Death of Ayrton Senna - Race Weekend

Race Weekend

On Friday, Senna's protege Rubens Barrichello driving for the Jordan team, clipped a kerb and crashed heavily at 140 mph at the Variante Bassa chicane. Senna got out of his Williams car and went to the Medical Centre. Minutes after the accident, Barrichello regained consciousness and found Senna looking over him. After learning Barrichello had survived, Senna returned to his car and continued driving.

After the session concluded, he left his car and went to the Williams motorhome to perform prearranged interviews for the press and told them his car was having problems, telling the journalists to wait one hour while he checked his car with his engineer David Brown. After being interviewed, Senna returned to his garage for two hours where he and Brown worked. Senna arrived back at his hotel in Castel San Pietro where he telephoned his girlfriend Adriane Galisteu, breaking down into tears when he recounted Barrichello's accident.

On Saturday morning, Senna set a personal best time of 1m 22.03 seconds and agreed with teammate Damon Hill that the car was improved. Having been released from the Medical Centre, Barrichello told Senna he was flying back to England to watch the race on television.

In the afternoon, the second qualifying session began and 18 minutes into the session, Simtek driver Roland Ratzenberger crashed heavily after his car lost its ability to steer and spun at 314kph when the front wing became partially detached. Ratzenberger's car crashed into a concrete wall on the inside of the Villeneuve curve before resting in the middle of the track. Senna had been watching the replays of the accident and rushed into the pitlane to get inside a course car driving past the Tamburello bend towards the scene of the accident. When Senna arrived, Ratzenberger was taken into an ambulance allowing him to inspect the car. He went back to the Medical Centre where he learnt from friend and neurosurgeon Sid Watkins that Ratzenberger had died. The two left the centre and Watkins talked to Senna with the suggestion of withdrawing from the event and to go fishing instead, to which Senna replied that he could not stop racing. Senna went back to the Williams Garage where he signalled Patrick Head and Frank Williams to join him, telling the pair of the situation, and deciding to withdraw for the remainder of the Qualifying Session.

After the session, Senna left to return to his Motorhome where he broke down in tears and collapsed onto the floor. This had concerned Williams, who asked Betise Assumpção to arrange a meeting to discuss Senna's emotional state. Senna decided not to attend the post-qualifying press conference with the FIA deciding not to take displinary action against him. He was called out of his motorhome to discuss with the Race Stewards about commandeering the course car. A row ensued and Senna stormed out in disgust. The stewards had decided there would not be any action taken.

On Sunday morning, Senna was the fastest in the warm-up session by nine tenths of a second. Afterwards he spotted former McLaren rival Alain Prost sitting at a table. Both talked for 30 minutes with Senna lobbying for Prost's help in improving Formula One safety. Prost agreed to meet Senna before the Monaco Grand Prix.

Later in the day, Senna filmed an in-car lap of Imola for French television channel TF1, where he greeted Prost, by then a pundit on the channel: "A special hello to our dear friend Alain. We all miss you Alain." Prost said that he was amazed and very touched by the comment.

Senna went to the drivers briefing along with Gerhard Berger. Senna asked Berger to raise the concern of the safety car's pace on the formation lap as Senna was unwilling to speak out on the issue over a dispute with a race official and was still fraught with emotion.

Senna also met with fellow drivers to discuss the re-establishment of a drivers' group (the Grand Prix Drivers' Association) in an attempt to increase safety in Formula One. As the most senior driver, Senna offered to take the role of leader, starting from the next race event in Monaco. Niki Lauda suggested that Senna lead the group because of his strong personality.