AYRTON SENNA
The tragic death of Ayrton Senna promoted the Brazilian's status in Formula One to almost mythical status. Yet even if he hadn't died in front of a world wide audience doing what he loved, his achievements in his all too short career would still have had him jostling for the title of the greatest F1 driver of all time. Senna is now considered something of a forerunner to the modern driver, who prided himself on his fitness and understanding of the modern Grand Prix cars. When he joined forces with Alain Prost at McLaren, the young driver showed no sign of being overawed by the established champion, and in the end forced Prost to move on. On the track words such as brave, fast and daring were used to describe him - and are the attributes that took him to three world titles. When he died in May 2004 in an accident at the San Marino Grand Prix, he was trying to fend off the challenge of a young Michael Schumacher. F1 fans never got a chance to see the two duel for supremacy over an extended period - but could they have done - it would have been one of the most fascinating battles in F1 history.

• More pictures