Ayrton Senna 19 years today.

the culture of deference

I remember watching the race live rooting for Schumi, then we had the Letho Lamy incident at the start, a safety car (an OPEL Vectra ... FFS), debris then watching Senna and Michael toe to toe. THEN Senna bottoming out ... going off smashing into the wall and waiting for him to get out of the car. I remember the small head movement after the crash and Murray Walker getting excited.

Senna was under pressure from MS, I still have the copy of Autosport (april 94) with the headlines Senna 0 Schumacher 20.

At the hospital it was revealed that nurses had discovered a small Austrian flag hidden in the sleeve of Senna's race overalls. Journalists concluded he had intended to fly it from his cockpit after the race in memory of Roland Ratzenberger.

Inside article from Autosports Editor Andy Hallbery

http://www.motorsportretro.com/2011/06/imola-1994/ 4 parts

Randall Floyd

I remember watching the race sat in front of my grandmothers tele, F1 hasn't been the same since.

Frank Bullitt

Remember it, I was still young enough but old enough to remember, particularly the news later that evening.

What F1 lost in a driver, it gained in a God.

frostie500

It's strange for me to remember Senna. The very first memory I have (of anything, not just F1) is his crash in the 88 Monaco GP, I was three at the time!, and from that point on I was an F1 fan. But until about 93 I don't remember too many specifics just some moments.

94 on the other hand was the first season where I can remember pretty much everything. For Imola I was on holidays in the Canaries and watched the race on some Spanish station. The news didnt really strike me until I got back home and Monaco was the next race.

My other memory of that weekend was that the Eurovision was on and Riverdance made it's debut....

vincenzolorenzo

Imola '94 was actually the first F1 race I ever watched. I knew Senna's name at that stage but not a whole lot more but I still remember the shock and disbelief when it was confirmed on the six o'clock news that night.

losthorizon

I was actually 25 when it happened and I remember it clearly, very clearly. I watched the practice the day before on Eurosport with John Watson I think and Ben Edwards. When Ratzenberger crashed I knew he had died for some reason even though his helmet moved at the end and they had only caught the very end of the crash. The commentators seemed to think he was OK for some reason or maybe they just wanted not to think about the worst as it had been a long time since the last fatal crash which I can also remember sadly.

Sennas crash though I felt instinctively that he had survived even though it was a bad impact. Although as the minutes went by my unease grew and when the white sheet went up around the car I knew the outcome was going to be bad really bad.

Murray Walker had to do a terrible job commentating about what was going on. I remember being annoyed at them restarting the race after the accident and more annoyed that they held a victory "celebration". During the race virtually no information came out about Sennas condition.


When Kubica had his crash at Canada I thought "hes dead". I was sure of it. It was the first time that thought hit me since Imola all those years ago. BTW I believe that F1 will never be completely safe and that more drivers, marshals (plenty of them have been killed - two since Senna died) and indeed Spectators will probably be killed in the future sadly.

If you were to ask me what is the most dangerous track I would say Monza.

I hate it when people say to me you just watch motor racing for the crashes - no I don't I watch it for great driving, overtaking and battles between cars and drivers. The last thing I want to see is someone crashing out as it reduces the field down and reduces the action.

frostie500

losthorizon wrote: »

I hate it when people say to me you just watch motor racing for the crashes - no I don't I watch it for great driving, overtaking and battles between cars and drivers. The last thing I want to see is someone crashing out as it reduces the field down and reduces the action.

There is an awful blase attitude towards safety from a lot of people who don't really understand racing. They love to see a big crash and while there is an obvious attraction to seeing someone walk away from a huge shunt what we really want to see is, as you said, great racing and drivers doing things and pushing themselves far beyond anything we could ever dream of doing.

I think that the most important week of motorsport since Senna's crash was in October 2011 when Marco Simoncelli and Dan Wheldon died within seven days in horrific, unfortunate accidents. It brought it right back to the fore of everyone that this is a dangerous sport and while we don't talk of it too often every rider and driver knows that when they do up their chinstrap and sit in their car or get onto a bike that they could pay the ultimate price.

When Simoncelli's death was added to those of Daijrio Katoh and Shoya Tomizawa there was a much understanding and realisation within the paddock that while we've come a long way there is still risks in the sport. I was at the next race in Valencia and there was a very somber atmosphere for the whole weekend as everyone had their own memories of Marco.

Anytime that we lose a rider or driver, and it doesnt matter if it's a rookie or a multi times champion, it's tough for everyone involved in the sport. I remember watching the Malaysian race when Simoncelli crashed and my feelings were very similar to what so many remember about Imola. I was only nine when Senna died so I thought, "it's a shame we wont see him racing again...lets go play football" so the impact of Senna's death never really hit me

Infoanon

I started watching F1 in '83 - which in time was the start of a 'safe' period in F1,albeit that Elio de Angelis,Stefan Bellof and Manfred Winkelhock all sadly lost their lives in testing(Elio) and sportcar racing(Stefan & Manfred).

I had seen Nelson Piquet and Gerhard Berger crash at Imola and survive - I had also seen the mastery of Ayrton Senna - periless in qualifying - and to me completely invulnerable.
I has seen Martin Donnelly survive the horror crash at Jerez - a fatality in F1 was furthest from my mind.

The '94 season had started bad - JJ Letho has broken his neck in testing, Jean Alesi had been left temporaily paralysed after a testing crash,Martin Brundle/Jos Versteppen/Michael Andretti had escaped an horrendous crash at Brazil and Rubens Barrichello had survived a barrel roll (and swallowing his tongue) at Imola on the Friday.

There was a foreboding - Partick Head has already written that the cars were now developing the same g-forces on the neck as the ground effect cars of the early '80s - and to some the cars were becoming too dangerous - but no one seemed to be too bothered about changing anything.

Roland Ratzenbergers crash and death came as a bolt from the blue - Roland was featuring in a MTV series at the time - but the reaction amongst the sport was very much 'these things happen' - there was also the fact that Roland had damaged hiw wing and not pitted to fix it before the accident.

This approach (attitude) stayed in play throughout the race build up - Simtek didn't pull out of the race - which to many was astounding!

That all changed when Ayrton crashed on that fateful Sunday afternoon - BBC radio were covering a football match and interrupted it to announce that Ayrton Senna had died.
Threre was a general disbelief amongst race fans - how could that happen to the invincible Senna. For me there was a realisation of how precious life is - invulnerability was gone.

As an aside viewers in Ireland & the UK were shielded from the full awfulness of the aftermath of the accident as BBC had for the first time an independent feed.

That same feeling from '94 of an accident waiting to happen/ignoring the danger signs all came back when Dan Wheldon lost his life in the Las Vegas crash,however when Marco Simoncelli died the following Sunday morning there was more of a feeling of it just being fate - there was nothing that could have been to prevent the accident.

Like many fans I can only imagine how fast Marco would have been on a 1000cc.

There are undoubtedly race fans who watch to see the big accidents but I believe they expect to see the driver/rider walk away - I remember when Rossi crashed in practice at Valencia 2007 - there was an initial excitement (it was a 'spectacular' crash which the TV cameras missed)quickly followed by an anxiety amongst the fans as it became apparent that Vale was injured.
I attended a very sombre Aragon in 2010 following Shoya Tomizawa's accident and recall the Italian fans applause for Shoya when the tragedy was announced at Misano.

Personally - I can go without seeing a crash in motorsport again.

Grim.

The one that still sticks with me the most is Marco Simoncelli's death i remember seeing the crash twice once live and once in a replay and i haven't seen it since that day.

When it was live i didn't even see Marco trapped on his bike, i just seen the bike coming back across the circuit thinking where the **** did that that come from just as Edwards and Rossi collided with it, that's when i spotted the helmet bouncing away to the right side of the track with that distinctive leopard print design and then came the moment when the camera cut to Marco lying motionless in the middle of the track and that instantly recognizable mane of curly hair i knew right away he was gone.

shamwari

I was / am a Prost fan but I take nothing away from the brilliance who was Ayrton Senna. Like most great geniuses, he went way ahead of his time. I read the biography of the late Prof Sid Watkins, and his account of what he found when he arrived at the crash scene at Tamburello was one of the saddest and most moving things I've ever read on any subject....

If anything even remotely good came out of the carnage of Imola, no other driver in F1 has lost his life since then. They are taking safety very seriously and I point to Robert Kubica's accident as proof because quite frankly, there was a time that his particular shunt would have been totally unsurviveable. For the safety crusade, we have good designers, clever people, a sprinkling of luck....and the late Sid Watkins to thanks. A legend if ever there was one.

NobodyImportant

Was a huge Senna fan and it really hit me deeply.

One thing to remember, is that bad luck played a part in his death. That upper suspension piece that pierced his visor was his downfall. An inch to the right and he would have been trying to get into the spare car.

How that inch changed F1 forever....