Senna and Imola: Ten Years Later

Senna. The word itself evokes powerful images and emotions ten years after the legendary driver's tragic death at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix. If you want to capture the magnitude of his loss, then use the word Earnhardt around NASCAR fans and multiply the reaction ten fold. Imola, Formula One, Brazil, and the world have never been the same since May 1st, 1994.

Ayrton Senna da Silva was born on March 21, 1960, in Sao Paulo, Brazil. By the age of four he was already driving a small go-kart, a gift from his father. When Senna turned thirteen he could finally race legally and spent a lot of time competing at the karting track near Interlagos. By 1977, Aryton had won the South American Kart Championship and repeated the feat the following year before moving to karting in Europe. But the young Brazilian could only manage successive runner-up finishes in the Karting World Championships in 1979 and 1980.

hotels LausanneIn 1981, Senna moved up to the British Formula Ford 1600 series where he won the championship that year. This shining new star on the racing scene next took the Formula Ford 2000 championship in 1982 and the British F-3 title in 1983. Senna finally broke into Formula One with the Toleman team in 1984 where he scored 13 points and finished 9th in the Drivers' Championship. The following year Senna made the jump to Lotus and scored his maiden F1 win in Portugal and finished 4th in the Drivers' Championship. Senna would race with Lotus for two more seasons before moving to McLaren in 1988.

Aryton Senna won his first Formula One World Championship with McLaren during his very first year with the team. Senna would take the title again for McLaren in 1990 and 1991, and his popularity and legendary skill as a driver became known around the world. His battles on the track with other drivers and his own teammates are still remembered to this very day. By 1993, Senna was racing on a race-by-race contract with McLaren at $1 million per Grand Prix. Driving an underpowered and uncompetitive car, Senna still managed to finish second in the Drivers' Championship and won the final two races of the year. What no one knew was that Aryton Senna's win at the 1993 Australian Grand Prix would be his 41st and final Grand Prix victory.

For the 1994 season Senna moved to Williams following Alain Prost's retirement. Prost and Senna were once rival teammates at McLaren and Prost left Williams and Formula One after winning the Drivers' Championship in 1993. Senna took pole in the first two races of the season in Brazil and Japan, but failed to finish either race. A very young Michael Schumacher had won the first two rounds of the championship for Benetton. Now the pressure was really on Senna as Formula One headed for Imola and the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix.

Ask anyone who was at Imola that weekend and most of them will tell you that there just seemed to be some indescribable sense of impending tragedy in the air. The season saw a whole host of technical regulation changes that banned several driver aids like traction control and active suspension. Senna was still adjusting to his new team and struggled to find the right setup for his Williams-Renault FW16. Ayrton and his teammate Damon Hill had modifications made to their cramped cockpit, including changes to the steering column and monocoque, to give themselves more room.

The first sign of trouble at Imola was during Friday practice when Jordan's Rubens Barrichello had a very heavy crash at the Variante Bassa chicane. Barrichello's car was thrown against the tire wall and fencing at 140mph knocking the young Brazilian unconscious and he swallowed his own tongue. A quick response from the FIA's trackside doctor Professor Sid Watkins saved Barrichello's life. Barrichello would later recount that Senna was the first face he saw in the medical center after regaining consciousness. "He had tears in his eyes. I had never seen that with Ayrton before. I just had the impression he felt as if my accident was like one of his own," recalls Barrichello.

During Saturday's second qualifying session Roland Ratzenberger's Simtek crashed at high speed into the wall at the Villeneuve Corner. The young Austrian driver hit the wall at around 180mph and came to a halt slumped in the shattered car. Senna saw the accident on the monitors in the Williams pit and quickly commandeered a safety car and drove to the scene of the crash. Ratzenberger had already been taken to the medical center and Senna rushed back to the pits to find out more about the condition of the driver. Senna tracked down Prof. Sid Watkins and the FIA's chief medical delegate broke the grim news that Ratzenberger was dead.

Roland Ratzenberger's death was the first Formula One fatality in 12 years, and Watkins later recalled that "[Senna] was very shocked. He had never faced the reality of his profession before so starkly because no one had been killed during his time in Formula One. He was always fatalistic about death; he was a religious man and intelligent enough to think it through. This was the first time it had come so close." When the session resumed Williams withdrew and Senna returned to the motorhome instead of attending the traditional pole position winner's press conference.

Ayrton Senna would start the race from pole position for the 65th time, a record that still remains unbroken even today. During the morning driver's briefing Senna voiced concerns about the use of the Safety Car during the warm-up lap. The Safety Car was used for the first time at the Pacific Grand Prix in Japan two weeks earlier to keep the field bunched before the start. Senna argued that the Safety Car could not go fast enough to keep the F1 tires up to temperature, and if the Safety Car needed to be brought out during the race a similar problem would occur. The race stewards acknowledged these concerns but made no changes.

The race itself was in trouble from the start. Senna led the field when the lights turned green, but J. J. Lehto’s Benetton stalled on the grid and Pedro Lamy’s Lotus slammed into the back of the stricken car at nearly full speed. Debris was scattered all over the circuit and into the crowd, injuring nine people. Instead of red flagging the race the Safety Car, a standard Opel Vectra, was brought out. After just two laps at full speed the Opel's brakes were completely worn down trying to keep a sufficient pace. At one point Senna actually pulled up along side of the Safety Car trying to encourage the driver to go faster.

By lap 6 the debris had been cleared from the starting grid and the Safety Car pulled into the pits. Senna quickly jumped on the throttle to make a gap between himself and a fast pursuing Michael Schumacher. Going through the left hand Tamburello Curve on that lap everyone noticed how Senna's car bottomed out and twitched. The tires were not yet up to racing temperature and the lowered ride-height of his Williams sent out a shower of sparks when it made contact with the track.

Bracke accommodationGoing through the Tamburello Curve once more on lap 7, Senna’s Williams veered sharply off the track at a speed of 190mph and slammed into an unprotected concrete retaining wall. The front-right side of the car took the full force of the impact, a wheel flew off, the suspension crumpled, and the Williams-Renault FW16 catapulted back on to the track. Senna was able to slow the car to 137mph before the impact, but a part of the front suspension, with the wheel still attached, speared through Senna's visor entering his skull. Marshals ran to help Senna but stopped just short of the car when they saw blood coming from Senna's helmet. Rescue workers rushed to the accident and the race was quickly stopped.

Senna's lifeless body was freed from the wreckage and attended to on the scene by several medical personnel, including Prof. Sid Watkins. The BBC chose not to show footage of blood seeping from the car and doctors frantically working to revive Aryton Senna just a few feet away. Alain Prost, who was commentating for French television, could hardly disguise the fact that he was crying as he described the scene. As they worked to stabilize the stricken driver a helicopter landed on the circuit to transport Senna to Maggiore Hospital in Bologna.

Thirty-seven minutes after Senna’s crash, the race was restarted. Before the race was over Michele Alboreto's Minardi lost a wheel in pitlane that injured several Ferrari mechanics and a Lotus mechanic was also hit by debris. Word began to spread in the F1 Paddock that Senna was already dead. Benetton's Michael Schumacher went on to win his third straight race of the season but was unaware of Senna's condition until after the race. The drivers were told of Senna's grave condition prior to the podium ceremony and there was no traditional champaign celebration.

Senna was being kept alive by life support until his heart gave out at 6:40pm that evening. The chief medical officer, Dr. Maria Theresa Fiandri, pronounced Senna dead and the whole world was in a state of shock. The greatest racing driver in the world, Ayrton Senna, was dead at age 34. Later that evening, in the shattered remains of Senna's car, they discovered a furled Austrian flag. Aryton Senna had intended to dedicate his 42nd Grand Prix victory to Roland Ratzenberger's memory.

Aryton Senna's body was flown back to Brazil's Guarulhos airport with a fighter escort. Brazil's President Franco ordered three days of national mourning, including the closure of all state schools. Senna's flag draped coffin with his signature yellow helmet atop would lie in state at the Monumental Hall in Ibirapuera Park for just one day. During that time over a quarter of a million mourners would pay their respects before the funeral ceremony began.

Military cadets bore the coffin to a fire engine for Senna’s last journey to Sao Paulo's Cemitério do Morumbi. Aryton Senna's pallbearers included Emerson Fittipaldi, two-time World Champion, Gerhard Berger, his closest friend in Formula One, former World Champions Alain Prost and Jackie Stewart, Damon Hill, Rubens Barrichello, Derek Warwick, and Johnny Herbert. The simple grave remains a comforting place for family, friends, and fans to this day.

Aryton Senna's death changed the face of Formula One forever. The countless number of F1 safety changes to protect the drivers, teams, and fans have become the standard by which other forms of motor racing measure themselves. The cars undergo mandatory cockpit safety cell testing and a variety of other safety features have gone on to save lives. The drivers are required to use the HANS device and other rules stipulate that a driver can be removed from the car while still strapped into his seat. A pitlane speed limit and other rules were also put in place to protect team members. The Safety Car has since become a highly modified automobile capable of keeping an appropriate pace without difficulties. The circuits all have large run-off areas, gravel traps, tire walls, and high-friction tarmac to slow cars down in case of a crash. Numerous other changes to the sport have meant that Ayrton Senna was the last driver to lose his life during a Formula One Grand Prix since that fateful weekend in 1994.