FROM THE ARCHIVES Monday, May 2nd, 1994:Ayrton Senna is killed following a crash at the San Marino Grand Prix. Martin McCarthycovered the story.
AYRTON SENNA, one of the greatest racing drivers of all time, was killed during the San Marino Grand Prix yesterday, after sustaining head injuries when he crashed off the track in an accident similar to that which claimed the life of Roland Ratzenberger during Saturday's practice session.
Senna, by far the most successful driver still competing in Formula One, was leading the race when his Williams Renault failed to negotiate the Tamburello curve and the car hit the track retaining wall at over 180mph.
Senna's accident occurred at the end of a weekend of carnage not seen in Formula One for decades. On Friday, Rubens Barrichello was lucky to escape with concussion when his Jordan hit the circuit wall at 150mph. On Saturday, Roland Ratzenberger was killed when mechanical failure caused his car to leave the track at over 200mph, while other accidents, including one in the pit lane, led to calls by Michael Schumacher, the eventual race winner, for immediate action to make the sport safer. "I get no satisfaction from this win," he said.
Three times during the weekend that awful foreboding silence which follows a big accident descended on the picturesque Italian track. The engines die, the grandstands go silent, team personnel watch the monitors in the garages. No one speaks as the emergency services work to stabilise and then extricate an injured driver. Everyone waits for news, hoping for the best, fearing the worst.
Barrichello was first on Friday afternoon, when his car slid off the track and was launched into the air by the kerbs before commencing a sickening series of barrel rolls.
We waited. Then the good news came - he was talking, he was walking. Back to business. On Saturday we knew Roland Ratzenberger had little chance when he hit the wall at 200mph. "Now we have cars that are very safe," said Schumacher, "they can withstand big big impacts. But the body and especially the head cannot take these."
Ratzenberger, the 31-year-old Austrian, was a long time friend of Eddie Irvine's. "I knew him for 10 years," said Irvine. "In Formula Ford he did it like me on a shoestring. He won the Festival the year before me. We were in Japan together for three years and now we have just got to Formula One. It is very very sad. But for myself, I know motor racing is dangerous. We must go on."
Yesterday the hillsides were parked with flag-waving fans, but the atmosphere was subdued. Italian fans love racing drivers and they grieve for a fallen one. The race start saw Senna on pole, ahead of Schumacher and Berger, the crowd's favourite.
These got away cleanly but on the second row JJ Lehto stalled and the frightening acceleration of a modern Formula One car meant that Pedro Lamy, who started on the back row, was travelling at over 130mph when he hit the stricken Finn. By heading for the wall, Lamy avoided potential disaster. Both cars were extensively damaged but Lehto escaped after being rammed square on.
The pace car came out and after the clearing of the wreckage the race recommenced with Senna in the lead, just in front of Schumacher. The German, however, was concerned at the handling of Senna's car. "It was very twitchy at the back. On the restart when we went into Tamburello the first time, the car bottomed and twitched but he regained control. Then on the second lap it bottomed again. I remember it doing it twice and then it went straight off to the right."
Again the awful silence fell around the track as the ambulance raced to the stricken Williams. Tamburello is a very fast left-hand curve lined with a concrete wall, but without energy absorbing tyres.
The Brazilian moved his head once in the car, a hopeful sign, but the anxiety of the medics was clear to see. After some 10 minutes he was removed from the car and laid flat on the sand before being transferred directly to a helicopter which transferred him to a Bologna hospital. The large blood stain on the sand where Senna had been lying caused further alarm.
As the Brazilian was being airlifted to hospital, the race was restarted, with Gerhart Berger in a nominal lead, although Schumacher had a 3.5 seconds margin from the first race. Even the sight of a Ferrari leading at Imola could not raise the crowd's spirits and the best they could muster was to wave their Ferrari Caps in encouragement.
Even this was not to last. Berger retired, giving Schumacher a runaway victory, with Nicola Larini upholding local honour in second place followed by Mika Hakkinen in the Marlboro McLaren Peugeot.
With Barrichello back in England recuperating from his concussion, Andrea De Cesaris was the sole Jordan driver in the race. He started in 21st place and was up to 10th when he spun out. "I put the power on too early." He said.
The weekend of horror was not still not over for Formula one After Senna's crash. Michele Albereto's Minardi raced down the pit lane after a pit stop. As he approached the end of pit lane the car shed a rear wheel which hit one Lotus and three Ferrari mechanics, though all escaped serious injury. The Lotus mechanic sustained a broken arm. Earlier debris from the JJ Lehto-Lamy start line crash slightly injured 10 spectators, but again none seriously.
After the shock of the loss of Senna and Ratzenberger, Formula One will be addressing the issue of track safety before the Monaco Grand Prix in a fortnight's time.
Former world champion Alain Prost said when he tried to restart the Grand Prix Drivers Association nobody would listen to him. "Many drivers, and not the least, did not want to listen," he said. "You also have to take into account team chiefs, the sporting powers and commercial interests. There has been a total degradation in relations between drivers and the establishment. They prefer to penalise drivers rather than to talk about security."
SAN MARINO FORMULA ONE GRAND PRIS (at Imola):1 M Schumacher (GermanyBenetton-Ford) 1h 28min 28.642sec; 2 N Larini (Italy-Ferrari) 54.942 3 M Hakkinen (Finland Marlboro McLaren) 1.10.679; 4 K Wendlinger (Austria-Sauber-Mercedes) 1.13.658; 5 U Katayama (Japan Tyrrell-Yamaha) one lap; 6 D Hill (GB Rothmans Williams-Renault) one lap; 7 H H Frentzen (Germany Sauber-Mercedes) one lap; 8 M Brundle (GB McLaren-Peugeot) one lap; 9 Mark Brundle (GB McLaren-Peugeot) two laps; 10. J Herbert (GB Lotus-Mugen-Honda) two laps; 11 O Panis (France Ligier-Renault) two laps; 12 E Bernard (France Ligier Renault) three laps
