[J-dawg]

I remember a similar anecdote about a legendary F1 driver (possibly Michael Schumacher, but I can't remember).

During practice the drivers talk to their team over the radio about the car's setup. Most drivers would stop talking in the corners and come on the radio during the straights.

This driver would apparently just keep talking all the way around corners. Driving the car was basically automatic, leaving him free to focus on optimising the car.

[fidrelity]

I can't find the video but I'm pretty confident this was in fact Ayrton Senna.

[elteto]

Another fantastic Senna story is The Moving Wall:

http://www.ayrton-senna.net/the-story-of-the-moving-wall/

[cfontes]

It’s Ayrton, he also knew as much about mechanics as his mechanics

[J-dawg]

Ah, that makes sense. Thanks for the correction!