On May 1, 1994, in the San Marino Grand Prix, Senna again placed the car on pole for the 65th and final time, but he was particularly upset by two events. On Friday, during the afternoon qualifying session, Senna's protégé, then F1 newcomer Rubens Barrichello was involved in a serious accident that prevented him from competing in the race. The next day Austrian driver Roland Ratzenberger was killed in qualifying. As the most senior driver, he offered to take the role of leader in this effort.
Senna and the other drivers all opted to start the Grand Prix, but the race was interrupted by a huge accident at the start line. A safety car was deployed and the drivers followed it for several laps. On the restart Senna immediately set a quick pace with the third quickest lap of the race, followed by Michael Schumacher. As Senna entered the high-speed Tamburello corner on the next lap, the car left the track at high speed, hitting the concrete retaining wall at around 217 km/h.
Ayrton Senna is wildly regarded as one of the greatest racing drivers of all time. Senna has 3 world titles and 41 race wins to his name, but it is the events at the San Marino Grand Prix that the younger generation best know Senna for. This tragic weekend saw Senna suffer a fatal accident, and questions from that crash still remain today. Below I take a look at what exactly happened on that fateful day, and the mystery of the events on 1 May 1994. This will go down in history as the most talked about F1 fatality in its history.
The legendary Brazilian died when his car crashed into a concrete wall, causing head injuries. His death was the second that weekend, after Roland Ratzenberg had a fatal crash in qualify. These two deaths prompted calls for major safety overhaul, which led to no death recorded for two decades, before Bianchi's crash. From the first days of motor racing, drivers have lived close to the edge. Thanks to marked improvements in safety standards, the number seriously injured and killed competing in the sport has significantly reduced. The last death of a driver in an F1 car was Ayrton Senna in 1994, but in the early years the toll was alarming.
Here is a list of all those who have died racing in Formula One, not including officials and spectators. Between 1950 and 1961 the Indianapolis 500 was considered part of the Formula One championship, even though few European drivers made the trip over to America to compete. At the start of the sixth lap Ayrton's car went straight off at Tamburello Corner. The Brazilian tried to turn the car in the final moments before hitting the wall but there was no escape. The car hit the wall and with the impact the front suspension of his car came back and hit him on the head. The car bounced back towards the track, throwing wreckage into the air, and slid to a halt beside the circuit.
The doctors fought to save Senna's life and he was rushed by helicopter to Bologna. Lewis-Evans' Vanwall engine seized and sent him crashing into barriers at high speed, his car bursting into flames. He was airlifted back to England on team boss Tony Vandervell's private plane but died in hospital of burns six days later. Despite winning the inaugural constructors' championship, Vandervell was so distraught he withdrew from racing, as, for a time, did Lewis-Evans' manager Bernie Ecclestone.
Ratzenberger was 33 years old when was killed during qualifying for the San Marino Grand Prix at the Imola circuit on Saturday 30 April 1994. He went off-track on the previous lap, damaging his front wing, but rather than come into the pits he continued since he was competing for the final grid spot. Subsequently, the high speed on the backstraight, and therefore high downforce pressure on the front wing, finally broke the wing off, sending it under Ratzenberger's car.
He lost the steering capabilities and his car failed to turn into the Villeneuve Corner and struck the outside wall at 314.9 km/h. After the car carried on down the track, spinning around and stopping at the next corner, Ratzenberger's lolling head was revealed. Rubens Barrichello was badly injured in a violent crash at Variante Bassa in practice. Then in Saturday qualifying Roland Ratzenberger speared into the barriers at the Villeneuve kink, dying instantly. A shaken Senna visited the crash scene and was urged not to race by Professor Sid Watkins.
On race day Pedro Lamy's Lotus struck Lehto's stalled Benetton on the starting grid, showering a spectator enclosure with debris and injuring nine. When the race restarted from behind the safety car Senna crashed to his death at Tamburello on lap seven. Later on, several mechanics were injured when Michele Alboreto's Minardi shed a wheel in the pit lane.
In 1988, when McLaren-Honda won 15 of the 16 races, Senna beat his team mate Alain Prost eight wins to seven to take his first driving title. Thereafter two of the greatest drivers became protagonists in one of the most infamous feuds. In 1989 Prost took the title by taking Senna out at the Suzuka chicane. In 1990 Senna extracted revenge at Suzuka's first corner, winning his second championship by taking out Prost's Ferrari at Suzuka's first corner.
Senna's third title, in 1991, was straightforward as his domination as a driver became even more pronounced, as did his obsession with becoming better still. Some of his greatest performances came in his final year with McLaren, following which he moved to Williams for the ill-fated 1994 season. I remember it vividly; as soon as his car hit the wall, I said "He's dead", you just knew. Murray Walker's reaction was exactly the same, it was a devastating moment in motor racing history. I still have copies of the sports pages from the following day, I couldn't throw them away. The only man to win the drivers' championship posthumously, Rindt died during final practice at Monza when his car crashed into perimeter fencing and disintegrated.
He had only just started wearing a seat belt and it is believed that as he slid down inside the cockpit it cut his throat. The crash was in exactly the same place that von Trips had died nine years earlier. The car swerved into the infield, before shooting straight back across the track into the outer wall. Cortner's head hit the steering wheel and he died later that day of "massive head injuries". Another American, Jerry Unser, had died just two days earlier on the same track. Before we get to the Sunday race, lets take a moment to remember Roland Ratzenberger.
The Austrian was also tragically killed on this weekend, during qualifying on Saturday, as his car hit a wall he suffered a number of injures including a ruptured aorta, and passed away upon arrival at the hospital. The official cause of death being stated as a basilar skull fracture. Twenty-four hours later, Senna died when his car failed to negotiate a sharp corner and slammed into a concrete wall at around 135mph. As officials examined the wreckage they found a furled Austrian flag which, had he won, Senna would have raise in honour of Ratzenberger. Donohue lost control of his March during a practice session and careered into fencing.
A marshal was killed by flying debris but it was thought Donohue was alright. However, he suffered from a worsening headache and the next day went to hospital where he lapsed into a coma and died from a brain haemorrhage. It was believed his head had struck a wooden fence post during the crash. For Ratzenberger, a 33-year old Austrian, the race at Imola was only the third grand prix of his career, having spent a decade slowly climbing the ladder from Formula Ford to F1.
Senna, in contrast, was in his 11th F1 season, already a three-time world champion and universally regarded as one of the greatest racing drivers ever. Safety standards have improved since the first World Championship Grand Prix at Silverstone in 1950, where there was no medical back-up or safety measures in case of an accident. It was not until the 1960s these were first introduced, as helmets and overalls became mandatory and the FIA assumed responsibility for safety at the circuits.
Steps were taken to improve the safety of the Formula One car in the 1970s; the cockpit opening was enlarged allowing the driver to escape more quickly in the event of an accident and outside mirrors became mandatory. The 1980s saw further improvement in the structure of the Formula One car, with the monocoque being made out of carbon fibre instead of aluminium, increasing protection upon impact. Grooved tyres were introduced in 1998 instead of racing slick tyres to reduce cornering speed. Safety measures continued to be introduced into the 21st century, with a number of circuits having their configuration changed to improve driver safety. There has hardly ever been a Formula One driver so revered as Aryton Senna. The Brazilian won 41 Grand Prix races, held 65 pole positions, and won three driver's championships.
At the third race of the 1994 season, he crashed his Williams-sponsored car on the racetrack at Imola in San Marino. The Brazilian legend, and arguably the greatest F1 driver in history, lost his life at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix when, on lap seven, his Williams car smashed into a concrete wall on the Imola track. At the start of the third race, the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola, Italy, there was a huge accident. A wheel had flown into the crowd and seriously injured spectators.
Once the race got underway, Senna was struggling to hold the lead. Schumacher was hard on his tail when Senna shot off the track and crashed into a concrete wall at the Tamburello corner and died. But as Peterson lay on the tarmac, track officials hampered attempts to get an ambulance to him and it was a quarter of an hour before medical aid arrived. There was more concern for Vittorio Brambilla, who had head injuries, and he was the first to be treated, and fortunately he made a full recovery.
At the hospital surgeons, with Peterson's agreement, operated that night to stabilise ten fractures in his legs. However, during the night bone marrow went into his bloodstream through the fractures leading to him suffering full renal failure. The hugely talented Cevert's car clipped a kerb during Saturday practice at Watkins Glen and was knocked into the safety barriers, causing it to spin headlong into loose barriers on the other side of the track. His team-mate, mentor and friend Jackie Stewart, who had already won the world title, quit there and then ahead of what would have been his final race. Unser, who had been involved in the 15-car pile-up a year earlier, died when he lost control during a practice session, his car hitting a wall and then somersaulting down the track before exploding.
The accident led to fire-resistant driving suits becoming mandatory. One race later and Ferrari suffered a second blow when Collins, who was lying third in the drivers' championship, lost control while battling for the lead and his car careered into fencing. Collins was thrown out of the cockpit and hit a lone tree, dying later that day from a fractured skull. Fifty-year-old Miller was the oldest driver on the track when he lost control of his Novi Special and piled into a concrete wall at over 100mph during practice. Shortly after the finish Carl Scarborough collapsed and died from heat exhaustion. What had likely happened was that the right front wheel had shot up after impact violated the cockpit area.
It impacted the right frontal area of his helmet, and the violence of the wheel's impact pushed his head back against the headrest, causing fatal skull fractures. A piece of upright attached to the wheel had partially penetrated his helmet and made a big indent in his forehead. In addition, it appeared that a jagged piece of the upright assembly had penetrated the helmet visor just above his right eye. As track officials examined the wreckage of his racing car they found a furled Austrian flag, a victory flag that he was going to raise in honor of Austrian Roland Ratzenberger, who had died on that track the day before. After five years with McLaren, Senna went to Williams in 1994 – the most dominant team in Formula One at the time. The combination of the best car and the best driver was meant to yield another title.
At the first two, in Sao Paulo and Aida, Senna had to drop out of the race. One day before his death, Senna said Formula One needed to be safer – a reaction to the death of Austria's Roland Ratzenberger, who died during training in Imola. But it wasn't until after the "blackest weekend in Formula One" that changes were made.
Tracks were made safer, the cars were improved, and no Formula One drivers have died in racing accidents since Senna. +++ In 1994 Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna had fatal accidents in Imola. During the season, tracks were defused by installing additional chicanes in 27 particularly dangerous corners. Later, the HANS system was developed to protect the head and neck area of the drivers.
After the car hit a concrete wall at the Tamburello corner of the Imola circuit at more than 200kph, the right front wheel and suspension were hurled into the cockpit. The Silverstone circuit had been revised following the Imola crashes and had tightened corners at Copse and Abbey. Hill won after Schumacher was belatedly disqualified for ignoring a black flag that he was given after passing Hill on the formation lap. He would also be banned for two rounds which sent his German fans into apoplexy as Hockenheim was next on the calendar. Fortunately for Schumacher, and the safety of drivers such as Damon Hill who received death threats, he was allowed to race under appeal.
Fifty-two drivers have died in accidents at FIA World Championship events or other events while driving Formula 1 cars, with the vast majority occurring in the 50s, 60s, and 70s. Since the FIA adopted various safety protocols, only one driver has died at an FIA World Championship event since 1994. Senna won 41 races in 161 Formula One starts, second only to Alain Prost, and drove a McLaren to the championships in 1988, 1990 and 1991. In 1988, he won eight of 16 races, a record for one season until Mansell won nine two years ago.
When Senna won in 1991, he was the youngest driver to win three world titles. After the 1993 season, in which he finished runner-up to Prost, Senna left McLaren to drive for the Williams team. During practice for the Spanish Grand Prix, Ratzenberger 's replacement, Andrea Montermini, lost control of his Simtek and crashed headlong into a wall. Wirth's anguish was aggravated by the increasingly naive comments being directed his way. Senna is regarded as one of the greatest drivers in the history of Formula One.
He was recognized for his qualifying speed over one lap and held the record for most pole positions from 1989 to 2006 until this record was broken by German driver Michael Schumacher. He was among the most talented drivers in extremely rain-affected conditions, as show by his performances in the 1984 Monaco Grand Prix, the 1985 Portuguese Grand Prix, and the 1993 European Grand Prix. He also holds the record for most victories at the prestigious Monaco Grand Prix and is the third most successful driver of all time in terms of race wins.
In 1989 he entered the British Formula 3000 series, finishing third overall. He won one race each in 1990 and 1991 in the Japanese Sports Prototype Championship with the same SARD team he drove for at Le Mans. He also returned to touring car racing in the Japanese Touring Car Championship, finishing seventh in 1990 and 1991 in a BMW M3. In 1994 he finally achieved his ambition of becoming a Formula One driver, signing a five-race deal with the new Simtek team run by Nick Wirth. His campaign got off to a poor start at the Brazilian Grand Prix in Interlagos where he failed to qualify. But he got onto the grid for the next round at the TI Circuit in Aida, Japan, as his experience of the track from his touring car days meant he was the only driver in the race who had driven at the venue before.
Formula One is the highest class of open-wheeled auto racing defined by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile , motorsport's world governing body. The "formula" in the name refers to a set of rules to which all participants and vehicles must conform. The F1 World Championship season consists of a series of races, known as Grands Prix, held usually on purpose-built circuits, and in a few cases on closed city streets. The results of each race are combined to determine two annual Championships, one for drivers and one for constructors.
Senna died after crashing into a concrete wall at about 300 kph in Sunday's race. Another high-speed crash in Saturday's qualifying killed Ratzenberger, a rookie. On Wednesday 15 September, Netflix released a new documentary on the life of the seven-time Formula One world champion, simply entitled "Schumacher".
