Thirty years after his death, aged 34, at the Imola circuit, in Italy, on May 1, 1994, Ayrton Senna is still idolized and his death helped to reinforce safety in Formula 1.
The improvements implemented since then have meant that only one driver has died in an accident in Formula 1: Frenchman Jules Bianchi, in 2015.
Although safety had already advanced in the previous twenty years on the initiative of drivers such as three-time world champion Jackie Stewart, Senna’s death prompted a new effort, such as deformable structures, driver equipment, and escape areas on the circuits.
On the eve of Senna’s death during the GP, another driver, Austrian Roland Ratzenberger, had died in an accident during qualifying, and the day before that Rubinho Barichello was also involved in an accident from which he miraculously emerged unharmed.
There were “three major accidents (…) and I believe this shocked F1”, says Frédéric Vasseur, currently head of safety at the Ferrari team. “I don’t know if this was a trigger, but I think it’s true that we change frequently when an accident occurs. After Jules (Bianchi), we did the halo, for example”, he adds, alluding to the arch over the cockpit that protects pilots’ heads.
In the documentary “1, Life on the Limit”, released in 2013 and dedicated to safety in F1, specialized British journalist Maurice Hamilton recalled that Ayrton Senna’s death “was broadcast to the living rooms of millions of people, who didn’t know much about motorsport, but they knew who he was and wanted to know who was to blame.”
A long investigation revealed that the accident was caused by the rupture of the steering rod of the Williams that Senna was driving. A wheel collided with his helmet, while a suspension bar punctured his helmet as the car crashed into a concrete wall.
– Gigantic aura –
With three world championship titles, 41 victories and 65 pole positions, Senna had one of the most beautiful careers in F1, along with Lewis Hamilton, Juan-Manuel Fangio, Michael Schumacher, Max Verstappen, Sebastian Vettel and Alain Prost.
Prost remains intrinsically linked to Senna’s fate. Not only did the two drivers race for the same team (McLaren), but their rivalry remains the fiercest that has ever existed in F1.
The Frenchman ended his racing career at the end of the 1993 season with one last world championship title, a few months before Senna’s death. “I don’t have any bad memories of him”, he assured in 2018 in statements to the website Motorsport.com. “I remember the last six months of his life. It was at that moment that I learned to know him much better than before. He was someone completely different. I understood who he really was and why he sometimes acted like an actor.”
Senna’s aura remains gigantic. Michael Schumacher, then a promising young driver, was a few meters away from the Brazilian at the time of the accident. In 2000, asked about his feelings on equaling the record of 41 GP victories, set by Senna, the German broke down in tears, despite his reputation for coolness.
Lewis Hamilton also has an emotional memory of that tragic day.
“I was nine years old and my father said that Ayrton Senna had died in an accident. As a child, it was difficult to understand what that really meant, but I went behind the car and cried”, he recalls, referring to the kart he was driving, also in testimony in the film “1, Life on the Limit”.
While Senna left an indelible legacy as a driver, he was also concerned about poverty in his country. Currently, the Ayrton Senna Institute, run by his sister, Viviane, and his niece, Bianca, takes care of needy children, who the pilot himself, who had no children, wanted to help.
