An intact legend. Three decades after his deathhappened to the 34 years in the circuit ImolaItaly, May 1, 1994, the Brazilian Ayrton Senna continues to be idolized, and His death contributed to strengthening security in Formula 1. The improvements implemented have meant that since then only one pilot has died as a result of an accident: the Frenchman Jules Bianchiwho perished in July 2015 as a result of a tragedy that occurred at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix.
Safety had already made progress in the twenty years preceding Senna’s fateful incident, at the initiative of pilots like Jackie Stewart, but the Brazilian’s death prompted a greater effort, as evidenced by the deformable structures, the pilots’ equipment and the areas of escape in the circuits.
On the eve of the Brazilian’s death during the San Marino Grand Prix, another driver, the Austrian Roland Ratzenberger, died as a result of a mistake during practice on Saturday. And a compatriot of Senna, Rubens Barichellosuffered another impressive accident, from which he emerged miraculously intact.
“There were three big accidents and I think that shocked Formula 1. I don’t know if it was a trigger, but it is true that we often change when there is an accident. For example, after Jules, we made the halo,” observed Frenchman Fréderic Vasseur, today head of the Ferrari team. The halo is the arch that is above the cockpit and protects the pilot’s head.
In the film 1, life on the limit (1, life to the limit), released in 2023 and dedicated to safety in Formula 1, the British specialized journalist Maurice Hamilton indicates: “Senna’s death was broadcast in the living rooms of millions of people who did not know much about motorsport but did know it. And they wanted to know who the culprit was.” A long investigation revealed that the accident was caused by the broken steering rod on your Williams and that a wheel hit his helmet. After, a suspension arm pierced the passenger compartment after the car hit a cement wall at high speed.
Con three champion titles of the world, 41 wins y 65 pole positions, Senna has one of the best track records in Formula 1, in an elite that also includes Lewis Hamilton, Juan Manuel Fangio, Michael Schumacher, Max Verstappen, Sebastian Vettel and Alain Prost. The figure of the Frenchman, certainly, remains inseparable from the memory of Senna. Both were not only teammates, but also established one of the fiercest rivalries in the history of the premier category of motorsport.
The Frenchman put an end to his racing career after the 1993 season and his last crowning as world champion, a few months before Senna’s disappearance. “I don’t have any bad memories of him.”, he commented in 2018 to Motorsport.com. “I keep the last six months of his life in mind. They were the moment when I knew him much better than before. He was someone completely different. I understood who I really was and why sometimes I played at being an actor”Prost added.
Senna’s aura is still immense. Schumacher was still a young driver at that San Marino Grand Prix. The German was a few meters behind Senna at the time of the mistake. In 2000, when asked about his feelings after equaling the line of 41 wins achieved by Senna (the record was Prost’s, with 51), the Kaiser cried in front of the cameras, despite a certain coldness towards negative feelings.
Hamilton, an admirer of the Paulista, who even wore a helmet just like his idol in a race in Brazil, an emotional memory of that fateful day. “I was nine years old and my father told me that Ayrton Senna had died in an accident. As a child it was difficult to understand what he really meant, but I went behind the car and cried,” recalls the seven-time champion in a testimony in 1, life on the limit.
Senna left an indelible memory as a driver, and he also cared about poverty in his native country. Today, the Ayrton Senna Institute foundation, run by his sister, Viviane, and his niece Bianca, takes care of disadvantaged children, whom the athlete, who never had children or married, wanted to help.
Ayrton Senna’s fatal accident
