a tunnel along route to the heart of the city is named in his honour. Also, one of the most important freeways of Rio de Janeiro is named after Senna (“Avenida Ayrton Senna”). The main road in Senna’s Portuguese resort at Quinta do Lago, Algarve, was also dedicated to him, due to the fact that his villa there was very near (but not on) this road.
In 2004 (when, ten years after his death, the Brazilian media revisited the life of Senna), a book called “Ayrton: The Hero Revealed” (original title: “Ayrton: O Herói Revelado”) was published in Brazil. Senna remains a national hero in Brazil and his grave attracts more visitors than the graves of John F Kennedy, Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley combined.
In addition, to mark the 10th anniversary of Senna’s death, on 21 April 2004, over 10,000 people attended a charity match in a football stadium near Imola. The game was organized by several devoted Italian and Canadian fans of Senna, bringing the 1994 FIFA World Cup winning team of Brazil (who dedicated their 1994 FIFA World Cup win to Senna) to face the “Nazionale Piloti”, an exhibition team composed exclusively of top race car drivers. Senna had been a part of the latter in 1985. Michael Schumacher, Jarno Trulli, Rubens Barrichello, Fernando Alonso and many others faced the likes of Dunga, Careca, Taffarel and many of the team that won the World Cup in the United States ten years earlier. The match finished 5–5 and the money was donated to Instituto Ayrton Senna. Viviane Senna, Senna’s sister, president of the institute (and mother of future F1 driver Bruno Senna), gave the initial kick. That same weekend, Bernie Ecclestone revealed that he still believed Senna was and remained the best F1 driver he had ever seen.
Since his death, Senna has been the subject of songs by Italian singer-songwriter Lucio Dalla, Jazz pianist Kim Pensyl, Japanese jazz-fusion guitarist and T-square bandleader Masahiro Andoh and Chris Rea.
In the late 1980s, to take advantage of the close relationship Honda had with Senna, the Japanese company asked him to help fine-tune the Honda NSX’s suspension setting during its final development stages. The tests were conducted at Suzuka Circuit with chief NSX engineer Shigeru Uehara and his engineering team present to gather Senna’s direct input. Senna found the prototype NSX initially lacked chassis stiffness to the level he was accustomed to, so the final production version was further reinforced to his satisfaction. Senna also led Audi to Brazil, in agreement settled in 1993. By this time the high end cars made in Brazil were widely criticized, and he took the initiative to raise the market level. His personal car in 1994 was an Audi S4.
Between 1996 and 1998, to pay tribute to Senna, the Italian motorcycle manufacturer Ducati produced special Senna editions of their 916 superbike. Ducati was at the time owned by Claudio Castiglioni, a personal friend of Senna who was an avid Ducati lover. In 2002, the MV Agusta F4 750 Senna motorbike was created, again by Castiglioni, now president of MV Agusta. The production was limited to 300 bikes, and all profits from sales went to the Ayrton Senna Foundation.
In 2009, it was announced that Senna’s nephew Bruno (son of Vivianne, Ayrton’s sister) would be making his Formula One debut in 2010.
The former Formula One grand prix circuit in Adelaide, Australia, renamed its first chicane the “Senna chicane” in honour of his memory. This track—which remains the site of Senna’s last Formula One win—is still used for local V8 Supercars racing after the move of the F1 grand prix to Melbourne. There is also a street named after him in the Adelaide suburb of Wingfield. The Adelaide street circuit was said to be a favourite of Senna’s, and he was reportedly unhappy about upcoming shift of venue from Adelaide to Melbourne.
He was voted the best driver of all time in various motorsport polls, including the one involving current drivers as published by the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag in July 2010.
On 25 July 2010, popular BBC motoring show, Top Gear paid an emotional tribute to Senna with British Formula One World Champion, Lewis Hamilton driving Senna’s original MP4/4, with which he won the 1988 title.
