Ayrton Senna’s “flawed” approach meant he would not have beaten Michael Schumacher, Eddie Irvine has claimed.
Earlier this week, the Irishman offered his assessment of Formula 1 today by rejecting the places of Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel among the all-time greats of the sport.
In the same interview, however, the former Ferrari went on to explain why he believes no-one comes close to surpassing Schumacher as the ‘best ever’, not even the legendary Brazilian.
“I think Senna’s technique was flawed. He was this amazingly talented driver and had an amazing touch, but he had a couple of techniques that weren’t correct and he didn’t look into everything,” Irvine told the BBC.
“I remember at the Japanese Grand Prix, Michael was fastest and I was second fastest in my first Grand Prix in the pit lane. Senna was only fourth or fifth.
“Michael practiced the pit entry and Senna didn’t, so there were things that he missed. I’m a huge fan of him but I think Michael would have, well Michael did beat him when they were racing.”
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F1 never got to witness a championship duel between the pair, as Schumacher took the torch from Senna after his death at Imola in 1994. However, they did enjoy some on-track battles together.
“Over one lap Senna was an amazing driver, but I think his technique was slightly flawed. I couldn’t have faulted Michael’s technique,” Irvine continued.
“Technically, he wasn’t that great but his actual talent with his feet, arms, feel and anticipation were second to none. There were corners I couldn’t do what he was doing. Then he would just copy me in the corners I was quicker than him.
“I remember Silverstone, I was much faster at the last corner and he couldn’t figure out what I was doing. He’d always go through the telemetry and figured it out.
“So that was the problem for me, he just had an amazing talent which you can’t copy.”