*Renascença recovers this article published on May 1, 2019, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Brazilian pilot’s death, changing it to just “30 years” in the text.
Ayrton Senna was a cult Formula 1 driver. He passed away at the age of 34, on May 1, 1994, in Imola, at the San Marino Grand Prix, after three world champion titles, 41 races won, 65 pole positions “, 19 fastest laps, 2982 laps in the lead, in a total of 161 Grands Prix contested. This Wednesday marks 30 years of one of the darkest weekends in the history of Formula 1. Renaissance spoke with Pedro Lamy, the first Portuguese driver to earn points in the most important motorsport race in the world, who was at the race in Ímola, that same Sunday.
When going through the scrolls of Ayrton Senna’s career, it is impossible not to highlight his deep connection with Portugal. A member of Belenenses and resident in Portugal, the first victory of his career was on Portuguese soil, in Estoril, in the Portuguese Grand Prix, in 1985. Three years later, he won his first championship title, driving a McLaren. In 1990 and 1991 he repeated the feat
Pedro Lamy remembers a difficult weekend in San Marino. On Saturday, Austrian Roland Ratzenberger died in qualifying, a shock resulting from the loss of his front wing. On Sunday, the race started in the worst way for the then young Portuguese driver, in his debut season in Formula 1.
“It was a nightmare weekend, we just wanted to wake up and turn the page. It was an unfortunate reality. Everything happened in those days. We lost two colleagues, there were many accidents, mine, Barrichello, Belmondo, among other problems These were very strange things that hadn’t been seen for a long time. It seems that God wanted to wake up the Formula 1 boys to change some things, and the truth is that things have changed a lot more nowadays. There is always risk, as is natural in motorsport, but it is much safer nowadays”, begins by saying the current 47-year-old driver.
Before Ratzenberger and Senna, there were eight years without any fatalities in the world of Formula 1, since the Italian Elio de Angelis, in 1986, in tests in Marseille, at the Paul Ricard circuit.
Lammy and Senna’s clashes
Lamy was the protagonist of the first accident of the race, right in the opening moments. At the start, Lamy tried to overtake, with limited vision, and collided with the back of JJ Letho’s car, which had not started due to an engine problem. The collision resulted in several pieces of debris scattered across the track, which forced the entry of the “safety car”, which implies that the cars maintain their position at a reduced speed. After the fifth lap, the safety car returned to the pits and the cars resumed the race, with colder tires.
