ayrton senna was a phenomenon. even winning most of his races and all of his titles after double-champion emerson fittipaldi and triple-champion nelson piquet, the brazilian was able to become the biggest star not only of the sport in his native country, but maybe the biggest star ever, alongside the king of football, pele. but after him, it’s been tough for any other landsman to really shine. barichello and massa both got to drive ferraris for quite a while, but they were both beaten by superior adversaries (schumacher and currently alonso); massa only really had a shot for the title in 2008, when raikkonen was his team mate. but it was not to be. and the zontas, pizzonias, di grassis & such will probably never even get close to winning races. basically, it’s tough to be brazilian f1 driver, with senna’s shadow overcasting all.