Senna: Revisited

**Author's Note: This week marks the 20th Anniversary of the death of Ayrton Senna at the San Marino Grand Prix. Given the importance of this event in the history of Formula 1, I felt it appropriate to revisit this blog post from 2012. I am linking to some videos of the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix race weekend. Please note that these videos are actual footage from the race and qualifying. They do portray the fatal impacts of two racing drivers.**

Recently, I went on Netflix and watched Senna, a film documenting the life and career, and ultimately, the death of, Three-Time World Driver's Champion Ayrton Senna. Before I go further, let me say that I've only watched Formula One since July of 2008. I've only known three different World Champions in my time. Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button, and Sebastian Vettel are the only drivers to win the title since then.

During the 1980s and 1990s, Ayrton Senna could be described as the standard bearer of racing drivers. He and Frenchman Alain Prost, the Professor, dueled each other from start to finish. It began in 1984, when Senna piloted a lesser-quality Toleman car through the ranks at rain-drenched Monaco, only to see Prost beg for the race to be stopped...and race directors under Jean-Marie Balestre agree.

Later in his career, Senna and Prost would team up, although their professional animosity would not subside. Over the course of his career, Senna would drive for Toleman-Hart, Lotus-Renault, McLaren-Honda, and finally Williams-Renault. He would win 41 races, place on 80 podiums, gain 65 pole positions, and earn the World Driver's Championship three times. To me, the highlight of his career might just be the 1991 Brazilian Grand Prix.

In March of 1991, the Brazilian Grand Prix was the second race of the season. Senna had already won the first race of the season, but Brazil saw his car turn against him. The gearbox began to fail, gear by gear, until, with only 10 laps to go, Senna was wrestling a car stuck in sixth gear. He won, but afterwards had to be bodily lifted from the car. He asked reporters and crew members alike not to touch him, as he was in such pain that it was unbearable to even be touched. That action, to me, showed me all I needed to know about Ayrton Senna.

Inevitably, though, the movie reached the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix. As it did, I felt a lump harden in my stomach. I knew what happened at Imola that year. It was, undoubtedly, the darkest weekend in the storied history of Formula 1.

Rubens Barrichello would crash hard on Friday, ending his weekend. He was feeling good about his car, so he tried a particularly tricky section of track at a much higher rate of speed than his previous laps. The car ran up on the steep kerbing and took flight, slamming hard into the tyre barrier and very nearly ending not only his race weekend, but his life as well. Barrichello would go on to recover and raced in Formula 1 for nearly 20 more years. (Video Here)

On Saturday, Austrian driver Roland Ratzenberger was killed in the final round of qualifying. Ratzenberger was the definition of a rookie, with only a single grand prix start to his name prior to Imola. Ratzenberger's Simtek car hit the inside wall very hard. The injuries sustained by Ratzenberger eventually led to him being pronounced dead at the hospital. Ayrton Senna, watching the live feed from his pit box, was visibly shaken. (video Here)

On Sunday, the grand prix began under a somber note. JJ Lehto, himself just returning from injury, found himself in a car that would not move at the start. Pedro Lamy was unable to avoid him and speared hard into Lehto's Benetton. Debris exploded into the air, with some of it clearing the catch-fences and injuring several fans. The race ran under a Safety Car for a short time, but finally returned to green, only to see Senna's Williams spear off course at the Tamburello Corner. It was immediately evident that something was wrong. Once Senna's car came to rest, he moved his head only a little bit, and then went still. (Video Here)

As fire marshalls and then health officials came to his aid, the race was red flagged. A radio communication erroneously sent to Erik Comas's Larrousse car saw the driver leave the pits. He later admitted that the sight at Tamburello was one of the most disturbing things he'd ever seen.

Prof. Sid Watkins performed an emergency tracheotomy at the scene, but later said that, once Senna had been extricated from the car and placed on the ground, he sighed once. According to Watkins, who claims not to be religious, it was the moment his spirit departed.

Here in the United States, NASCAR was in full swing at the time of the San Marino Grand Prix. While the oval racers were at the largest track on the NASCAR calendar, Talladega, news broke of Senna's tragic death. Dale Earnhardt would win the race, and during his post race interview, he would make further mention of Senna, even though the vast majority of NASCAR fans have no interest in Formula 1. (Video Here)

There was some controversy after the grand prix. Williams would eventually face several legal charges, including manslaughter. Due to the statute of limitations under Italian law expiring, the accused at Williams faced no legal repercussions.

Senna was honored with a state funeral attended by much of the Formula One community, and even Alain Prost was a pall bearer and eventually became a board member at the Instituto Ayrton Senna, a charity Senna developed for Brazilian children. FIA President Max Moseley would forego Ayrton Senna's funeral and instead attend the funeral of Roland Ratzenberger, claiming that the eyes of the world would be on Senna's funeral, and that he did not want Ratzenberger forgotten.

But the movie...the movie sticks with you. For days, it sticks with you. And I didn't experience the events in real time. The analog in my life is the death of Dale Earnhardt.

In 2001, the NASCAR season kicked off with the Daytona 500. On the final lap, Earnhardt was running third and defending the rest of the pack to allow teammate Michael Waltrip to win the race. As they entered turn four, Earnhardt tangled with Sterling Marlin and went nose-first into the wall. A few hours after the race, NASCAR announced that Earnhardt had died as a result of the accident.

As a 19-year-old racing fan, it was a shock. I was no fan of Earnhardt. In fact, I couldn't stand him. But you still don't want anyone to get hurt, much less killed. I sat there on the edge of my bed that night, trying to figure out what NASCAR would be like without the "Intimidator." He was a 7-time NASCAR champion. He gained the "Intimidator" nickname because that's what he was...Intimidating.

After Senna's death, Formula One changed. There was initial overreaction, but it smoothed out to the point that there was still exciting racing. And better yet, Formula One has suffered no driver fatalities since. An impressive run of 20 years now. NASCAR, similarly, has not suffered a driver fatality at its highest levels since Earnhardt's accident.

Both series made massive safety changes to the cars. NASCAR took steps to make its tracks safer, installing SAFER barriers and requiring drivers to use Head-and-Neck Support (HANS) devices. Formula One increased driver safety in the cars and re-profiled several high speed corners to rein in the speed and power of the cars. The circuit at Imola was basically redesigned. While safety was the main reason, the track lost a lot of its personality in the redesign.

All of this changed racing forever. But Senna, the movie if not the man, has stuck with me. Senna was a devout believer in God. His religion came to gnaw at other drivers. Alain Prost basically accused Senna of thinking he was invincible just because he believed in God. Senna admitted that he wasn't invincible. In the movie, Senna's sister claimed that the morning of the San Marino Grand Prix, less than 24 hours after the death of Roland Ratzenberger, Ayrton awoke and took his Bible, and read a passage that he would "receive the greatest gift of all, which was God himself."

Prof. Sid Watkins tried to get Ayrton to quit after the Ratzenberger accident by saying "You know, Ayrton, you've been three-times World Champion, you're the fastest man in the world." and "Why don't you quit? And I'll quit. And we'll just go fishing." Senna responded "Sid, I can't quit."

On Ayrton Senna's tombstone is the quote "Nada pode me separar do amor de Deus."

Nothing can separate me from the Love of God.

The movie sticks with you. The man will stick with you even more.

"I can't quit." - Ayrton Senna