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The Ayrton Senna Institute
Never before has a McLaren road or race car been inspired by one of our greatest drivers, but the McLaren Senna bears the name of legendary Formula 1™ driver Ayrton Senna, befitting its status as the ultimate McLaren track car.
While the McLaren Senna will be a star to McLaren road car and motorsport fans across the world, it is also crucial that this new McLaren brings into focus Ayrton Senna’s enduring legacy away from the racetrack, highlighting the incredible charitable work of the Instituto Ayrton Senna (IAS), which provides comprehensive education to the children of Brazil.
Ayrton Senna’s indomitable spirit has always been alive at McLaren but the McLaren Senna will amplify his legacy around the world. McLaren is proud to announce an official collaboration with the IAS, and a significant donation that supports its ongoing work with underprivileged children in Brazil. In its first years of operation the IAS benefited tens of thousands of children, and today it helps up to two million annually in practically every state of Brazil through the provision of vital education. McLaren is committed to ensuring the continuation of this truly life-changing work.
Ayrton Senna envisioned a country where everyone had the opportunity to be victorious in whatever they dreamed of doing. He knew that this possibility was remote for most Brazilians but he dared to change that reality. Two months before his tragic accident at the San Marino GP, he shared with his sister Viviane his desire to do something for the future of Brazil and especially for its children. Viviane, already working for human development as a psychologist, wanted to do more for the new generations, and together they dreamed of fulfilling this desire to help the youth of Brazil. Sadly, Ayrton didn’t live to implement the life-changing work he imagined. However, despite the pain of their loss, Viviane and the Senna family decided to realise Ayrton’s dream with the establishment of the IAS.
Success for the IAS is not only seeing the children and youth of Brazil performing well in Portuguese, mathematics and other school subjects. That’s because success at school – and beyond – depends on a wider set of abilities, understandings and values that relate to human life as a whole. The IAS fights illiteracy and truancy but goes above and beyond these problems to educate and prepare a new generation for the challenges of life. By promoting skills and abilities necessary for children to perform well in their social and professional lives, it prepares the youth of today for a world that is in constant transformation.
In 2004 the IAS became the first non-governmental organisation to receive the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) seal for the UNESCO Chair in Education and Human Development. In 2012, the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) invited the Instituto Ayrton Senna to join their group of partner organisations. It became the first Brazilian organisation to join NetFWD (Net Forward), its global network of foundations dedicated to promoting social impact.
