Among his many legendary drives, it was Senna’s Formula 1 win piloting the McLaren MP4/6-Honda at home in 1991 that ranked as the most celebrated for the son of Sao Paulo.

Many of Nigel Mansell’s 31 Formula 1 wins were struggles against the odds. But when he couldn’t get his Ferrari 640 to work on qualifying tires at the Hungaroring in 1989, and he instead switched his focus to race setup, the odds looked to great. Twelfth on the grid, at...