From the time of his debut in 1984, Ayrton Senna was the center of attention in the world of Formula 1 racing. A particularly famous performance was the rainy Monaco GP, where he rose from 13th on the grid to second by Lap 19, and overtook race leader Alain Prost, just before the race was red-flagged on Lap 32. Although he did not win the race, his speed in the rain left a lasting impression. After three podium finishes that year, Lotus team manager Peter Warr was convinced of Senna’s talent, and bought him out of his contract with Tallman. In only his second year with the team, Senna had moved to a top team, gaining the environment to aim for victories.

In 1985, Senna's first year with Lotus, he quickly distinguished himself in Round 2, the Portuguese Grand Prix. It was a track he liked, qualifying third and finishing third the previous year. This year, he qualified on pole for the first time with an 0.5 second gap to his closest opponent. In a rain-soaked race, he drove brilliantly, lapping everyone up to third place, to claim his first F1 victory. He went on to take pole positions at San Marino, Monaco, Detroit, Italy, Europe (Brands Hatch), and Australia. In Round 13, a rain-drenched Belgium, he was unchallenged as he drove through rapidly changing conditions to win his second grand prix.

In 1986, he claimed pole position in 8 out of 16 races. The highlight was Round 2, Spain, where he qualified 0.826 seconds ahead of Nelson Piquet (Williams Honda), and won the race by 0.014 seconds over Nigel Mansell. In his two years with Lotus Renault, Senna had won four races, in difficult conditions such as rain or city streets, largely due to his skills. To take full advantage of his talent, Senna expressed his desire for Honda engines, the most powerful engines at the time. Honda was also attracted to Senna’s speed, and in 1987, the following year, Honda began supplying engines to the Lotus team.