On May 1, 1994, Brazil lost Ayrton Senna, and each Brazilian lost a little of Brazil. In Imola, at the Formula 1 San Marino Grand Prix, the idol and three-time world champion was at the height of his career when the steering bar of his Williams FW16 broke and the car went straight into the barrier at the Tamburello curve. Senna’s death, aged 34, was confirmed hours after the accident, at the Maggiore Hospital, in Bologna, Italy.
Who was Ayrton Senna, the last Brazilian three-time F1 champion?
Three-time world champion with McLaren, Senna had pushed the car beyond its limits during the years of Williams-Renault’s dominance and achieved exciting victories during that period. To return to the top of Formula 1, Ayrton signed a contract with the manufacturer that had won the last two seasons in the category. With the blue jumpsuit, the Brazilian was the favorite for 1994.
Senna’s start to the season at Williams was a disappointment for the Brazilian. He had finally won the chance to drive cars that he considered “from another planet”. The team had won the F1 championship in 1992 and 1993, but was unable to maintain the standard with regulation changes for 1994. Despite good pace in qualifying, the FW16 had handling problems during the race.
Having abandoned the Brazilian and Pacific GPs, the first two races of the season, Senna arrived in San Marino not only with the need to win, but also to score points for the first time this year. The championship was led by the young German Michael Schumacher and had another Brazilian, rookie Rubens Barrichello, in second place. Damon Hill, Ayrton Senna’s teammate at Williams, was third.
The Imola weekend started with a big shock. On Friday, during the first qualifying session, Barrichello’s Jordan climbed onto the curb at the Variante Bassa curve at 250km/h and was thrown into the air until it collided with the tire barrier and overturned on the track. Rubinho was unconscious, his nose was broken and his arm was in a cast. That was the first shock of the three days in San Marino.
– He is fine. He was scared… he’s a little shocked, but he’s fine. He doesn’t have anything broken apparently. He’s talking normally. He’s fine from what I’ve seen, and the doctors said he’s fine. But they were still doing control, they didn’t finish the control. But, essentially, everything is fine with him. He moves everything, apparently he didn’t break anything, they’ve already checked his entire arm, leg and neck. There’s still more work to be done on the neck, but he’s fine, he’s moving – said Senna after Rubinho’s accident.
The Saturday of more classifications has arrived. Barrichello responded positively and had already been released from the hospital. When the fear in the paddock subsided, another accident would rock the world of F1. Rookie Roland Ratzenberger saw the Simtek’s front wing collapse at around 300 km/h on the approach to the Villeneuve corner. The 34-year-old Austrian didn’t stand a chance, and the car exploded against the wall. The brain injuries were fatal.
Ratzenberger’s death shook Senna. The Brazilian wanted safer conditions for the race in Imola and decided to pay tribute to the dead driver on Saturday if he achieved victory. With pole position in the race, Ayrton would wave an Austrian flag if he were the first to cross the finish line in San Marino.
At the start of the race, an accident between JJ Lehto and Pedro Lamy caused the safety car to enter the track. Previously, Senna and his friend Gerhard Berger, then a Ferrari driver, had said that the safety car was not fast enough for the tire temperatures to remain high. There was no other way: the speed was reduced and so was the temperature of the tires.
The safety car left the race on the sixth lap, and Senna reached a gap of half a second behind second place, Michael Schumacher, from Benetton. In the next turn, the FW16’s steering bar breaks, the Williams car does not respond to Ayrton’s commands and heads straight through the Tamburello curve at 210 km/h to hit the tire barrier with great force.
With the Williams destroyed, Senna appears with his neck hanging to the side and motionless. The race is stopped and he receives care from F1’s chief doctor, Sid Watkins.
– He was calm. I lifted his eyelids and it was clear from his pupils that he had a massive brain injury. We took him out of the cockpit and put him on the ground. Although I am completely agnostic, I felt his soul leave at that moment – said the neurosurgeon.
First aid was carried out on the track. After being removed from the car, Ayrton Senna was taken by helicopter to the Maggiore Hospital in Bologna. Hours later, at 6:40 pm Italian time, the death of the Brazilian idol was confirmed. According to the autopsy, a part of the car’s suspension pierced Senna’s helmet and skull, which caused instant death at 2:17 pm Imola time.
Ayrton Senna’s body arrived in São Paulo on May 4th. The procession went from Guarulhos Airport to the city’s Legislative Assembly and included a wake lasting almost 24 hours. Around two million people were present on the final stretch, from the Assembly to the Morumbi Cemetery, where the idol was buried with the honors of head of state.
