On May 1, 1994, the legendary Ayrton Senna passed away, the day after another tragic accident in which Roland Ratzenberger lost his life during qualifying. It was the third round of that World Championship (marked by terrible crashes), later won for the first time by Michael Schumacher. There were also Zanardi, the very young Barrichello and Coulthard, Jean-Paul’s son Belmondo and Jos Verstappen, Max’s father
SENNA SPECIAL – THE INITIATIVES – SKY PROGRAMME
It is 2.17pm on Sunday 1st May 1994. The legendary Ayrton Senna leaves the track at Tambourine with his Williams due to the failure of the steering column, he died a few hours after the crash. It was the third round of that World Championship, the day before Roland Ratzenberger of Simtek had lost his life against the wall of the corner named after Gilles Villeneuve during qualifying. Chronicle of a cursed season.
Background
It started with some new features on the track, in the meantime two new British teams: Simtek and Pacific (which hires Paul Belmondo, son of the iconic actor Jean-Paul). Three confirm the pair of drivers: Jordan with Rubens Barrichello and Eddie Irvine, Lotus Pedro Lamy and Johnny Herbert and Ferrari with Jean Alesi and Gerhard Berger. There is the retirement of Prost, reigning world champion: in the last Australian race of the 1993 World Championship the embrace on the podium with the very rival Senna had entered the collective imagination, who takes his seat right next to Damon Hill. Benetton replaced Riccardo Patrese with JJ Lehto, who was however forced to miss several events due to various injuries: a certain Jos Verstappen would often race in his place, and four years later he would become Max’s father. His teammate is Michael Schumacher.
The beginning
Schumacher starts strong. In the first weekends the poles all went to Senna, the huge favourite, but the winner was the German who flew like a rocket in the wet. The tragic weekend in Imola begins with a terrible accident at the Variante Bassa of the very young Rubens Barrichello. Then the two fatal crashes that shocked the world of motorsport. In the following weekend in Munich the Austrian Wendlinger he flies his Sauber against the exit of the tunnel: he will end up in hospital in a coma. He will recover but will only be able to race another five races in his F1 career. From Spain – the fifth stage of the World Championship – we see other new faces: Pedro Lamy of Lotus is involved in a major accident and, to replace him, Alessandro Zanardi is recalled. The Scotsman makes his Formula 1 debut in Senna’s place David Coulthard, while Schumacher continues to win, taking the top step of the podium in six of the first seven GPs.
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May 1st, 2.17pm: the world stops for Senna
The Schumacher-Hill rivalry
However, intrigue is just around the corner: at Silverstone the German does not respect a black flag and gets a two-race disqualification (with the English second place cancelled). In one of these – in Germany – Ferrari returns to the victory it had lacked for four years. Schumi returns, but stops again in Belgium due to problems with the floor of the car: in Monza he is still disqualified and Hill – who scores three consecutive victories – returns to hope. The ending is a thriller: in the Japanese deluge of the penultimate race Hill wins with strategy and closes to -1 from the German with just one GP to go, the one in Australia.
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Senna’s death: how safety has changed in F1
The end
It will be the day of the great controversy, the controversy of Lap 36 of the last race: Schumacher makes a mistake and hits the wall, Hill tries to overtake him at the next corner but a collision starts between the two: the Englishman’s car rears up on the left side and touches the barriers, effectively ending his race there, despite a desperate pit stop to try to return. The German confirms his one-point lead and dedicates his first title to Senna. He will win seven more.
