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- Ayrton Senna was a Brazilian racing driver who became a three-time Formula One World Champion and scored a total of 65 pole positions in his entire career. Being recognised for his astonishing qualifying speed, Senna was widely regarded as one of the greatest drivers of all time in terms of raw speed, which led to him partially outpacing his rivals by a significant margin and consequently holding the record for the most pole positions with 65 for seventeen years. He scored his first pole position at the 1985 Portuguese Grand Prix in just his sixteenth race, driving then for Lotus, when he outqualified eventual world champion and main rival Alain Prost by 0.413 seconds. He went on to win the race due to his commanding performance in wet conditions. He broke the record for most pole positions at the 1989 United States Grand Prix, outqualifying Prost by over 1.4 seconds and consequently securing his 34th pole position to break Jim Clark's record of 33 which he had equalled in the previous round in Mexico. Senna scored his final pole position at the memorable 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, where he outqualified eventual champion Michael Schumacher by 0.337 seconds. It turned out to be his final weekend after Senna was involved in a fatal accident the following day. In all, Senna took 65 pole positions, with 29 of them converted into race victories, among them his maiden win in Estoril 1985. He scored 46 poles during his glorious era with McLaren, which resulted in 35 Grand Prix victories and three drivers' titles. He also took 16 poles with Lotus and the three remaining poles with Williams in his final season in 1994. Senna is currently the joint-record holder for the most pole positions at the same circuit by scoring eight pole positions at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari; he shares the record with fellow world champions Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton. Despite his death, he still holds the record for most consecutive pole positions with eight. His largest pole margin was at the 1989 Japanese Grand Prix by outqualifying then-teammate Prost by 1.730 seconds. His closest pole margin was at the 1985 San Marino Grand Prix, taking his second career pole by just 0.027 seconds ahead of Keke Rosberg. (en)
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