Ayrton Senna died in an accident 30 years ago

On May 1, 1994, triple world champion Ayrton Senna lost his life in an accident at the Imola GP. The death of the Brazilian marked memories and revolutionized Formula 1.

With his head slightly tilted, Ayrton Senna sits in his completely destroyed Williams. This Sunday, May 1, 1994 at 2:17 p.m., on the seventh lap of the Imola Grand Prix, the 34-year-old Brazilian lost control of his car at a speed of 321 km/h and hit the concrete wall in the Tamburello bend. . All his braking was of no use, his car became impossible to steer, it broke into several pieces. Half a billion viewers hold their breath.

It takes a long time for security officials to reach Senna. Then, finally, the paramedics, track marshals and doctors gather around him. The three-time world champion moves his head, seems conscious, but he no longer perceives anything that is happening around him. The Brazilian would undoubtedly have survived the crash, more or less intact, if the front right wheel detached from the car had not hit him head-on.

On the circuit, despair quickly sets in: all we see is scrap metal, stretched sheets and busy rescuers. Senna was eventually transported by helicopter to a hospital in Bologna. “Ayrton was still alive and was in intensive care, under the heart-lung machine. We could see the terrible head injuries. It was hopeless,” Josef Leberer, the champion’s trainer, would later recount. Four hours after the accident, doctors declared him clinically dead.

A weekend horrible

The world is in shock. “It’s as if we had nailed Jesus to the cross live,” said Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone shortly after the race, which will resume after a 30-minute interruption and will be won by the ambitious Michael Schumacher . But this weekend, the results don’t matter. This is what Schumacher underlines at a press conference:

In the days before Senna’s death, two serious accidents already occurred at Imola. During free practice on Friday, Rubens Barrichello suddenly took off at the wheel of his Jordan. The Brazilian is lucky: he only breaks his arm and his nose.

During qualifying on Saturday, Roland Ratzenberger died after an accident approaching the Tosa corner. The upper left part of the front wing of his Simtek breaks. Without downforce, the Austrian’s car was no longer controllable and crashed into the barrier at 300 km/h.

The next day, the Formula 1 icon also died. With his three world championship titles, his 41 victories and 65 pole positions, Ayrton Senna is not only among the most successful drivers in history. He also has a very special aura. It’s difficult to escape its influence. The Brazilian is cultured, musical, open to the world, he plays the piano, collects art, quotes ancient Greek philosophers and reads Shakespeare and Freud.

Charismamelancholy and national mourning

Niki Lauda will praise him in the review Auto Motor und Sport:

For Gerhard Berger, his long-time teammate at McLaren, the Brazilian was “by far the most charismatic and the best racing driver”. He pursues:

But Senna, who always had a slight scent of melancholy, was not always a loyal sportsman. An example: the fierce duels he fought at McLaren with his teammate Alain Prost. It was on purpose that the two “alpha males” collided one day and it was not uncommon to see the start of a fight between them at the side of the track. Today, Alain Prost praises his former rival:

The sudden death of the three-time Formula 1 world champion also plunges his country of origin into stupor. Brazilian President Itamar Franco orders three days of national mourning. Because the driver from São Paulo is not only considered the guarantor of Brazilian success in the prestigious F1, he is also a hero and a bringer of hope in an economically and politically unstable country. In a way, the Pelé of motorsport.

“Ayrton is dead for the others»

The cause of the accident remains unexplained to this day. What is certain is that the steering column broke. The question of whether this happened before or after impact divides minds. Italian judges blamed the break for the crash, teammate Damon Hill said it was a driving error while manufacturers cited the car’s faulty aerodynamics.

This is the case of Adrian Newey, the designer of the damaged car: on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the disaster, he admitted to Auto Motor und Sport that he had already noticed this defect before the race. But at the time, wind tunnels did not yet exist and the constraints of time ultimately prevented any correction.

But Senna’s fatal accident triggers an immediate change of mentality in motorsport. The International Automobile Federation (FIA) and probably also the manufacturers are putting pressure on: circuits are being redesigned to be less dangerous and crash tests are becoming stricter. Clearance zones are created and concrete walls are prohibited. For Senna, these changes come too late. His agent already said at the time:

Since his accident, no Formula 1 driver has lost his life on a circuit in 22 years. The last death in the premier category was that of Jules Bianchi in 2015, who succumbed to his injuries nine months after colliding sideways with a tow truck.