Ayrton Senna — Monaco 1984

Ayrton Senna started 13th on the grid and thrived in the wet conditions, making it all the way up to 2nd place by lap 19. As the rain began to fall more heavily, he was reeling in leader Alain Prost by three seconds per lap. The race was stopped at the end of lap 31, giving Prost the victory, but the effort had shown a spotlight on Senna’s brilliance.

This image was painted over three months, its creator David Johnson using acrylic paints to capture the image onto canvas, striving to record every detail of the moment Senna powered his way through the difficult conditions. Prints are available in a limited run of 500, each measuring 16.5×23 inches and signed and numbered by the artist.

Members only$29 / year

Keep going. This is where it gets good.

Sports Car Digest Membership is for people who'd rather spend an hour with one chassis number than skim ten headlines. The rest of this story — and every other one like it — is a few seconds away.

  • 5,000+ members-only stories

    Concours, auctions, race history, driven classics and the full archive.

  • No ads. None.

    The whole site reads like a magazine, on every device.

  • The market, every week

    Auction results and classic-car values from the people who were there.

  • 30% off the shop

    Every Sports Car Digest shirt and piece of merch, all year.

Join Sports Car Digest — Keep Reading

$29 a year. Cancel anytime, no hoops.
Already a member? Sign in

BY CAR PEOPLE, NOT A NAMELESS MEDIA COMPANY. Your membership keeps a small independent team of historians, photojournalists and racing drivers doing this.

Join — Keep Reading $29/yr