Its one of those moments where I still remember exactly where I was and what I was doing. I was only 22 when Ayrton Senna died at San Marino in Round 3 of the Formula 1 World Championship, and this was one of the first times in my life I was struck by death.
I was in England at the time, doing my OE. I lived in a big house in Chiswick, in London, sharing with about ten other Kiwis, Aussies, South Africans, and various waifs and strays. My partner Helen and I had a tv in our room, and on 1 May, 1994, on a sunny Sunday afternoon, I sat down excitedly to watch the San Marino Grand Prix.
The big news prior to this race was the struggles of Senna in his new role at Williams. Williams were the dominant force in F1, and with Alain Prost having retired as World Champion, his Williams seat became vacant, and Senna was keen to fill it. Everyone expected the 1994 season to be a cake-walk for Senna. The best driver in the best car. But the opening two races produced no points for him, and two wins for the young German hotshot, Michael Schumacher.
At Round 1 in Brazil, Senna spun while trying to catch Schumacher. He'd been leading the early laps while Schumacher had to overcome Jean Alesi. Both Senna and Schumacher pitted at the same time, with the German emerging in front. Senna gave chase, but spun into retirement, trying too hard.
In Round 2 in Japan, Schumacher beat pole-man Senna off the line, but before he could mount a challenge for the lead, he was eliminated by the wild young Finn Mika Hakkinen. So from two races, Schumacher had taken two wins, while Senna was on zero points.
All the talk leading up to Round 3 at San Marino was about whether Senna could cope with the fast new drivers coming into the sport, and whether he'd met his match in Schumacher. Was he still the same driver he was? Did he still have the hunger?
In early qualifying at San Marino, the popular Austrian driver Roland Ratzenberger was killed when his Simtek crashed at the Villeneuve kink. According to those close to him, Senna was quite shaken by this. When qualifying resumed, Senna took his third pole position from three races.
On Sunday 1 May, JJ Lehto stalled his Benetton at the start, and was hit by Pedro Lamy's Lotus, causing the race to be stopped. Debris from the crash flew into the crowd, with some spectators injured. At the restart, Senna got away well to lead Schumacher. This was supposed to be the race where he asserted himself over the young upstart. At the beginning of lap 7, he lost control of his Williams at the fast Tamburello corner, and hit the concrete wall.
Crashes happened all the time in Formula 1, and at first this didn't appear too severe. But what was unknown initially, was that on impact, the front wheel had struck Senna on the head, and that a piece of suspension had penetrated his helmet. Murray Walker was commentating, and he didn't seem too alarmed at first, and there was no reason to think Senna wouldn't climb out of his car. But as time went on, and there was no movement, even after Sid Watkins had removed him from the car, so the outcome began to look grim. I remember another reporter saying how "grave" the situation appeared. Eventually, the announcement was made that afternoon that Senna had died as a result of his injuries. Had the wheel and broken suspension come back a few inches either side, he likely would have climbed out of the car, probably frustrated at having not scored points for the third race in succession.
For me, that was the first time death had struck me so personally. I didn't know Senna, had never met him, probably never would have. But when you follow a drivers career as closely as I followed Senna's, you really do feel like you know the person. I'll never forget that day.
Here is the Autosport magazine I'd purchased a few days prior to the San Marino Grand Prix, which I've kept ever since. Compared to what ultimately happened that day, losing a couple of races really was insignificant.
Hard to believe its 20 years ago today.
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