As we reach the sad anniversary of Ayrton Senna's death at Imola in 1994, it's fitting that a documentary released this week tells the compelling story of 1983, the year in which, arguably, the Brazilian was forced to grow up as a man and a racing driver.
Previously unbeaten in anything he had turned his hand to, Senna's sense of winning as if by right by was to be thoroughly interrogated on track by Martin Brundle. In truth, this epic season was also the making of the Englishman as he stood toe-to-toe with a Brazilian who was destined to become a three-time World Champion and sporting icon.
This video explains just why the 1983 season was an epic -- probably the greatest there has even been in Formula 3 -- as the 23-year-olds raced for equally diverse teams. Senna drove for Dick Bennetts; a calm, soft-spoken, logical, engineering-orientated Kiwi. Brundle raced for Eddie Jordan; an excitable, garrulous, shrewd chancer who knew little about technical details but everything about the ways of racing and the people within it.
Senna came from behind to take the title at the final round in October. But such a tense scenario had seemed highly unlikely four months earlier after Senna had won the first nine races and seemed destined to take a championship he and just about everyone else thought was a mere formality. The two notable exceptions had been Brundle and Jordan.
"The first nine races had been painful beyond belief," says Brundle. "But Eddie Jordan was so good with me - getting into my head and saying 'You can beat him'."
When Brundle did just that at Silverstone on June 12, Senna could scarcely believe it. He began crashing with extraordinary (for him) frequency, often as the result of keeping his right foot planted in the belief that his undoubted talent would pull him through.
The most graphic video clip is from Oulton Park as Senna's Ralt lands on top of Brundle's similar car after Ayrton had gone for a gap that was always going to close. Or, put another way, Martin had refused to be intimidated by Ayrton's philosophy of, in Brundle's words: "Get out of my way or have an accident."
This and other quotes come from in-depth interviews with 14 of the main players in this exceptional season. I may have poked fun at Jordan's ramblings in the past but, in this film, he is eloquent and uncharacteristically calm as he relays his view of the season and articulates his huge admiration for both drivers. That is a key point in this story; you come away with the anticipated respect for Senna -- and just as much for the man who gave him such a hard time.
The film is the work of Mario Muth. As with all of his interviews, there is no voiceover, the story accompanying 250 pictures and film clips coming directly from Senna (using tape recordings from 1983), Brundle, their fellow competitors Calvin Fish, Davy Jones, Allen Berg, Mario Hytten, plus Bennetts, Jordan, Alastair Macqueen (Jordan engineer), Neil Trundle (F3 entrant and later to become Senna's chief mechanic in F1), Murray Walker and fellow media men Jeremy Shaw, David Tremayne, Simon Arron and Keith Sutton.
This film is not simply about racing. It is an in-depth study of the psychology and confidence necessary to perform at the maximum from March to October; an object lesson in totally refusing to give up.
'Senna vs Brundle' is available for download for £5.99. It's worth every penny.