Crash Investigator : 1994 San Marino, Ayrton Senna

At the start of the race J.J. Lehto stalled his Benetton and Lamy plunged into the back of the B194. Both were out on the spot. Lamy was uninjured but Lehto sustained a bruised arm. The race was not red flagged but continued under the control of the safety-car, while the debris was cleared. After the start line accident that involved Lamy and Lehto the safety car was deployed and the race completed three tours at the significantly reduced speed.

When the restart came, Senna, timed it to perfection, he backed up the field to a virtual standstill before he accelerated away, leaving them in the distance. As Senna crossed the finish line at the end of lap six he was 0.6 ahead of Michael Schumacher who had noticed that the Williams had bottomed out on Tamburello corner the previous lap. As Senna entered Tamburello on lap seven his FW16 twitched violently and speared into the concrete wall on the outside of the corner. The car bounced back toward the circuit as debris flew across the tack for the second time in the race.

The race was immediately red flagged but not before Berger had run over a section of the nose from Senna's car. When he got out of the car the front suspension was almost destroyed "hanging by a small strand of metal." The marshals did not approach Senna until FIA medical man Professor Sid Watkins arrived on the scene. The situation was clearly critical; Senna was lifted out of the car and then immediately taken to Bolgn's Maggiore Hospital by helicopter where later he was pronounced dead. Senna had suffered massive head injuries when an as yet unidentified piece of debris pierced his helmet's visor.

The race was red flagged because of Senna's accident and in the confusion Erik Comas rejoined the circuit only to arrive on the scene of Senna's accident. He stopped and was so distressed by what he saw he withdrew from the race. Berger pulled in to retire after completion of sixteen race laps. He was emotionally drained by the fatal accident that took the life of his fellow countryman, Ratzenberger. He was too concerned about the condition of his great friend Senna and he found himself unable to continue.

At the time Senna's loss of control had been linked to a puncture caused by debris from the start finish straight, a broken steering column and bottoming out due to loss of tyre pressure due to the extended period behind the safety car. The accident was survivable; Senna's death was due to freakish bad luck. Subsequent investigation revealed that the most likely cause was the car bottoming out on the track due to reduced tyre pressures after the safety-car period.

Click here to get the full story and picture board of the crash, including driver quotes and evidence.

Crash Details
Approximate speed of crash.	Impact approximately 135 mph / 210 Kmph.
Damage caused.	Senna's FW16 was seriously damaged.
Who / what was to blame	Loss of tyre temperature caused loss of pressure and ride height. The car bottomed out and was fling toward the wall.
Anyone hurt?	Ayrton Senna was most likely killed instantly when an as yet unidentified piece of debris pierced his helmet's visor and entered his skull.
Any action against those involved?	Frank Williams, Adrian Newy and Patrick Head were taken to court and put on trail for Manslaughter and all were acquitted.

Original story by Tris

Posted by Jules at June 26, 2007, 4:50 pm - Comments (3)
Tagged as: crash, 1994, san marino, aryton senna, imola, senna, f1, formula1, formula one, fatal