A violent crash, on the seventh lap of the San Marino GP, in Italy, in 1994, claimed the life of the three-time F-1 world champion. It was the third stage of a season that did not go well for Senna. He had yet to earn championship points and saw a rookie, Michael Schumacher, shoot with two wins (the German would go on to win his first title that season).
Ayrton spent the previous two years eating dust in Williams cars and, just as he transferred to the team with the best vehicle, the FIA (International Automobile Federation) banned the technologies that gave the blue and white team an advantage.
The weekend of the GP, disputed in the Imola circuit, was already loaded because of a serious accident of Rubens Barrichello, in the practices of Friday, and the death of the Austrian Roland Ratzenberger on Saturday. On Sunday, May 1st, it was Senna’s turn.
BLACK SUNDAY
The step by step of the death that shocked Brazil
– (Fabiana Caruso/)
BLOOD ON THE ASPHALT
The track at Imola had a lot of bumps. F-1 cars need to “stick” to the asphalt and, on an uneven surface, they are unstable and subject to skidding. To complicate the situation, the Williams vehicles were difficult to guideas the team was still adapting to the ban on using the electronic suspension system.
DEATH CURVE
Tamburello had already been the scene of accidents. In 1987, Nelson Piquet hit the same spot at 280 km/h because of a flat tire. Two years later, Gerhard Berger, a friend of Senna, crashed and set his Ferrari on fire on the corner wall. After Senna’s accident, the corner turned into a harmless chicane – a sequence of low-speed corners.
– (Fabiana Caruso/)
WHEEL WITHERS
One theory blames the tires. On the first lap of the race, the drivers had to drive slowly because of an accident. With that, the tires cooled down and lost 25% of the pressure. The car was 5 mm lower, which may have destabilized the aerodynamics. This would have caused Williams to lose grip on the track.
– (Fabiana Caruso/)
OUT OF CONTROL
The most famous explanation is that the steering column, which connects the steering wheel to the front wheels, has broken. Senna asked the engineers to increase the size of the part by 1.8 cm so that the steering wheel was closer to him. According to the Italian Justice, the welding of an extra piece of metal would have been poorly done and caused the column to break.
(WITHOUT) SHAFT THIN
The car’s electronic systems send performance data to the team’s computers. It’s called telemetry. In the case of Senna, the data reveal that there were force being applied to the steering column, which would prove that it did not break before impact. You can also tell that the pilot applied the brakes and released the accelerator.
– (Fabiana Caruso/)
DEEP IMPACT
The car wasn’t that fast. (216 km/h) and the crash was not frontal – pilots have escaped with their lives from more violent accidents. The bad luck was that, in the crash, the right wheel was pressed between the wall and the car. This caused the suspension arm to break, which entered through the helmet’s visor, pierced the skull and reached the brain. Apart from the punctured skull, there was no other injury on Senna’s body: no broken bones or bruises.
WAITING FOR A MIRACLE
The firefighters arrived 20 seconds after the accident, but they had nothing to do since there was no fire. the ambulance took two minutes to reach the scene of the accident – time taken in the opinion of racing safety experts. Once out of the car, Senna had his neck cut so he could breathe (tracheostomy). After another 15 minutes, a helicopter took the pilot to the Maggiore hospital in Bologna. He died 40 minutes after being admitted.
Results of the tragedy
Accident made F1 safer
The Italian court investigated the case until 1997. Members of the Williams team, including owner Frank Williams, were tried and acquitted. Journalist Flavio Gomes, specialized in motorsport, explains: “There is no culprit in the sense of someone being negligent or careless”. At least there was one good consequence: security increased. Today, the wheels are “tied” to the car so they don’t fly, there are reinforcements on the sides and an F-1 safety commission.
CONSULTANCY Flavio Gomes, journalist at ESPN Brazil and the website warm up
SOURCES Book The Death of Ayrton Senna, by Richard Williams; documentary Seismic Seconds: The Death of Ayrton Senna, from National Geographic; and websites The Guardian, Earth Brazilapril.com, The Independent, BBCSEE and FastCompany