When I was a boy growing up in Stevenage, I would come home from school and quite often put on a Video of Ayrton Senna.
I wanted to be like him. I aspired to one day drive the way he drove, and achieve something similar to what he achieved.
At the time, I felt that if I could get anywhere close to doing anything similar to him I would be super-proud of myself. That is what I set my sights on all those years ago.
The fact that with the help of my family I made it to Formula 1 is already a dream come true.
So you can imagine how special it is to me to be about to equal the number of races Ayrton competed in (161) – and, if I win in Singapore on Sunday, to match his number of victories as well (41).
I’ve only just realised I was that close to Senna’s career statistics. Generally, I don’t pay too close attention to those numbers or records.
Ayrton Senna
Ayrton Senna won three world titles and 41 races before his death at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix
But now it has come around, I am so proud to be in a position to emulate him. At the same time, though, I am also aware that if he had not passed away he would have continued and won so many more races and championships, because he was that good.
