“Today and Forever”: 30 years After Ayrton Senna’s Death, Sebastian Vettel Pays Ultimate Tribute to His Idol Ahead of the Imola GP

It has been 30 years since the horrific accident at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix at the Imola Circuit that took Ayrton Senna’s life. The incident took place on May 1st, a devastating day for all the teams, fans and the whole community. As we make our way back to the circuit where the unfortunate event happened, Sebastian Vettel along with most of the drivers on the grid, paid their tribute to the racing legend.

While F1.com made an official post of all the drivers on the grid, paying their respects to the lost legend, Sebastian Vettel had some plans of his own. Despite retiring in 2022, the 4-time world champion has been closely knit with the F1 world. You can take the driver out of F1, but never F1 out of the driver, right? So as we near the Imola GP, here is how the retired F1 driver paid his tribute to Ayrton Senna.

Sebastian Vettel’s #FOREVER SENNA collection

Sebastian Vettel recently launched a new design for a tee-shirt and Balaklava in honor of the late legend. The colors that Vettel has used for the merch take inspiration from the Brazilian driver’s helmet with #forever printed on the front. At the back of the tee shirt, we can see a caricature of Vettel chasing Senna.

The words, “There is still a race to win” are printed at the back with Imola 2024 printed right under Vettel’s signature on the tee. The arm of the tee shirt showcases the artwork of Senna in his iconic helmet, with 30 years written under it, signifying the long decades that the world lost the racing legend.

Why would Vettel do such a thing to tribute Senna? It’s because that is his idol. On his website, where Vettel is selling the merch, he mentioned the story of how Senna became his hero. He stated, “I was only 7 years when the accident happened. Through my father, I learned what a great driver Ayrton Senna was. He was a big fan of his and gave me a “Senna” doll and a small Senna toy car.”

With this, it’s clear that Senna’s influence in the sport has touched millions of lives and has also given rise to the 4-time world champion. And with this tribute it is clear that the Brazilian 3-time world champion has influences Sebastian Vettel a lot.

Ayrton Senna’s influence in Sebastian Vettel’s life

The description on Vettel’s website tells us all about everything we need to know about how Senna’s legacy influenced the German. Seb spoke about his experience witnessing the McLaren legend in his prime saying, “However, the closest I was ever able to get to him was watching a Friday training from a grandstand at the Hockenheim Grand Prix. Sadly, I never had the chance to meet him in person.”

He then explains how it was later in his career that he learned more about Senna, as a person and a driver. Vettel mentioned his takeaway from Senna saying, “What I particularly valued about him, much later on, was that he was not only one of the best racing drivers ever but that he also showed compassion and support for the often critical social problems and poverty in his home country Brazil.”

However, that is not all that Vettel will be doing in Senna’s memory. Besides the new Merch that celebrates Senna’s legacy, Vettel will also be driving MP4/8 at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix as a tribute to Brazil’s late F1 driver.

That being said, what do you think of the new collection by Vettel? Would you purchase some of the new merch?