“He explained he needed a photographer to send pictures of him back home to
the papers in Brazil, to get him publicity, and asked whether I’d be
interested in doing that. So I said yes again.”
EFDA Formula Ford 2000 Championship inJyllandsring, Denmark, 1982
(Keith Sutton/Sutton Images)
Sutton, now 55, briefly worked as Senna’s press officer but turned down the
offer of working as his full-time, official photographer when he started in
Formula One in 1984.
However, he continued to take pictures of Senna throughout his career – which
included 42 Grand Prix wins and three Formula One world championships –
before he was killed in a crash in San Marino in 1994, at the age of 34. A
selection of these images will now go on display at the Proud
Galleries in Chelsea, London, to mark the 30th anniversary of the
racer’s Formula One debut and the 20th anniversary of his death.
At the Formula One world championship, 1986 (KeithSutton/Sutton
Images)
“There’s still a lot of interest even 20 years on, especially after the film [the
2010 documentary Senna],” says Sutton, who has now photographed 35
Formula One seasons and almost 500 Grand Prix. “Young people who’d never
heard of him before saw the movie and now know who he is.
“He was a good looking guy, but it wasn’t just that. He had a charisma, a star
quality. I’ve never seen anyone else that compares to Ayrton. He’s one of
those guys who will always be remembered.”
Senna: Photographs by Keith Sutton, Proud Chelsea, 6th March – 5th May
2014, www.proud.co.uk