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.
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| 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.
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