The Saddest May Day
On 1 May 1994 during the 7th lap of the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, Imola, Italy the motor sport world experienced one of those seismic shifts that still reverberates 34 years later. On that lap Ayrton Senna’s Williams FW 16 crashed and the 3-time World Drivers Champion died. It had been 12 years since Gilles Villeneuve was lost in a practice crash and much had changed.
Between the death of Villeneuve in 1982 and the loss of Senna there had been enormous growth in the popularity of Formula 1. In the early ‘80s TV coverage was limited, but by 1994 there was no escaping the visual impact as the world watched live TV as one of the greatest drivers the sport has known perished.
Senna burst on the scene in 1984 when the mid-field Toleman team took on the 1983 British Formula 3 series winner. Ruthlessness is a core trait of the great champions and Senna was amongst the most ruthless. Toleman got him into Formula 1, but the Brazlian had no loyalty and was off to Lotus for the 1985 season. With Lotus he was in a top field team and duly won the 1985 Portuguese Grand Prix. Over the 3 seasons he spent with Lotus he would add another 5 wins.
Part of the ruthlessness gene is knowing when to change teams. Lotus was not going to match the resources of McLaren and for 1988 he jumped ship to the Marlboro sponsored team and brought along the Honda turbo engines. It was also his chance to take on Alain Prost, the top driver of the day. The battles fought between the two drivers are legendary and defined the era.
By the end Prost was retired and Senna moved on to Williams Grand Prix Engineering for the 1994 season. That year was shaping up to be one for the ages. German driver Michael Schumacher and the Benetton team were off to a great start as Williams and Senna were building their relationship. He had retired in the first two races and the team was looking to recover the form of the 2 previous championship winning seasons.
The 1994 San Marino weekend was full of omens, all bad. On Friday, fellow Brazilian Rubens Barrichello had a massive crash and was lucky to escape serious injury. Saturday Roland Ratzenberger crashed and did not survive. The Austrian driverwas the first fatality in the 8 years since Elio de Angelis perished in a testing crash.
Max Mosley, President of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, invoked force majeure to ram through immediate changes in the name of safety. The balance between performance and safety was forever altered.
Search out the documentary Senna: No Fears, No Limits, No Equals. The 2010 documentary is one of the best motor sport films made.