Adriane Galisteu: I didn't cheat on Ayrton Senna... the day he died at Imola 25 years ago my world stopped

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It is 25 years to the day since Ayrton Senna died following a crash at the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola.  

To mark the 20th anniversary of the tragedy in 2014, Sportsmail's Jonathan McEvoy interviewed Senna's girlfriend at the time, the model Adriane Galisteu. 

We republish that interview in full here. 

A blonde model with blue eyes will say a prayer for Ayrton Senna on Thursday. It is the same ritual Adriane Galisteu has practised on each of the 19 previous anniversaries of the driver's death.

A person of faith like Senna - 'I believe in the Lord' - she has spoken to Sportsmail about that weekend 20 years ago when the Williams her boyfriend was driving crashed into a concrete wall at Tamburello curve at Imola, killing him.

She remembers the last hours spent at Senna's villa in the Algarve in the countdown to the San Marino Grand Prix.

Ayrton Senna with his girlfriend Adriane Galisteu (left), who is pictured at his funeral (right)

Senna's death on lap seven of the San Marino Grand Prix, 25 years ago, rocked the world

'He phoned me,' she says. 'He was not well. His head was not right. 'Rubens Barrichello, his good friend, was in hospital (after an accident in Friday practice). He was very upset by the death of Roland Ratzenberger, a fellow driver who died on Saturday (in qualifying). He told me, 'I'm very sad'.

'I had known him anguished before but never heard his voice like it was that day. I remember telling him, 'Ayrton, don't enter that race'.'

The advice Galisteu gave Senna, the thrice world champion and arguably the greatest driver of all time, echoed the words of Professor Sid Watkins, the Brazilian's friend and Formula One's medical delegate as well as one of the world's leading brain surgeons. He told him to pack it all in and 'let's go fishing'.

While Senna was undoubtedly emotional having visited the site of Ratzenberger's crash, there is a suggestion that his relationship with Galisteu itself was preying on his mind.

In Ayrton, o Heroi Revelado (Ayrton, the Hero Revealed), author Ernesto Rodrigues claims that Galisteu had contacted her former lover and that Senna's brother, Leonardo, had played tapes of these secret conversations to him.

Senna, seen here celebrating his famous win at Monaco in 1992, won three world titles

The author, a former London bureau chief of Brazil's Globo TV channel, visited seven countries and spoke to 213 people during two years researching the book. However, Senna's sister Viviane has denied that any member of the family talked to Rodrigues.

'My goal is not to talk about a book that I haven't read,' Viviane once said, growing upset when pressed on the claims about Galisteu's behaviour. I put the accusation to Galisteu herself.

'It never happened, no. I was 100 per cent honest with Ayrton. I recall his skin and his smell. I only told him truths. I was a young girl and shortly after I first knew him I took him home to get to know my mum and my brother, the place where I lived and how I lived.'

She says that she fell in love with him when they met at the 1993 Brazilian Grand Prix, where she was an umbrella girl. She had long admired him from afar but never imagined they would become lovers.

Senna, pictured on the day before he died, was said to have been 'not right' prior to the race

'When I tried to tell him not to race at Imola, he told me that he loved his profession and he couldn't just pull out of the race,' she remembers. 'It is my life'.

His strong inclination to race is corroborated by Senna's manager, Julian Jakobi, one of the most respected figures in the paddock. 

He told me that, though Senna was upset like everyone else by the events of the weekend, he spoke to Frank Williams, the team boss, and decided to compete. 'Stories saying he did not want to race are simply not true,' said Jakobi.

Back in Portugal, Galisteu watched the race on TV. 'I saw the accident and thought nothing of it,' she said. 'In fact, I thought, 'Good, he'll be back early, thank goodness'.

'But then I saw it was more serious than I first imagined. I stood in front of the TV and watched the replay over and over again. I could see the car was damaged but I never thought he had died.

Nicola Larini, Michael Schumacher and Flavio Briatore react to the news of Senna's death

'I answered the phone and it was the wife of his best friend telling me I must get over to Imola. We went on a private jet from Lisbon. I got on the plane thinking he was still alive; hurt but not killed.'

Back at Imola, Senna had been taken out of the car and flown to hospital. After a 37-minute delay, the race restarted, to be won by Michael Schumacher, who was driving in a Benetton believed by Senna to have flouted that season's new rules outlawing traction control. No champagne was sprayed on the podium.

'When the plane was about to take off, the pilot said there was a call from the tower. I imagined it was Ayrton saying, 'You don't need to come, everything is OK'.

'It was a friend: 'Adriane, you don't need to come'. 'Wow, that's good', I said, thinking he must be improving. 'No, he's dead'. My world stopped at that moment. 

'In my head it was impossible: he could only die of old age. It was incredible that he died doing what he knew best in life. 

'It was very difficult for Brazil, for the whole world, but even more for me. It took me many years to recover my life, especially amorously.'

Galisteu, seen here in 2009, claimed Senna wanted to end his career with the famous Italian outfit Ferrari

Galisteu, who has just turned 41, married Alexandre Iodice in June 2010 and has a three-year-old son, Vittorio.

'My time with Ayrton was a great love story. He was loved across the world more than he ever knew. His memory will never be erased. For me, it was special, but now I am married and have a child. It means I cannot say he was the love of my life.'

She remembers the remarkable funeral in Sao Paulo, when the whole sprawling city stopped to mourn its icon: the brooding, brilliant, ruthless, clever, mystical, megalomaniacal Senna.

'I spent as long as I could with his body. I didn't go home. I didn't wash. I stayed with him.

'Ayrton had three dreams,' she says fondly. 'The first was to finish his career at Ferrari; the second was to get to know Disneyworld; the third was to become a father.

'He was more than a champion. He had an enormous heart, a simple way of life and had simple dreams. He was entertaining. At home, he was like a child. He was full of happiness.'

Senna won 41 races and secured 65 poles during a career which promised so much more

Senna's death shook Formula One more profoundly than that of any other. Before the Austrian rookie Ratzenberger, no driver had died for 12 years. 

Niki Lauda, the three-time world champion, said: 'God has had his hand over Formula One for a long time. This weekend, he took it away.'

Secondly, the whole dramatic scene was beamed around the world on TV, giving it a global impact never known before.

Murray Walker later described it as the hardest commentary of his life, treading a fine line between empty optimism and morbid fatalism as he watched, unable to know precisely how serious Senna's predicament was.

In Imola, today and for the next four days, there will be races in honour of the man who won 41 races and 65 poles. His death prompted safety provisions that have ensured no driver has died in a Formula One cockpit since.

Less favourably, his ruthlessness on track - most notably in driving Alain Prost off in 1990 - set the tempo for some of the less chivalrous driving that followed. (In fairness, as McLaren boss Ron Dennis observed, Senna's superlative talent and mercilessness was matched and abetted by Prost in their glorious rivalry.)

Senna had led the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix at Imola before crashing out on the sixth lap

Senna's wrecked Williams rests on the outskirts of Tamburello curve following his accident

The most intriguing question is raised by Bernie Ecclestone's trial in Germany and the doubts it prompts over the 83-year-old's future at the head of Formula One: could Senna have taken over from Bernie? Senna was clever, calculating, sharp, cowed by nobody and saw commercial opportunities way ahead of his time.

Just before he died, he struck a deal with Audi to import their road cars. The arrangement stood until Audi opened a factory in Brazil in 1999. 

He even caused Ecclestone to change the terms of the super licence by doing a deal with Sega before a pan-F1 contract had been signed with Nintendo. 

From then on, Ecclestone ensured that a driver's electronic media rights were signed over to him.

We mourn the loss of a driver of sublime brilliance. Perhaps we join Adriane in saying a prayer for him. But we should also ponder the role he might now be taking on in Formula One but for that afternoon at Imola.