Senna The Best – Paolo de’Alessio

It was great seeing Seb Vettel, current drivers and the rest of the paddock get together to commemorate Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna’s passing at Imola.

One of the renown Ayrton Senna photographers was Paolo de’Alessio. I’ve previously posted reviews of his Senna photobooks such as the small format “Ayrton Senna” and his 1994 hardcover book “Obrigado Ayrton”. 

Later in 1995, Italian publisher Giorgio Nada Editore released a photo plate portfolio of containing 32 of Paolo de-Alessio’s excellent photos of the Brazilian driver over his 10 year career in F1 from 1984 to 1994. The collection includes photos of Ayrton in each of his race cars – Toleman, Lotus (JPS & Camel liveries), McLaren MP4/4, MP4/5, MP4/5B, MP4/6, MP4/7, MP/8 and Williams FW16. 

Many of these photos were previously published in “Obrigado Ayrton” but the key feature with this portfolio is the enlarged photo reproduction.

These photo plates are thick weight gloss paper approx 13” (33cm) x 9.5” (24cm) and can easily be framed.

Also included was a 12 page booklet with thumbnail photos of the larger photo plates and also providing a general narrative of each season 1984-1994. The rear of the booklet has a list of Senna’s F1 race starts and also a very neat collection of chassis side profile photos of the Lotus 97T, McLaren MP/4, MP4/5B, MP4/6, MP4/8 and the Williams FW16 and cutaway diagrams of each of this cars on the opposite page (a very 80’s thing to do in F1 books).

Looking back at Paolo’s photos now, its a real shame these aren’t used for today’s Topps F1 cards. 

It’s a simple fact that Senna’s cars has iconic big tobacco sponsor liveries that were used on F1 cars of that era and the best photos are undoubtedly the ones with Ayrton in his full sponsor gear and race car.