Formula 1 drivers are normally in the mood to celebrate after winning the Japanese Grand Prix – but not the legendary Ayrton Senna.
Senna regularly proved why he earned the nickname ‘The Rain Master’, but his superb drive at a wet Suzuka in 1993 is remembered as much for what happened afterwards.
The three-time world champion took his fourth victory of a season otherwise dominated by Williams during his last race in Japan.
That Grand Prix also marked Eddie Irvine’s F1 debut, having been selected by Eddie Jordan because of his prior knowledge of one of the grid’s most difficult circuits due to his three years competing in the Japanese F3000 series.
The Northern Irishman duly lived up to expectations by qualifying eighth, considering the team had not scored a point all season.
It got even better for Irvine at the start of his maiden race as he passed Damon Hill and Michael Schumacher to get to fifth by taking the outside line at Turn 1.
Rain soon started to fall, which brought with it a slower pace from all cars on track – something which came as a huge relief to Irvine.
He explained to Autosport: “My back was in agony. After 10 laps, I thought I couldn’t take any more.”
A desire to priortise his teammate and future Ferrari man Rubens Barrichello meant Irvine was late to pit, and he’d dropped to 10th.
The 59-year-old was on the fringes of the points under the old system, but with low fuel and the track drying as the weather improved, he found himself gaining on his rivals – and then Senna appeared in his mirrors.
The Brazilian race-leader lapped Irvine but decided against doing the same with Hill up-ahead to avoid risking putting his lead in jeopardy.
Ulsterman Irvine had no desire to follow suit and play safe and stunned a furious Senna by unlapping himself – before attempting a daring overtake on Hill.
GettySenna was unhappy with Irvine’s actions during the race[/caption]
Irvine ultimately came home to score a point in sixth place but was given a punch for his troubles during a post-race storm.
Senna won the race but wasted little time in launching a rant at the F1 newbie’s antics, saying to media afterwards: “The guy behind me came like a lunatic.
“It was as though he was fighting for position. If he is a backmarker, he should respect someone who is one lap in front.”
That might have been the end of it – had the 41-time Grand Prix winner not encountered ex-teammate Gerhard Berger enjoying a glass of schnapps, already fuelled by the podium champagne.
“You know how Gerhard is, he can wind people up!” Bernie Ecclestone‘s former personal chef Karl-Heinz Zimmermann recalled.
“He looked at Ayrton and said, ‘Who was it who blocked you? Eddie did a good job today, huh?’ You could see the colour change. And out he went and down the stairs. I couldn’t believe it!”
“I know exactly what schnapps does,” added Berger.
“For Austrians, it’s our home drink, and it creates some aggression in you! I said, ‘Don’t just talk about it, just get the job done.’ And suddenly he disappeared.”
Senna marched straight to the Jordan office, which is where the eponymous team owner takes over the famous story.
Put to him that Irvine was among the funniest characters, Jordan told the Formula For Success podcast: “He was deranged, wasn’t he?! I mean, you couldn’t call him a normal person.
“But there was a situation in Japan when he did his first ever Grand Prix.
“After the race – I think you’ll find Senna won the World Championship there – Karl Heinz who ran the motorhome for Bernie [Ecclestone, F1 chief executive] and most people congregated around this and Karl Heinz did the hospitality but he was a great man for his Schnapps.
“Gerhard Berger, being a fellow Austrian, was just not of this planet in terms of mindset. He was just completely crazy.
“And immediately after the race, he’d be setting into shots of this Schnapps and because he’d won the World Championship he got Ayrton on it and they were teammates at McLaren, I think, at the time.
“And Gerhard – just looking for aggravation, which is second nature to him – kept saying to Ayrton: ‘You need to go down and see that Irvine f**ker who’s only in his first-ever grand prix, and he dared to unlap himself and he passed you for sixth place in his first-ever grand prix.
“‘I wouldn’t be putting up with that, you need to go and teach them a lesson’ – this is Gerhard pushing him.
“Next thing is, Ayrton comes down into the Jordan garage, and he started talking to Irvine, and Irvine totally ignores him.
“[He] knows exactly who he is.
Irvine vs Senna transcript
As per a recording from British journalist Adam Cooper
Senna : What the **** do you think you were doing?
Irvine : I was racing!
Senna : You were racing? Do you know the rule that you’re supposed to let the leaders come by when you’re a back marker?
Irvine : If you were going fast enough, it was no problem.
Senna : I overtook you! And you went three times off the road in front of me, at the same place, like ****ing idiot, where there was oil. And you were throwing stones and all things in front of me for three laps. When I took you, you realised I was ahead of you. And when I came up behind Hill, because he was on slicks and in difficulties, you should have stayed behind me. You took a very big risk to put me out of the race.
Irvine : Where did I put you in any danger?
Senna : You didn’t put me in any danger?
Irvine : Did I touch you? Did I touch you once?
Senna : No, but you were that much from touching me, and I happened to be the ****ing leader. I HAPPENED TO BE THE ****ING LEADER!
Irvine : A miss is as good as a mile.
Senna : I tell you something. If you don’t behave properly in the next event, you can just rethink what you do. I can guarantee you that.
Irvine : The stewards said “No problem. Nothing was wrong.
Senna : Yeah? You wait till Australia. You wait till Australia, when the stewards will talk to you. Then you tell me if they tell you this.
Irvine : Hey, I’m out there to do the best for me.
Senna : This is not correct. You want to do well. I understand, because I’ve been there I understand. But it’s very unprofessional. If you are a back marker, because you happen to be lapped …
Irvine : But I would have followed you if you’d overtaken Hill!
Senna : You should let the leader go by …
Irvine : I understand that fully!
Senna : … and not come by and do the things you did. You nearly hit Hill in front of me three times, because I saw, and I could of collected you and him as a result, and that’s not the way to do that.
Irvine : But I’m racing! I’m racing! You just happened to …
Senna : You’re not racing! You’re driving like a ****ing idiot. You’re not a racing driver, you’re a ****ing idiot!
Irvine: You talk, you talk. You were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Senna : I was in the wrong place at the wrong time?
Irvine : Yes. I was battling with Hill.
Senna : Really? Really? Just tell me one thing. Who is supposed to have the call? You, or the leader of the race who comes through to lap you?
Irvine : The leader of the race.
Senna : So what have you done?
Irvine : You, you were too slow, and I had to overtake you to try to get at Hill.
Senna : Really? How did I lap you if I was too slow?
Irvine : Rain. Because on slicks you were quicker than me, on wets you weren’t.
Senna : Really? Really? How did I come and overtake you on wets?
Irvine : Huh?
Senna : How come I overtook you on wets?
Irvine : I can’t remember that. I don’t actually remember the race.
Senna : Exactly. Because you are not competent enough to remember. That’s how it goes you know.
Irvine : Fair enough. Fair enough. That’s what you think.
Senna : You be careful guy.
Irvine : I will. I’ll watch out for you.
Senna : You’re gonna have problems not with me only, but with lots of other guys, also the FIA.
Irvine : Yeah?
Senna : You bet.
Irvine : Yeah? Good.
Senna : Yeah? It’s good to know that.
Irvine : See you out there.
Senna : It’s good to know that.
Irvine : See you out there …
*Senna then struck Irvine with his left hand, who shouts about making an insurance claim as the former is removed
Senna (leaving) retorts: “You got to learn to respect where you’re going wrong!”
“He’s doing an interview with someone and was not prepared to be disturbed.
“And Ayrton was getting ratty about this guy – ‘does he not realise who I am?’ sort of thing – and he just lashed out and gave him a smack.”
The amount of contact made by Senna’s left hand on the brash debutant remains a fierce topic of debate.
Irvine, who’d been leaning on a table, lost his balance and hit the floor before his assailant was dragged away by his McLaren pals.
Despite the story reaching the paddock within minutes, it took weeks until Senna was eventually handed a suspended two-race ban by the FIA.
Jordan added: “It was the biggest publicity Irvine ever got in his life, [to] get punched in the Japanese Grand Prix – in his first ever grand prix – by Ayrton Senna.”
