... {part 3}TEST-DRIVER:4) Senna was the ultimate test driver in history.Lee Gaug (Goodyear Senior Tyre Technician and ex-US Air Force Engineer); "We use to run a lot of guys who were fast pilots but they couldn't remember anything they had done afterwards. It's the same in F1. Ayrton is different. He has an incredible ability to remember everything, all the smallest details of what happenned, even while he is committed to taking it to the razor's edge. He can separate the two processes in his mind. Phenomenal."Osamu Goto (Senior Honda Engine Manager); "He can give us feedback about ANY small change to the engine."Gerard Ducarouge (Lotus Designer); "He would do some laps and then tell us what to do to make the car faster. After a while we realized he had never been wrong!"; "He was very rewarding - if we changed the settings and the car went slower, we knew it was the car not the driver, as the driver was perfect."; "He was the best driver I ever worked with." SUPER-HUMAN QUALIFIER:REGARDLESS THAT SENNA WAS THE BEST RACE-DRIVER AND TEST-DRIVER, QUALIFYING IS WHERE IT'S ALL AT ANYWAY!5) I would go further and suggest that a race is just an artificial exercise - repetition solely for the purpose of entertaining spectators and promoting sponsors (in rallying they don't do repeated laps) and that the Driver's Championship points should be allocated purely to qualifying results, because as Senna himself said; "Qualifying tells you the truth about who is the best driver. Races involve luck". I and many other drivers agree - above all else is: Qualifying SPEED; The sport is racing - by definition it is about speed. Strategies etc. are for chess players (those who can't drive fast enough). I only care about sheer speed - and qualifying IS where it's at - absolute balls to the wall, hang it on the line, 100.0 % maximum commitment, no margin for error!Senna; 40% poles, Schumacher; 27% poles (and Schumi's pole rate was 0% while Senna was still alive - not a single solitary pole in their 41 GP together. (Senna had 15 poles (already at 36.5%) by his 41st GP.))As to the facile assertion that Schumacher was faster because he had more fastest laps in races; In Senna's era there was no refuelling, so fastest laps were always at the end of the race - the winner had no need to push hard at this time, so fastest lap was usually a consolation prize for one of the losers. Sometimes even a backmarker, 3 laps behind, scored a fastest lap just by putting on new tyres for the last few laps. They are meaningless. Qualifying is when the pressure is on as the result matters! (And in the 1-lap era, there were no second chances - here Senna's ultra-consistency yet further increased his quali domination.)Berger said; "He is in a different place, operating on a totally different level."; " He is not just one step ahead of the rest of us - he is two steps ahead". What does that mean exactly? Senna's own description of operating in a supernatural zone - out of body experiences during qualifying laps would sound like the delusions of a lunatic but for one thing - the stopwatch proved it was all for real - Senna's performances were of the mysterious realm of genius rather than that of a madman."An impossibly talented driver, his talent borders on the mysterious - his other-worldly skills are an enigma - he's not something anybody is going to understand."; Chris Hilton - AYRTON SENNA: Hard Edge of Genius.

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