LotusGT1
10-24-2002, 02:32 AM
Ron Dennis has said that his relationship with Ayrton Senna was so close it bordered on love.
The McLaren boss is often portrayed as one of the most coldly calculating and hard-hearted people in the paddock but Dennis says his relationship with Senna went way beyond a professional alliance.
He said: "The best driver I ever worked with was Ayrton, not because of his performance on the circuit so much as his sincerity and his friendship. Because it was not an artificial warmth - I shared his pain as well as his pleasure and that's a privileged position to be in.
"You never forget the very small, magic moments, when the words and the emotion were really, really deep and sincere.
"It edged on almost a masculine love which was... special.
"I use the word quite deliberately because it's, I think, the right word to use. It didn't have any homosexuality about it, it wasn't that sort.
"It was two people who were incredibly passionate about what they were doing and from passion comes emotion. And if you have the same emotional gratification coming out of something that was being done well, then I think it's quite a fine line to actually.
"You can comfortably say a love of the sport, maybe people feel a little more uncomfortable with saying mutual love of the sport - and yet it even went a bit further because there was tremendous trust."
http://www.itv-f1.com/news/news_story/13252
The McLaren boss is often portrayed as one of the most coldly calculating and hard-hearted people in the paddock but Dennis says his relationship with Senna went way beyond a professional alliance.
He said: "The best driver I ever worked with was Ayrton, not because of his performance on the circuit so much as his sincerity and his friendship. Because it was not an artificial warmth - I shared his pain as well as his pleasure and that's a privileged position to be in.
"You never forget the very small, magic moments, when the words and the emotion were really, really deep and sincere.
"It edged on almost a masculine love which was... special.
"I use the word quite deliberately because it's, I think, the right word to use. It didn't have any homosexuality about it, it wasn't that sort.
"It was two people who were incredibly passionate about what they were doing and from passion comes emotion. And if you have the same emotional gratification coming out of something that was being done well, then I think it's quite a fine line to actually.
"You can comfortably say a love of the sport, maybe people feel a little more uncomfortable with saying mutual love of the sport - and yet it even went a bit further because there was tremendous trust."
http://www.itv-f1.com/news/news_story/13252