1989 Australian Grand Prix

“When I retired, they should have stopped it. Nothing more could have happened that could have affected the championship, so there was no further point in risking people’s lives.”

If Ayrton Senna sounded a little arrogant after his spectacular exit from Adelaide’s rain-soaked streets, his suggestion had the thread of logic that was missing from the officials’ viewpoint of the race.

After he’d three-wheeled his way back to the sanctuary of the pits, Senna had called Ron Dennis and his waterlogged men together to discuss his future. The championship lost, he even hinted at possible retirement.