Imola at 20: What lessons have been learned?

By Simon Wright – Follow me on Twitter @Siwri88

The deaths of Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna were a huge shock to Formula One and to global sport. The first fatal accidents to drivers in Grand Prix for eight years, and 12 on race weekends meant some serious questions were posed and needed to be answered decisively.

To conclude the IMOLA AT 20 series, I ask the questions and try to answer them too and find what has motorsport as a whole learnt from the tragic events of the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix.

Aftermath

Before that though, the aftermath was one of devastating shock and sadness for the world, especially with what happened to Senna. On a weekend where Nelson Mandela was heading for power as South Africa’s first black president, Manchester United were winning a second straight FA Carling Premiership title and Anne Kirkbride returned to work on Coronation Street following a battle with cancer, the newspaper front pages, radio broadcasts and TV news bulletins were all about the Imola deaths.

In Brazil, the country was left deflated. Not always the happiest place with terrible amounts of poverty and an unpopular government in control, people looked to Senna for inspiration and happiness. Now he was gone and it left his fans on the brink of despair. Senna’s girlfriend of 14 months, Adriane Galisteu was crestfallen. Despite the disapproval of Senna’s family, the pair were madly in love and it is widely believed Ayrton was ready to settle down with Adriane – he saw a future with her that he hadn’t with any of his other relationships.

The funeral of Senna brought Sao Paulo to an absolute standstill. Many of the great of F1, past and present were at the service including Ron Dennis, Frank Williams, Emerson Fittipaldi, Alain Prost and Gerhard Berger. The service on Thursday, 5 May was held after three days of national state mourning. The Brazil football team would go on to win the World Cup final in the USA two months later and dedicated their win to Senna. Meanwhile, a quieter gathering visited Salzburg as Roland Ratzenberger was buried. His parents had only just returned from a holiday in Mexico to their native country on the day their son lost his life.

The FIA quickly dismissed speculation about the cause of Senna’s accident – a case that would eventually go to a messy trial that lasted years. Programmes such as the Channel 4 ‘Going Critical’ series of 2001 were totally inaccurate and didn’t bring the facts a documentary need. Max Mosley did add though that he was certain that a front wing failure was the cause of Ratzenberger’s fatal accident, something that is widely believed to be true.

Monaco misery

The fraternity gathered sombrely at Monaco with Williams and Simtek just fielding one car each. Then in the closing stages of Thursday morning free practice, Karl Wendlinger had a massive crash exiting the tunnel into the Nouvelle Chicane. Wendlinger was knocked unconscious on impact and taken to hospital where he was placed in a deep coma. Deeply distressed, Sauber and their other driver, Heinz-Harald Frentzen went home emotionally drained by recent events. Thankfully, Wendlinger would make a full recovery, although he was never the same as a racing competitor.

More accidents continued to blight the season. Lotus driver Pedro Lamy has a dreadful testing accident at Silverstone, breaking both of his legs when a failure on his car saw him ejected from the seat. Andrea Montermini broke his foot and cracked a heel when he lost control of another Simtek during practice for the Spanish Grand Prix. In Germany, a kamikaze move from Mika Hakkinen to try and take the lead from row four eliminated himself and five other drivers, luckily without injury. Hakkinen was subsequently banned for the next race. In Estoril, Damon Hill narrowly escaped injury when his car flipped over Eddie Irvine’s spun Jordan during qualifying and at Suzuka; a marshal’s leg was badly broken when he was hit by Martin Brundle’s McLaren whilst attending to another car that had crashed at the same spot a lap earlier.

The FIA though were already in the process of pushing new regulations through to ensure a repeat of Imola was unlikely.

The GPDA and FIA act

Following the Imola tragedies, the drivers were rocked. Many questioned their desire on whether to compete again – even championship leader Schumacher wondered whether he should carry on. The Grand Prix Drivers’ Association was reformed on the Monaco Grand Prix weekend. Berger, Schumacher and Christian Fittipaldi would meet with Niki Lauda and the FIA on a regular basis to make immediate changes to circuits. There were some desperate measures in immediate weeks, with temporary tyre chicanes looking clumsy at best on the Barcelona circuit. There were changes to the tracks at Silverstone, Estoril in Portugal and Spa as the commitment Eau Rouge ride was tempered for 1994 by a temporary chicane.

The FIA also acted quickly. Mosley hosted a highly charged press conference in Monaco to push through new regulations which included changes to the airbox, the banning of pump fuel and more protection around the cockpit for the driver. Further improvements after 1994 have made the sport a much safer environment to compete in. Tethers have been added to each corner of the suspension to stop wheels flying off in accidents and striking the driver’s head. Helmets were made stronger and more robust which saved Felipe Massa’s life when a spring hit him at full speed during qualifying for the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix.

Crash structures were also brought into place, with all cars designed and built needing to pass demanding crash tests on the side, front and rear of the chassis. Failure to pass these requirements would mean expulsion from the racing circuit. The HANS (Head & Neck Safety) device was made compulsory from 2003 onwards after vigorous testing in America, protecting the driver’s neck in a shunt. Other changes in recent years have included the banning of pointed noses on the front wing, and higher cockpit protection for the driver.

Close calls

Senna’s friend and long-time F1 medic Professor Sid Watkins was put in charge as the Head of Safety, a role he held until his death from a short illness in September 2012. The work that Sid, the FIA and the GPDA did in the weeks and months after Imola has to be credited. It managed to put motorsport back into a safer environment.

Since 1994, there has not been a single fatality at a Formula One Grand Prix meeting involving drivers. That doesn’t mean to say that there haven’t been close calls. They include Robert Kubica’s aeroplane shunt at the 2007 Canadian Grand Prix, the terrifying pile-up at the start of the 2012 Belgian Grand Prix and Mark Webber’s acrobatic flip over Heikki Kovalainen during the 2010 European Grand Prix at Valencia.

Three marshals have sadly been killed since 1994. Italian fire marshal Paolo Ghislimberti was struck by a loose wheel from Frentzen’s Jordan after a five-car crash at the second chicane on the first lap at Monza in 2000. Less than six months later, 52-year-old marshal Graham Beveridge was killed, also hit by an errant wheel from Jacques Villeneuve’s BAR Honda when he crashed in the 2001 season opener in Australia and more recently, Mark Robinson died when he was run over by a recovery vehicle whilst clearing up Esteban Gutierrez’s damaged Sauber after the 2013 Canadian Grand Prix.

Senna’s foundation

In the weeks leading up to his death, Ayrton Senna had been working on creating a foundation to help children in Brazil. In a time of desperate poverty, the aim was to give youngsters in the country a chance with decent health and a good education. Senna cared deeply for those in Brazil. He was their ray of light and he wanted to help out when possible. Three months before his passing, he launched the Senninha cartoon character.

His sister Viviane has carried on the work since his death and it has really made a difference. It started in late 1994 and by the end of 2008; 10 million children and young people in Brazil had received assistance from the programme which has produced educational programmes and the launching of The Connect Yourself Program and The Gran Prix of Journalism. The work that Viviane has put in to achieve the results has been outstanding and her brother would be extremely proud of what she has done to make Brazil a better country.

Closing chapter

This article brings an end to my week long stretch of pieces on Viewing Perspectives. IMOLA AT 20 has been very informative to me and while tough to write, I have found this to be an intriguing project to write and share with my readership circle.

It is great to see the strong safety record since Imola. Sadly, it had to take a tragic weekend and the death of a champion and a rookie to knock the sport out of its complacency it had slipped into. Ayrton Senna was charismatic, ruthless and passionate. Some of his driving actions have been called into question and rightly so. However, he was still a brilliant champion and one of the ultimate best. Roland Ratzenberger was hard-working, determined and a charming presence on the motorsport circuit wherever he was. He had managed to achieve his goal. It was such a shame it was cruelly taken away from him shortly after he had got onto the grid.

Tributes paid to where Ayrton Senna died earlier this week on the 20th anniversary

The 1994 San Marino Grand Prix will always go down as one of the blackest weekends in the history of sport. Lessons have been learnt from what happened and motorsport is now in a much safer place than it ever has been before. I do hope that what was witnessed at Imola 20 years ago will never be seen in the future.

Categories: 1994, Adriane Galisteu, Ayrton Senna, Brazil, FIA, GPDA, Imola, Lessons, Professor Sid Watkins, Roland Ratzenberger, Safety

Imola at 20: Simtek's painful story

By Simon Wright – Follow me on Twitter @Siwri88

Sometimes in life, we can forget about people so quickly – harshly in most circumstances. That shouldn’t happen to individuals who give their life to a certain dedication. Roland Ratzenberger fits into this category. Although only a newcomer into the sport, the charming Austrian had already become a popular soul in the paddock before he became the first driver to die at the wheel of a racing car in 12 years during qualifying for the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix.

Ratzenberger was driving for one of the two new teams in the sport, Simtek Grand Prix. Set-up by former FIA president Max Mosley and the hard-working Nick Wirth, Simtek were the natural underdogs of the pitlane who seeked a dream and ultimately went bust for the challenge.

In the fifth edition of the Imola at 20 series and exactly 20 years to the day since Ratzenberger perished at the circuit, I pay tribute to one of the most hard-working teams who never got much more than pain and punishment.

Early founding

Created by Mosley and Wirth, Simtek Research was founded in 1989 and began their journey as a consultancy firm in the world of engineering. Its aim was to be a third party in helping out construct racing chassis and constructions of wind tunnels for competitors to the highest possible standards.

With a facility in Banbury, Simtek built up their contracts in Formula One, Formula 3000 and IndyCars and their engineers ran the BMW 3-series cars that entered the German Touring Car Championship in 1991. Two years later, Wirth’s Grand Prix dream almost came true when Simtek won the contract to design the car for the Bravo Grand Prix team. Unfortunately, the sudden death of Frenchman and project backer of the Bravo team, Jean Francois Mosnier, saw these plans end up in the scrapheap.

With Mosley having sold his stake in Simtek Research to Wirth after becoming FIA president, Nick realised that if he was to achieve his racing dream, he’d have to do it himself rather than through a third party route. So in the summer of 1993, he took the decision to enter Formula One with his own team for 1994. They would be a newcomer on the grid along with Pacific Grand Prix.

There were realistic hopes but good backing for Wirth. The major television cable channel MTV came on board as title sponsors and three-time world champion Sir Jack Brabham became a shareholder, meaning his son David Brabham would drive one of the cars.

However they still needed funding for the second seat. Step forward Roland Ratzenberger.

Roland gets his chance

Having narrowly missed out on a Jordan drive during 1991, Roland Ratzenberger’s own Grand Prix dreams didn’t look like they were going to happen. He’d spent the majority of his junior career racing in formulae in Britain and then in Japan, racing single seaters, touring cars and sportscars. He had joined the Toyota squad to compete at Le Mans, finishing fifth in the 1993 24 Hours event and already having secured a drive for the 94 edition.

However when negotiations broke down with a number of drivers, including Gil de Ferran and the experienced but shunt friendly Andrea de Cesaris, Ratzenberger swooped in to do the deal and take the second seat.

He had impressed the engineers with his technical feedback and dedication to the cause at a winter test, ironically at Imola. He signed a contract for five races to see how things would go for both parties. For most drivers, winning is what drives them on but for Roland Ratzenberger, just being on the grid was a victory in itself.

The odds were against Simtek. Only 35 people were employed in the racing team, only 10 per cent of the staff employed by legendary Italian constructor Ferrari. Also, Wirth had designed an active suspension car for 1994 which of course would have fallen foul of the new regulations put in place at the start of the year. With a heavy chassis, which included a manual gearbox and a less than powerful V8 Ford engine, although reliable – there weren’t any expectations for them to reach the midfield.

Beating Pacific was an achievable goal and they did this in the first two races. Some technical problems and over-exuberance from Ratzenberger meant the veteran Belgian Bertrand Gachot from Pacific got onto the grid instead for the season opener in Brazil. Brabham kept out of trouble though and finished 12^th, although that was the last of the 26 finishers. Three weeks later, both Brabham and Ratzenberger made the grid at the TI Aida circuit, taking the final two spots on the grid. Brabham retired early on but Roland, with previous track knowledge from his Japan days, ended a fighting and proud 11^th.

Despite teething problems, the Simtek project had made a good start but then came Imola.

Tragedy

Both Brabham and Ratzenberger were excited and competitive but enjoyed each other’s company. Roland’s contacts from his days in Asia meant he was close to a number of the drivers in the paddock, including Eddie Irvine, JJ Lehto and Heinz-Harald Frentzen.

At Imola, the car looked better in terms of handling stability. With the hopeless Paul Belmondo no threat to anyone but himself in the second Pacific and Rubens Barrichello out of the weekend’s activities following his Friday crash, Simtek were on course for a second successive race with both cars on the grid.

On Saturday, Ratzenberger set a high target, to beat both Gachot and his more experienced teammate Brabham. Whilst the first goal was realistic, the second was possibly too ambitious. Nevertheless, he was full of confidence going into the second qualifying session. On his first out lap, he had an excursion at the Aqua Minerali chicane, which damaged the front assembly of the car. Rather than come back to the pits for checks, the Austrian (pictured below) pushed on to start his first flying lap of the afternoon.

Roland Ratzenberger on his final lap before tragedy strikes

Through Tamburello and the front wing weakened, then failed and already exiting the corner, having built up speed close to 200mph, he had no chance. The impact with the wall at the Villeneuve kink is beyond description and there wasn’t much left of the car when it eventually rolled to a halt at the Tosa hairpin.

Despite the best efforts of the doctors, both at the track and at the Bologna hospital, fatal neck injuries led to Ratzenberger’s death.

The team was inconsolable, as were the rest of the paddock. Bernie Ecclestone urged Simtek to race on to help with the shock. Whilst Bernie’s enthusiasm for the show to carry on was not called for in the circumstances, the team leader shone through.

On race morning, Brabham said: “I lost a close friend yesterday. Though teammates for a mere few weeks, we had already a lot of fun together and had every reason to look forward to a great year with the Simtek team. I am confident that the greatest tribute we can pay to Roland is to race today, hence my decision.”

Bravely, David continued and won many admirers for his spirit, not just at Imola but throughout the rest of the season. Suspension failure put him out of the San Marino event but he would not quit. It was his passion that also kept a devastated Wirth going.

When Ayrton Senna died, the attention switched away, understandably so but the majority seemed to totally forget what had happened to Roland Ratzenberger. On Friday, 6 May 1994 – Ratzenberger was buried in the town of his birthplace, Salzburg in Austria. Compatriots Gerhard Berger and Karl Wendlinger attended, along with his closest pal in the paddock, Frentzen. Mosley went too, adding: “Roland had been forgotten. So I went to his funeral because everyone went to Senna’s. I thought it was important that somebody went to his.”

With Brabham’s courageous attitude, Simtek decided to carry on – adding a ‘For Roland’ sign on the airboxes of the cars. It wouldn’t get any easier.

More agony

The shattered Simtek mechanics then had another write-off when Andrea Montermini, who was signed up to take the seat vacated by the dearly departed Ratzenberger, lost control and crashed heavily during Saturday morning practice for the Spanish Grand Prix. Wirth’s dreams were turning into the stuff of nightmares.

Frenchman Jean-Marc Gounon took over the car from the French Grand Prix afterwards and achieved the team’s best ever result on his debut, with ninth place. Brabham finished 10^th in Barcelona. 11^th in Hungary and 12^th in Japan and he started to occasionally outqualify the Lotus and Larrousse cars as the season progressed. When he started a fantastic 21^st in Belgium, Brabham rubbed salt into Erik Comas’ wounds. After Comas had joked that he would retire if ever outqualified by a Simtek a fortnight earlier in Hungary, Brabham did just that at Spa and went on to quip; “I want to wish Erik a happy retirement!” Simtek finished damaged but survived a turbulent 1994 season. They were the best of the debutants and hoped 1995 would be better. It wouldn’t.

MTV decreased their sponsorship levels for 1995 and although Brabham’s heart was with the Simtek project, a huge financial offer from BMW to go and race in the British Touring Car Championship was impossible to ignore. Wirth replaced him with the talented Dutchman Jos Verstappen, partnered by Italian Domenico Schiattarella. The S951 chassis was much better, with Jos qualifying a sensational 14^th in Argentina, and ran as high as sixth before gearbox problems intervened. Schiattarella finished ninth in Buenos Aires but the team’s financial plight was getting worse. £6m in debt and failure to get more financial backing left Wirth in a miserable position. Monaco 1995 was the team’s last race and they filed for liquidation shortly afterwards, taking 48 jobs with it. The assets were auctioned off and Wirth’s dream was over.

He moved to Benetton as an engineer, then chief designer but left the company in 1999 and after an unsuccessful return with Virgin Racing in 2010 and 2011; Wirth has given up on the sport he so wanted to succeed at.

If the funds had been there, Simtek had a decent chance of creating some success. Sadly though, the word pain dominates Nick Wirth’s dream. For Roland Ratzenberger, at least he achieved his ambition, even if it was far too short-lived.

Categories: 1994, Austria, BMW, David Brabham, Imola, Max Mosley, Nick Wirth, Roland Ratzenberger, Simtek

Imola at 20: A dreadful weekend relived

By Simon Wright – Follow me on Twitter @Siwri88

There are some moments where if you were old enough, you will remember where you were when a historic moment occurred. Events such as the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, 9/11, 7/7 and Barack Obama’s inauguration in 2009 probably spring to immediate thoughts.

Those connected with the world of sport will have the same when relieving the 2003 Rugby World Cup final, England’s 5-1 football win over Germany two years earlier and Super Saturday at the Olympics in London. If you can remember, the same sadly applies to the events of the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix.

Motorsport is dangerous, it always has been and always will be but no-one could predict the horrific chain reaction of accidents that marred the weekend at the Imola circuit in April/May 1994. By the end of the weekend, mechanics and spectators had been hurt, and two drivers had been killed on consecutive days – one of them perhaps the greatest human being ever to have sat behind a steering wheel – Ayrton Senna.

20 years on and in a series of daily posts on Viewing Perspectives – I reflect on San Marino 1994 as we approach this sad and painful anniversary. Whilst my Formula One passion has dwindled in the last year, the past can’t be ignored. Coming up this week, there will be pieces on the rule changes, the pain the Simtek team had to deal with following Roland Ratzenberger’s death and pay tribute to Ayrton Senna by choosing his top five races of his career.

However, it is only appropriate to start this series, Imola at 20 with a lookback at just what occurred on Friday 29 April, Saturday 30 April and Sunday 1 May 1994.

Early warnings

The paddock arrived at the popular Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari for the third round of the 1994 championship. German wunderkind Michael Schumacher had comfortably won the first two events in Brazil and at the TI Aida track under the Pacific Grand Prix banner. 

Championship favourite Ayrton Senna had scored absolutely nothing in points and was under pressure to deliver. Autosport magazine ran on their front cover SCHUMACHER 20, SENNA 0 in their preview to the weekend.

Senna was a previous three-time winner at the track and was desperate to perform, despite still big concerns about the handling of the evil Williams Renault FW16. He set the pace in Friday qualifying by some distance but reported to his race engineer David Brown that the balance was worse than it had been a fortnight earlier at the tight and twisty Aida track.

Friday brought a chilling omen though to the weekend’s forthcoming events. Early on in Friday qualifying, Rubens Barrichello had a massive accident at the Variante Bassa. The Jordan driver overshot the chicane and somersaulted into the barriers, narrowly avoiding catch fencing that probably would have killed him. Despite the ferocity of the accident, Barrichello suffered only minor cuts, bruises and a broken nose but his weekend was over.

Everyone hoped that would be the only lucky escape of the weekend but F1’s luck was about to run out.

Luck runs out on the sport

Around 18 minutes into Saturday’s second qualifying session, 31-year-old Austrian rookie Roland Ratzenberger left the circuit at the flat-out Villeneuve kink on the approach to the Tosa hairpin. Ratzenberger was travelling at close to 200mph, unaware that an excursion on a previous lap had damaged the front wing of his Simtek Ford. As he went to start his next flying lap, the wing weakened and fell off exiting Tamburello. With no control on his steering or braking, he stood little chance.

The impact was destructive as the wrecked chassis finally reached a stop point at Tosa, with Ratzenberger slumped in the cockpit and clearly in big trouble. Marshals quickly gathered around him to prevent any further distressing images to television viewers around the globe. The fraternity was stunned – Senna close to tears in the Williams garage when he realised how big the shunt had been. He went down to the scene of the crash to see the damage for himself. 

When he got back, he told Brown and teammate Damon Hill that he had no chance of surviving.

Sure enough, FIA press officer Martin Whittaker had the tough task of confirming the death of Roland Ratzenberger on arrival at the Maggiore Hospital in Bologna. His fatality was the first in a Formula One racing car in eight years – the last being Elio de Angelis perishing at the wheel of a Brabham during a test session at Paul Ricard, France in 1986. The last driver to die on a racing weekend was Riccardo Paletti at the 1982 Canadian Grand Prix.

Qualifying did resume but Benetton, Williams and Sauber immediately withdrew from carrying on that day. Everyone looked lost and wondered what they were doing racing in these circumstances. Senna claimed a joyless 65^th pole position from Schumacher, Ferrari favourite Gerhard Berger and Hill. If Saturday had been a hellish day, Sunday would be even worse.

The king of racing is dead

Sunday morning began with a minute’s silence and the confirmation of the reformation of the GPDA (Grand Prix Drivers’ Association). Three-time world champion Niki Lauda would chair the new committee with a meeting scheduled to improve safety from the next event in Monaco two weeks after Imola. Senna, Berger and Schumacher were among the prime movers.

With Ratzenberger’s fatal crash still on everyone’s mind, the show must go on and the 25 cars lined up for the start of the race. Senna looked pensive and very thoughtful on the starting grid as he sat in his FW16 chassis. This wasn’t a weekend for happy faces.

At the green light, there was more trouble. The unsighted Lotus of Pedro Lamy careered into the stalled Benetton of JJ Lehto on the grid. Lamy’s car was shattered but the Portuguese driver walked away without injury. Lehto likewise but an errant tyre from the Lotus vaulted a fence and entered an area where spectators were located. A policeman and seven fans were injured by the flying debris, although lightly in comparison to the weekend’s earlier events.

Rather than choose to halt proceedings, the safety car was deployed whilst marshals cleared up the wrecked cars and the various pieces of carbon fibre. Senna still led Schumacher, Berger, Hill and the fast-starting Sauber Mercedes of Heinz-Harald Frentzen. After five laps at reduced speed, the race restarted again with the top two breaking away considerably from the chasing pack.

The wrecked Williams of Ayrton Senna is returned to the pits

Senna had been faster than Schumacher all weekend but the Benetton’s aggressive three-stop strategy plan meant he was keeping up with the Brazilian. Entering Tamburello on lap seven, Senna’s car went straight on rather than turning to the left kink of the bend. He was powerless to correct the car and headed straight for the concrete wall. The Williams rebounded towards the racing track, stopping just short of the tarmac in a crumpled wreck (pictured being taken back to the pits) with the Brazilian motionless. The race was stopped.

From an early stage, it became clear that Senna was at best gravely injured. The accident had been heavy but he would have walked away unharmed had it not been for a piece of suspension assembly from the car that broke away and pierced the great man’s helmet. Professor Sid Watkins and the rest of the medical team got to work and a helicopter quickly arrived on the circuit. Watkins later revealed that when he got to the scene, he could see that from Senna’s neurological signs, it would be a fatal accident.

After 45 minutes of work, Senna was airlifted to hospital in Bologna and the race was unbelievably restarted. For the record, Schumacher was beaten off the line by Berger but quickly passed the Ferrari and went on to win by over a minute from the second Ferrari of Nicola Larini and Mika Hakkinen’s McLaren Peugeot. Berger retired due to a handling imbalance with his car, whilst Hill finished a lapped sixth after contact with Schumacher on the first lap of the restart. There was also another accident in the pitlane that injured mechanics from Ferrari and Lotus when an errant wheel came off Michele Alboreto’s Minardi after his second pitstop.

The most important thing now was to find out Senna’s condition. The news came through before 6pm UK time that he was clinically dead at the age of just 34, as confirmed by Sky News (video below).

It had been a truly terrible weekend and 20 years on – the pain for those closely associated to both Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna will never go away. Both left memories and they will never be forgotten by anyone who is involved in the Grand Prix fraternity today.

Categories: 1994, Ayrton Senna, Death, Imola, Motorsport, Roland Ratzenberger, Rubens Barrichello, San Marino, Simtek, Williams