Monday Milestone: Senna
“My biggest error? Something that is to happen yet”
– a prophetic Ayrton Senna before his death
This Week in History:
1994, May 1
Three time world champion Ayrton Senna is killed after crashing into the Tamburello corner of the San Marino Grand Prix at high speed
Many say he was the greatest of his generation. He could have been the greatest ever.
But motor racing can be a high stakes game sometimes, and can end abruptly and prematurely. Live by the sword, die by the sword.
Ayrton Senna grew up in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and they say he learned to drive without a clutch by the age of seven. He loved to race, and rose through the ranks, driving his first Formula 1 race in 1984, just four days after his 24th birthday.
His maiden victory in Monaco that year was the first of a record six wins around the Monte Carlo circuit. Senna established his credentials around the Formula 1 circuits, whilst creating a turbulent rivalry with Alain Prost. When Senna joined McLaren-Honda in 1988, alongside Prost, they would claim fifteen of the sixteen races between them. Senna would go on that year to win the world championship. With further championships in 1990 and 1991, by 1994, it seemed there was no limit to the potential of Ayrton Senna.
Until the San Marino Grand Prix.
It had already been a horrendously tragic event at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari. On the Friday of that particular weekend, Rubens Barrichello, Senna’s close friend and protégé had crashed heavily. Senna was upset, had broken protocol, spending time in hospital with him, until he was certain his friend would survive.
Then, on the Saturday afternoon, into the second qualifying session, there was another heavy crash. Austrian driver Roland Ratzenberger collided with a concrete wall and Senna, already a strong proponent of improving the safety in Formula 1 was shocked as he learned of Ratzenberger’s death.
It is said that it affected him so profoundly that inside the cockpit of Senna’s ill-fated car, was the Austrian flag. Senna had intended to parade it in Ratzenberger’s honour after the Grand Prix.
But he never got the chance.
Seven laps into the main race, Ayrton Senna’s Williams left the track at somewhere around 330km per hour, slamming into a concrete retaining wall. Reports indicate when the right suspension frame slammed back into the cockpit, Senna’s skull was fractured, a piece of the upright attached to the wheel, penetrated his helmet and a tie rod also was thought to have penetrated the helmet visor. Any of these injuries could have proven fatal.
The speed was too high. The impact was too great. Even world champions are ultimately human. Ayrton Senna did not stand a chance.
He had been at the top of the world for many years and one of the greatest Formula 1 drivers ever to grace the Earth. But Ayrton Senna was gone. He was just 34 years old.
Brazil plunged into mourning. For three days a nation grieved and the funeral was broadcast nationally. It was among the blackest days for motor racing.
With today’s safety standards and cautions in Formula 1, there is no question that Ayrton Senna changed motor racing forever. The simple tragedy remains, that it just wasn’t in the way that he would have wished to.
Milestone Five: Famous Ayrton Senna moments
5. 1984 Monaco – After qualifying just thirteenth in his first Monaco Grand Prix, a 24 year old Senna, defied the horrendous conditions in the rain, gaining three seconds on the leader only to be denied when the race was cancelled due to safety concerns.
4. 1989 Japan – In an intense championship battle, after he was cut off by arch-rival Alain Prost, with both cars damaged, Senna repaired his vehicle and re-entered the race (illegally as it turned out) before going on to win. He was later stripped of his victory.
3. 1990 Japan – With the final race deciding the championship again, a non-finish from Prost would secure the title for Senna. So when the typically aggressive Senna wrecked both his and Prost’s car on the first lap, controversially, it was enough.
2. 1991 Brazil – with two world championships already, Senna’s finest victory came in front of his home crowd, when he led from start to finish, under excruciating circumstances pushing himself and his car beyond their limits for a famous victory.
1. 1994 San Marino – After his friend Reubens Barrichello was seriously injured during qualifying, Senna broke rules to remain by his friend’s side in hospital. Tragically, days later Ayrton Senna would himself be killed in a high speed crash.
With thanks to Getty Images Europe for the picture (Mandatory Credit: Pascal Rondeau/Allsport)
