The Day Ayrton Senna Died and How I Remember It
by Carlos Gonzalez
Living in Mexico City in the ’90s was tough if you were an F1 fan. There was no live coverage of the races since Mexico lost its Grand Prix in 1991.
In 1994, I had been following Formula One for over ten years, and at that time, most of the races broadcasted several hours later.
The World Wide Web or Internet was in its infancy, no mobile phones, Facebook, or Twitter, so no spoiler alert expected as long as you avoid sports media, either radio or TV, and even then the sports highlights transmitted until the specific slots of the daily news program or in one of the weekly sports news programs on Sunday afternoon.
In a soccer-driven country, Formula One was not the priority on the airwaves. So it was that or wait until the next morning and read the newspaper, that was it.
I remember that Sunday clearly; it was a sunny day, and I was having breakfast with my family, not worried because of the race scheduled to air until later that morning.
The TV was in the background since we were watching the Sunday news/ variety show when suddenly the anchor turned to the sports reporter who looked visibly shocked when he gave a somber announcement: “Brazilian driver Ayrton Senna da Silva died this morning after a tragic crash in Imola” That was it! No details, no additional information, nothing.
I remember I ran upstairs and turned on the TV to check the race; since only one network had the rights to broadcast the races: There he was, getting ready for the race, setting up the car, lap formation, starting grid, and then the race started. He was leading Michael Schumacher, everything looked normal.
I kept repeating to myself: “this must be a mistake, this must be an error, not him, not Senna”. An accident occurred at the beginning of the race, safety car released, but Senna wasn’t involved. JJ Letho and Pedro Lamy crashed at the start.
After the debris cleared, the race resumed, and everything looked normal. Then on lap seven, the accident happened. Then it hit me, and I knew it was true.
The images of his Rothmans Willams Renault FW16 sitting there after the crash, his head tilted to the left, the rescuers arriving at the scene and trying to revive him, and the helicopter leaving the track will always be stuck in my mind.
To my younger readers and people not familiar with the background of that day and to put it in context, you need to realize that this was the end of a horrible weekend. Rubens Barrichello had a terrible accident on Friday practice, thankfully he only suffered a broken nose and arm, some minor cuts and bruises. On Saturday during the qualification, an Austrian driver, a rookie, Roland Ratzenberger driving his Simtek-Ford sponsored by MTV crashed and lost his life shaking the entire F1 world.
Senna was visibly shocked and bothered by these events.
We need to keep in mind that since the mid-’80s, there were no fatalities in F1. After the tragic death of Italian driver Elio de Angelis during a test at the Paul Ricard circuit for Brabham in May 1986.
As I mentioned in the previous series, the cars were faster, lighter, and safer than before. Speed and power pushed to limits no one thought possible just a few years earlier.
Of course, there were crashes; I witnessed a serious one live at the Mexican Grand Prix in 1988 when Philippe Alliot lost control of his Larousse coming out of the famous “Peraltada” corner during qualification. He lost control at over 120 mph, then the car flew several meters and crashed violently to the concrete barrier in front of the main stand rolling over several times before it stood still.
Everyone on the track became silent, expecting the worst. When track officials finally arrived in what seemed an eternity, after a couple of seconds or maybe minutes, we saw Philippe’s hand waving, we all cheered and started applauding. Amazingly the team repaired the vehicle overnight, allowing him to race on Sunday.
There were several instances where drivers crashed, and they always walked away with either minor injuries or a broken arm, or a broken foot at the most. This era gave the fans and mainly the teams and drivers a false sense of security. We forgot Formula One is a dangerous sport that could be deadly.
It was a sad irony that on that same track, Gerhard Berger had one the scariest accidents I’ve ever watched on live TV when he was driving for Ferrari at the same corner, Tamburello. The year was 1989, his car crashed violently at over 180 mph, spun multiple times, and quickly burst into flames.
The Italian race marshalls arrived at the inferno, put it out, and rescued Berger with a couple of broken ribs and second-degree burns, but he was alive. Gerhard Berger missed only one race, the Monaco GP; he was back in the cockpit for the Mexican GP mainly because Ferrari was using a semi-automatic paddle shift, similar to the one used by the drivers today.
I say a sad irony because, after the 1989 season, he joined McLaren and became Ayrton’s teammate in one of the best partnerships the late Brazilian driver ever had, a true friend in the competitive F1 paddock, Berger walked out of that crash, that for all who watched was more “serious” and Senna didn’t.
But back to that Sunday, the race continued as it is customary; nobody knew the extent of Senna’s condition at the time; they knew it was a grave injury but not fatal. By the time the race was over, there was still no official announcement. Michael Schumacher won the race, followed by Nicola Larini and Mika Hakkinen. The look on their faces said it all: it was somber, no anthems, no Champagne, no celebration mainly due to the death of Roland Ratzenberger the day before. Everyone was devastated.
I was trying to get additional information to find more details of what had happened, surfing through the TV channels. But like I mentioned before, sources of information were scarce, and traditional sources were reporting what was known and verified by reliable sources. The specialists commenting on the news were sure to emphasize that unless information came from a reliable source, either a news agency, or an official communication of the FIA, or the Williams F1 team, everything else would be considered speculation.
I was thinking about what had happened since the beginning of the season; Senna complained about the handling since the removal of electronic aids, he stated that the car was fast but very unstable and hard to control.
By the time of the San Marino GP, he had two DNF’s, the first one in Brazil when he refused to settle for second and spun out of contention, and on the Pacific Grand Prix, a young Mika Hakkinen hit his Williams from behind and then Nicola Larini also crashed into him taking the Williams out of contention.
In both races, Senna started from pole and led most of the way. But Michael Schumacher on his Benetton scored two victories while Senna had zero points, the worst start on his career. He definitively had the speed but was not able to translate it into race finishes or points.
He needed to score some points in that race if he wanted to keep his championship dream alive.
I was still in disbelief, thinking if the lack of electronic aids might have contributed to the accident, but the images didn’t show the car losing control; it was a corner to the left, the car went right, hit the barrier on the side and slide to its stop several meters after impact. The crash didn’t seem extremely hard or unusual, again from a TV perspective of a vehicle going over 150 mph; it was just surreal.
Later reports confirmed the helicopter transferred him to the Maggiore hospital; efforts were made to revive him but unfortunately unsuccessful. Senna then was pronounced dead later that afternoon. The head trauma was too severe.
I felt sad, couldn’t explain it at the time, since I didn’t “know” him, but I had followed his career since 1984.
I remember that race in Monaco, the first victory in Portugal, in the rain driving the JPS Lotus, his fights with Mansell, Piquet, and Prost, the move to McLaren, Suzuka in 89 and 1990; that amazing race in Donington in 1993. I witnessed when he crashed in Mexico and when he finally won the Mexican GP in 89, his emotional win in Brazil in 91, and his final victory in 93 beating Prost, who won the Championship, driving an underpowered McLaren Ford.
So his death hit me like I never thought it would, and the rest of the day is blurry. The President of Brazil declared three days of national mourning and expressed how this was a tragedy not only for Senna’s family or Brazil but to the world. That was the impact Ayrton Senna had not only in motorsport but in general.
After that day, more information became available, details from the medical team confirmed that Senna died on the track due to head trauma, that he was carrying an Austrian flag, and was planning to wave it after the race in honor of Ratzenberger.
The Brazilian government informed that Senna would receive full military honors in Sao Paulo, Brazil, his hometown, similar to a head-of-state funeral.
From that moment, his image changed forever and will always get that aura only given to people that leave too soon: Senna will be there with the likes of James Dean, JFK, Ricci Valence, Jim Morrison, and many others. He would become a legend and a mythical figure for generations to come.
Ayrton was a man of contradictions: ruthless on the track but spiritual and caring out of it, a guy who could give back to his community without a big fanfare but could withhold negotiating a contract until the last minute and reach a last-minute agreement of $1 Million per race, a driver who would not mind crashing into another competitor going for that edge or defending his position, but putting himself at risk if he saw a fellow driver in danger.
His dear friend Sid Watkins, the neurosurgeon responsible for Medical safety during the Grand Prix weekend, and one of the first at the site of the accident mentioned: “ I am not a religious person, but I saw that at one point he moved, and then his body relaxed, I think it was then when his soul left his body.”
Loved by some, hated by others, but undeniably a master on the race track with an incredible natural talent. For me, we lost something the day Senna died; Formula One will never be the same. He was my idol and the best driver of his generation, a legend that will live forever.
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