On Sunday May 1, 1994, a great misfortune befell Formula 1. The Brazilian Ayrton Senna, 3 times world champion, died from his injuries during a crash at the Imola Grand Prix in Italy. A dramatic weekend for F1, already in mourning on Saturday April 30 by the death of Austrian driver Roland Ratzenberger. 30 years later, the memories are still as vivid as ever.
An intact legend. Thirty years after his death, at the age of 34 at the Italian circuit of Imola, on May 1, 1994, the Brazilian Ayrton Senna is still adored and his death contributed to strengthening safety in Formula 1.
In the film “1, Life on the Limit”, released in 2013 and dedicated to F1 safety, the British specialist journalist Maurice Hamilton observed that the death of Ayrton Senna had “been broadcast into the living rooms of millions of people who didn’t know much about motorsport but knew who he was and wanted to know who the culprit was.”
Long investigation
A long investigation established that the accident was caused by the breakage of the steering column of his Williams and that a wheel hit his helmet, while a suspension arm perforated the passenger compartment when the car crashed against a concrete wall, in the Tamburello bend, where a tribute will be paid to it on Wednesday in the presence of F1 boss Stefano Domenicali and the Italian and Brazilian foreign ministers.
With 3 world championship titles (1988, 1990 and 1991), 41 victories and 65 pole positions in 161 Grand Prix, Ayrton Senna has built one of the finest records in F1, with Lewis Hamilton, Juan-Manuel Fangio, Michael Schumacher, Max Verstappen, Sebastian Vettel and Alain Prost.
Prost remains inseparably linked to Senna’s destiny. Not only were the two men teammates, but their rivalry remains the fiercest to have existed in F1. The Frenchman ended his career at the end of the 1993 season with one last world champion title, a few months before Senna’s death. “I don’t have any bad memories of him,” he assured Motorsport.com in 2018.