things that we got from senna's crash: - better barriers - better crash tests - skid planks - new tires - higher sidewalls of the cockpit - mandated and supervised wheel tethers - standardized safety car and medical car - every track got simulation tests for runoff areas and impacts - revised and standardized helmet design
@@SuperWhiteBarryThat was probably banned after that. But Senna didn’t die because the steering column broke. It might have broken later on if he hadn’t crashed but that’s not what caused it. What caused it is a lot more complex and harder to understand than a simple steering column failure.
@@hmdwgfNo It was not bottoming out, or loss of down force because of aero, or to low tire pressure etc., it was a steering column failure... A bad welding job by a local Italian welder that weekend. Newey drew up the plans to reposition the steering column and reduce its diameter at one point. He described the changes as “two very bad pieces of engineering”. “The honest truth is that no one will ever know exactly what happened. There’s no doubt that the steering column failed and the big question was whether it failed in the accident or did it cause the accident? It had fatigue cracks in it and it would have failed at some point. There is no question that its design was very poor.” His own words not mine. It's mind boggling that you even question that with all the information available. The way the car behaved, lack of control and especially lack of input from Senna except for braking, says it all... Also the onboard view of the steering wheel and its buttons. The whole accident screams steering column! I'm sorry, you have to be blind, stupid or both not to see it!
@@hmdwgf Also check what one of the investigators had to say about it: Professor Enrico Lorenzini said that the "steering was not working properly". However, he goes on to state that he is certain that the steering column broke before the crash, and was due to the column being "badly welded together". "The rod joining the steering wheel to the wheels was virtually sliced in half. It had been badly welded together about a third of the way down and couldn't stand the strain of the race. We discovered scratches on the crack in the rod. It seemed like the job had been done in a hurry, but I can't say how long before the race. Someone had tried to smooth over the join following the welding. I have never seen anything like it". "The two parts were of different diameters and I have heard that the job was done so that the steering whell could be lowered for comfort. But this is the first time I have ever seen such a job. Generally, these simple steel rods - around 70cm long - are always in one piece. This one had been welded together at the 23cm mark. I believe that the rod was faulty, probably cracked, even during the warm-up. And moments before the crash only a tiny piece was left connected and therefore the car didn't respond in the bend".
It didn‘t bottom out??? You must be either blind or stupid, or what do you think the sparks were? And Schumacher reported the car oversteered out of the corner… but why trust a 7-times world champion when a moronic dipshit thinks he knows anything about engineering
I only knew him after I replayed Gran Turismo 6, but when I played as a child, I was playing Version 1.0. This year, I had fully updated the game. Then there was the Ayrton Senna Tribute. I played it through, read the stories about him, and furthermore, learned about him on YT. After these I can definitely say: If Muhammad Ali is the Goat of Boxing, if Michael Jackson is the Goat in pop, Ayrton Senna is the Goat of Formula 1
@@LathropLdST He was a racer who raced for himself. But in private he was a caring man. He is one of the greatest drivers ever. In the car he only wanted to do one thing, Win!. That is a racer everything is irrelevant.
After Senna's death, there were no fatalities in F1 grand prix for 20 years. They said it was because Senna's soul was guarding F1. That was until Bianchi's crash in 2014 during the Japanese Grand Prix.
I vividly remember watching this race at University when I was 19. Senna's and Ratzenberger's deaths were both equally tragic. It must have been very difficult for Ratzenberger's family after the events of that weekend, as his death was totally overshadowed by Senna's.
I was twelve, watching the grand prix live. When the crash happened, I felt I couldn't keep on watching this race, not knowing whether he would survive. So I played Super Mario Kart, to still be connected to him and hoping to send him strength. Then finally at around 19:00, I turned on the radio. The next day at school, the atmosphere was somber. To us French kids, Senna had been for all those years this menacing presence, the threat to our national pride Alain. We were all unusually silent that day. So much so, in fact, that without any of us mentioning anything about Senna, a sports teacher said to us something like 'Come on, it' s sad but it's just one guy, the world won't stop turining! ' No one answered, silence remaining the only fitting attitude. We were all so sad. Love to our Brazilian brothers.
Senna was a guest commentator on a French TV broadcast of the race during the 1st lap of the warm-up, then he got off script and said "This goes to my dear friend Allain, we, miss you, I miss you Allain". They were fierce rivals but never enemies
Every active driver of the 1994 grid attended Senna’s funeral. Only 5 from the same grid attended Ratzenberger’s. They were the following: *David Brabham* *Karl Wendlinger* *Gerhard Berger* *Johnny Herbert* *Heinz-Harald Frentzen* *Max Mosley* FIA president at the time would later state in an interview 10 years after Roland and Senna’s death: “ _Roland has been forgotten. So I went to his funeral because everyone went to Senna’s. I thought it was important that someone went to his_ ”.
I was still quite young in 94 and didn’t know anything about F1. I had just started watching NASCAR, but Senna was enough of a legend that I learned of him, and his death because Dale Earnhardt dedicated his win the next day (I think) to Ayrton Senna. That should speak volumes of just HOW legendary he was. Grizzled-ass NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt dedicated his win to a fallen F1 driver.
It was the same day. I loved watching Senna and Michael. I knew when he hit it was that bad. I still remember his race in Europe the year before when he went from fifth to first the first lap. I still miss him
The Brazilian people never really got over that. Still hurts a lot. Senna was a great human being and a phenomenal driver. He left an institute to help poor children in Brazil. He will forever be missed.
It wasn't just Ayrton crashing that changed F1 forever, it was the whole race weekend. Ayrtons crash was the straw that broke the camels back. I still have the Qualy & the race on Video from '94 and it's aftermath. I was sat at home watching the whole weekend and I'd never seen anything like it before or after that weekend. It will stay with me until the day I die. If you ever get the chance, watch the whole Qualifying and whole Race day footage. it will blow your mind. Just as a bit of History - - - - A total of 50 drivers have died as a result of such accidents until 2023: 28 during Formula One Grand Prix events, 7 during the Indianapolis 500 (during the time it was still part of the F1 World Championship), 9 during test sessions and 6 during events not related to a world championship. 15 drivers died in the 1950s, 14 in the 1960s, 13 in the 1970s, 4 in the 1980s, 2 in the 1990s and 2 in the 21st century as well. The largest number of deceased drivers came from the United Kingdom. Twelve British drivers died in a Formula One car. The track where the most accidents occurred was the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where seven drivers died during the Indianapolis 500, which was still part of the world championship in the 1950s. Only one driver became world champion posthumously: Jochen Rindt in 1970, who died during a qualifying session. One former world champion died during a race: Ayrton Senna in 1994.
On the point of "history" ... it should be noted, that the most drastic changes were about to be introduced and enforced long before Imola '94. Once Bernie (whatever one may think of him) held the "purse strings" and Formula 1 in his "iron grip", he went on a restless crusade to really "turn the tide" and lessons were learned from pretty much every crash ever since. Of course, him turning F1 into the multi-billion dollar spectacle we know today, only made a great many safety improvements possible in the first place... back in the "good old days" there simply wasn't enough money to go around.
There is something eery about that whole weekend, like there was just something bad in the air you can feel it watching it back even all these years later.
I was watching this race with a friend live on BBC and about 20 minutes after the crash we heard Murray Walker start to cry and he went off air only for someone else to take over the commentary. My friend said, he's just heard that Senna has died. Even more tragic because Senna didn't really want to race, especially after what happened on Saturday.
Be glad that you watched the BBC coverage which cut away from the accident aftermath. The RAI coverage stayed with it and to those of us watching it (on video tape for me as I was at the race itself) it was obvious that he was gone.
I remember exactly where I was. I was 9 years old. And I cried like the child I was because this great man was lost to us. I still do when I remember it. What a legend Ayrton was.
I remember hearing someone say that that year at Imola the race seemed cursed. Two drivers passed away that weekend. It was because of their passing that safety features were improved.
My father said this was the saddest day in Brazil, Ayrton was the face of Brazil in the 90s and maybe even impacted the nation more than Pelé did. R.I.P Ayrton Senna one of the best
Sports were hitting the big time. Interestingly espn was starting and didn't have money for big sports so they showed all kinds of other sports and racing. It caused a big growth in all motor sports. This crash ended formula 1 in America as a major interest.
Maybe for F1 but the blackest day in Motorsport is certainly the 11th June 1955, 1 driver, 83 spectators lost their lives at the 1955 24 hours of Le Mans
After Ratzenberger`s tragic accident the race should`ve been canceled from the calendar that year. It`s incredible how the sport was back then. It was tragedy after tragedy and they went on racing with a shrug.
tbf ratzenberger died, because he damaged his front wing on a curb when he went unclean through a corner ( or did he went off and when come back to the track he damaged it on the curb - it has been so long, i start to forget the shit, because i start getting old now xD). it was "his own fault". as hill said, it was not a place on the track were the car is anywhere near its limits - and you cant put the whole track into some cotton protection. ratzenbergers frontwing detached and he had no grip to take the light right turn tha led up to the rivazza ( i think it was the rivazza, i might be wrong here, though). senna died because his mechanics did a poor job at welding his steering wheel into a new position or whatever he wanted. there is a difference between an unlucky coincidence as in ratzenbergers death and the dance with the devil which the williams mechanics did ( no offense to them, im sure they tried their best to weld it in a way that they thought was safe). was it a tragedy? yes. it were the first deaths in f1 in i think almost 9 years, i think the last f1 driver died in 1986 and i even cant remember his name. there was a general feeling that the cars had become incredibly safe ( which is somewhat true) and as it is with the human race: we will only react and never act, that is how we learn - but we learn good, dont you think? unfortunately it takes these events. following this train of thought, i want to leave a horrendous implication: we havent abandoned war after the second world war. there will be a bigger one. lets hope imola 1994 was the epitome of what has to be payed for the safety of the sport - and things look quite safe and good in motorsport, dont they?
@@homerp.hendelbergenheinzel6649 yes but run off areas should be set up with all errors in mind plus an extra margin so unless he wanted to commit suicide and go full throtle and no brakes there's no excuse what happened. And for Senna's car it wasn't a bad weld but failure due to stress fatigue on the steering column because of the big bumps on the surface of the track. It was 100% track conditions fault. Looking at the footage these days is inconceivable how loosd the rules were back then. Pilots or marshalls running on the track through running cars. Somehow i wish it was the same now. Haha
I sadly remember watching the racing that weekend and just how tragic the events were. When the Senna film came out and we got to Imola 94 all the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. I am a F1 fan and as skilled as the drivers are today I have never seen anyone as impressive as Senna. Watch the in car footage of him wrestling a car round Suzuka changing gear with his right hand. The work rate required for those cars was phenomenal! RIP Aryton, racing legend!
There was a very well done documentary done about Sennas crash. Using an onboard camera and plotting a arc from a yellow button on the steering wheel it follows the wheel the entire weekend. It shows the button followed the exact same arc until the milliseconds before the accident. The button jerks wildly from the smooth arc, all but proving the steering column broke in his hands. Some have argued the steering wheel could move similar the the DAS system Merc had, but it didn't deviate at all until that corner. Williams altered the steering column, by welding in piece of metal to make the column longer for Senna sometime before. Also Williams refused to let the car be examined until after their mechanics had and many allege it had been altered when it was brought back, which reeks even more of a cover up.
Yeap, and the car should have been siezed immediately just as in a criminal investigation. Even the other Williams drivers covered their own asses by saying that Senna was nervous and overly aggressive in his driving. Senna knew what he was doing, but the thing he should have done most of all, was listen to his gut instinct and not driven the car.
The jerking motion could just as easily have been the result of the front end breaking traction. But yeah, there's definitely something fishy about the way Williams acted
True story and the fact that Williams removed the black box and then ‘allegedly’ damaged it was very underhand, rather like their botched steering modification in which they used inferior steel.
@@Sennaral exactly, I've read it somewhere that the recording was altered and it was missing the most crucial part around the time of the accident... 😕
I think you're fooling yourself if you think Ayrton survived the crash at all. The impact separated the base of his skull from his spine (Basilar skull fracture), Dr Sid Watkins confirmed this many years later. They kept Ayrton 'alive' as there was an unwritten rule that drivers don't die at the circuit plus Italian Law would mean the race could not restart!
So when three-time champion Ayrton Senna dies from his crash, investigations are launched, people are brought to court, someone should be responsible, someone needs to go to jail...! The day before, Roland Ratzenberger crashed and died, a driver that most people never heard of, driving for a team that most people never heard of... I never heard of anyone being dragged to court for that...! Really disturbing how different the two accidents were treated.
and that is mainly because the reason for the tragic accident of Ratzenberger was quite obvious: his front wing (or part of it) was stuck under the front of his car lifting it up a bit only to loose traction and thus rendering it uncontrollable if I'm not mistaken. It was seen on the coverage of the qualifying, or analized afterwards.
I was a young boy back then and all I can understand about F1 is that Benetton cars looks good. Of course, I was already at an age that know what death means, when dad told me of Senna's passing from the news, but as F1 wasn't really under the spotlight in my country (even now), it wasn't until Brazil won the FIFA World Cup that year and their players and staff waving a banner about dedicating the win to Senna, that I began to see how much Senna means to the people of Brazil.
It was a good video. As to why Senna's FW16 let go in the middle of Tamburello that day, the investigation showed a very poor welded modification was made to the steering column to make it longer, and because the modification was done improperly this cause a stress fracture and sudden failure as the car bounced through Tamburello on Lap 7. There was solid physical evidence of this as you would expect. I always felt it was a shame they made up another story to protect Williams and F1 from the legal consequences of the negligence of the poor steering column modification.
To be fair. It's not like it was done on purpose. They were just trying to fix the car. They didn't know what would happen. Or at least. That's what it seemed like to me. Please correct me if I'm wrong
@@chasegrant2817 Of course no one would say they deliberately made the modification to fail on purpose. It was however found that the team and specifically chief engineer Head were negligent due to the poorly designed and executed modification to such a vital component.
The Italian courts tried to charge Frank and Patrick Head with manslaughter, it was only when the teams threatened to boycott Italy they cancelled the charges.
Was this actually proven? Yes the steering column was welded and was found in two parts after the crash, but as to when it broke is a matter of speculation. The more logical explanation is that the cold tyres and low ground clearance led to the car losing traction and finding it again when it was pointed towards the wall.
I watched this on tv with my Dad, Senna was our man. That whole race weekend was the most horrible thing to see. Ruebens crash was awful, Ratzenberger dying, it was terrifying to see. There was one specific shot on tv of Senna in his car, he just didn't look okay, which was understandable, like a thousand yard stare. Me and my Dad looked at each other and we just knew the race was going to be more of the same for some unfortunate driver. We never thought it would be Senna. That's the only race that I've watched live that I wish had never started. I never knew about the flag he carried for Ratzenberger until this vid, so thanks for that. It shows the true class of the man.
It is often forgotten that there were so many other major incidents at this race weekend. Indeed a tragic event weekend. I can sadly remember watching all of this on live TV at the time.
Sadly, I'm too young to have seen Senna live... But, I believe he was the greatest... Owing to the fact that when it comes to racing, he was ruthless. But, when it comes to being human, he'd get out of his car to help a fellow racer. Or that he'd give millions to the poor.... Rest in Peace, Ayrton. I hope there's an afterlife, because I'd like a meetup
I have a couple of happy memories like watching Ayrton win his home grand prix in Brazil on his birthday in 1991, watching Ayrton save Erik comas by stopping his car engine, letting Gerhard Berger his current team-mate win the race and his concern for the well being of the children in Brazil. He was a great man and I haven't seen any other formula one driver do any of these things since. Rip Ayrton ❤
F1 has always had races, usually lethal ones, that have changed the sport going on. And many involving the drivers considered the best of their generation. The big difference with the Senna crash was down to the cars in that season. Those things were more complex than a spacecraft, and as Mansell said;- the cars were incredibly fast, pushing the technology to the limits and more, but anyone of them was like riding a tiger. The cars were quicker than 2023's cars, full of all kinds of fancy tech driven by prehistoric computers, and crash protection negligible. And when those cars were on track they were constantly fighting the driver, when they stepped out or lost grip, or a small part breaking in them they didn't ever have a small accident, but huge violent ones. Before Sennas death fatal or life changing crashes were extremely common. After Senna the new rules and crash structures made fatal crashes extremely rare. We forget that now, but watching f1 in the 70's and 80's were full of horrendous accidents.
Being a Brazilian it is safe to say that this crash and death eliminated the joy and excitement of so many people for high end racing sport, that many people still say: "I watched formula 1 until Senna died...". He was not only a pilot/driver, he was a national hero. Some of us still have hope that some other genius could represent us in the sport, but it seems very difficult to happen in the short term. Too bad for this nation.. peace out!
Im 37y old brazilian guy that always fall in tears when I remember that day. To the world, Senna was a legend race driver. To us, he IS much much more than that!
Senna basically died on the impact but of course they couldn't declare that he has died on the track, too much severe repercussions for the officials. The steering column broke before the impact and it was eventually proved by court. Rest in peace, Legend.
Im always a bit surprised and shoked, that in every single documentation about this day, the death of another driver (ratzenberger) is just a 10 second sidenote, like its nothing special...
It's a real shame that today's F1 fans born after Senna's death know little about how great this man was. On and off the track. A few now have won more races. But not one comes close to his skill and talent. He started in one of the least competitive cars a Toleman. And overtook legends at Monaco to win the race. However the politics that followed his career started then when they stopped the race early to give Prost the win. This was the start of his amazing show of talents. My favourite was his first win in Brazil. With only one gear left working, he won his first home GP. Tears followed and always do when I think of this man.
I first became aware of Ayrton Senna daSilva when he was racing in Formula 3. He was an astonishing driver, and the best I've ever seen!! He had it all stats notwithstanding. I watched his final race at 4am in the morning and knew after his crash, I had just watched my hero die. Thankfully, I met him at the 1987 USGP in Detroit just after he put his Lotus on the front row. He won that race as his legendary career was just beginning. Rest in peace, Champ!! ❤
1:24 imagine being so skillful of a driver that instead of not having enough driver for the car, there isn't enough car for the driver. even crazier when it's an f1 car :o
It is infuriatingly sad to think of how many F1 drivers may have died in the years following had Senna not crashed and died as a result. There’s no way to know exactly how many lives Senna has saved.
@@SuperMoofie true. What I’ve always felt was more sad though was in the past it didn’t just take deaths to instigate change. It took the deaths of legends, icons, THE guy you think of when you think of the sport. But across the timeline of Motorsport even that is fairly new. Because there was a time when not even that forced safety changes. Ayrton Senna’s death was seemingly a tipping point. But not everywhere. Because as somebody else pointed out NASCAR didn’t change until Dale Earnhardt sr died 7 years after Senna.
The weekend shold've been cancelled after Ratzenberger's death on track as per Italian law at the time. Obviously money won out and Senna unnecessary death was the outcome.
man I was gonna cry because of you and I am not born in the 90s to watch F1 at that time I watched many videos about senna story and death but this one was gonna put me in tears
Love how you complete forget the fact that it was only Schumacher who could qualify the Benetton that high, when his teammates (Lehto and Verstappen) were like 1- 1.5s behind.
I was watching this race live in 1994. I remember Senna lying motionless and how long it took to get him into the helicopter. There was little doubt about what had happened. I also was watching the 1999 CART race at Fontana when Greg Moore flipped straight into the wall and died. It was so shocking.
I resent Damon Hill's suggestion that Senna made a mistake. Tamburello is not a corner you have to think about. It was half-way through a very long straight, and realistically, Tamburello was just part of that long straight before the Tosa hairpin at the very end, long after you'd passed Tamburello. It makes no sense when you look at the footage that Senna's car suddenly no longer seemed to steer. Maybe Damon Hill was right, but I find it hard to believe.
If is a big word ,but if the declared Ratzenburgers death on the track then the rest of the weekend would have to have been cancelled and maybe today the legend would still be with us.
If you read the details there's a clear indication that Senna's car dropped suddenly at the rear, right before he lost control. This wouldn't be the steering column, a lot of experts suspect a puncture. At that speed, at that part of the course its a recipe for disaster, no matter the car or driver.
I was not alive at the time but it still hurts. He was a legend and knew something was wrong with the track based on the day before. I hate how the team is trying to cover it all up and blame it on Senna. Absolutely unbelievable
Fangio once said that when he was watching this race, he knew that Senna was not going to survive this. When he saw Senna's head move slightly in the cockpit he knew it was a fatal brain injury. It was no driver error, the steering column snapped. Senna is clearly turning left, the car suddenly veers right. Senna is STILL steering to his left, but the Williams continues to go right.
I was watching the live telecast when it happened. I had no doubt at the time that something broke in the steering at the time and to this day I have seen nothing to change my mind. I’m not one to blame the team because they are all working their best for the driver, but I have no doubt that a mechanical fault caused the crash. He was the greatest driver I have witness in my lifetime and I still think it’s sad.
His car bottomed out. You can see the sparks even in the insert in this video. I suspect the issue was low tyre pressures after the SC combined with heavy fuel load. Rear bottomed, front rose enough to mess up the aero, and the car was a bullet at that point.
@@samiraperi467 yes, it sparked the whole way around the track and this corner on this occasion was no different. What was notable is that the car didn’t do any sort of shimmy or movement, it just straighten up and went straight ahead like a dart. Plus, look at the slow motion, the front wheels never turned the whole way into the wall. So either Senna kept the wheels straight the whole way into the wall or something broke meaning he couldn’t turn.
@@samiraperi467the issue with the low tires pressure theory is that Senna literally set the fastest lap of the race the lap before he was killed the tires werent cold or had a puncture they were fine Either the car servely bottomed out due to the bumps causing it to step out and Senna became a passenger Or something in the steering failed
@@peterj5751 yeap, that's it, a broken steering column. Yet another problem with the car that Williams shouldn't have allowed on the track, yet they were willing to risk a driver's life for glory and money. That's about as low as it gets.
Concrete Walls of Tamburello yielded itself to no one...not even to great Ayrton Senna. It stood still in collision, witnessing the destruction of our best engineering achievement in form FW16, and stood as a silent testament to futility of human endeavor.
I know things were legitimately different back then, but the fact that a driver died on Saturday and they still went ahead with the race on Sunday is fucking nuts. I think we're all happy to say there's no way that would happen now
Aryton Senna Saved Eric Coma's life but when Aryton Senna's crash happend, Eric Coma saw the aftermath and knew he couldn't do anything for the man and Eric Coma went into a deep depression later on. R.I.P Roland Ratzenberger R.I.P Aryton Senna
2:24 But Rubens was really lucky in misfortune back then. In the accident he swallowed his tongue and became unconscious. With a little less luck, he could have been the first death this weekend.
He knew that he was at risk that day. After the fatality the day before, the bad start the next day, the safety car. His unusual behaviour at the briefing and his numerous checks of the car he did not trust. A loss that is never forgotten. 💔🇦🇺
I found the production of this video disrespectful. The death of drivers isn't something that calls for words flying at you in capital letters. Give things a bit more thought please.
The 94' year for the Brazillians must've been bitter and sweet, they've lost Senna in Imola, but won the 1994 World Cup, they evsn paid tribute to Senna by flying a banner after the penalties.
I remember watching a British made documentary once that speculated that the tires on Ayrton Senna's car had constricted after becoming too cold from following the Safety Car that came out after the opening lap crash. The cars back then were extremely close to the ground to get the centre of gravity as low as possible. The documentary speculated that the car bottomed out because the cold tires reduced the ride height beyond a safe level and that it caused the car to pitch to the right and crash into the wall. We may never know if there is any truth to this but it's worth noting that there was an immediate regulation change where a wooden plank had to be inserted on the underside of the cars to lift the ride height and stop them bottoming out. I believe the current ground aero effect cars are the first since then to not have the wooden plank underneath.
I've seen that documentary too, and it is a valid theory, so is the steering column, so is outright driver error. I don't think the public will ever know for sure the true cause.
The current ground effect cars still have the plank I doubt the tires were cold though had he crashed straight after the SC i would agree but Senna literally set the fastest lap of the race the lap before he died i doubt the tires were still cold/underpressured after that lap if they were clearly the tires at the time wouldnt have been fit for f1
@@RANDOMZBOSSMAN1 it was known that the Williams team cut and welded an extended piece onto the steering column and many people believe that it broke under the pressure it was put under. It has been denied that the steering column breaking caused the accident and instead it was claimed that it broke on impact with the concrete barrier.
Who went to Roland Ratsenbergers funeral. Max Mosley. I don’t like Mosley but respect he didn’t forget another human being also died that weekend. Respect to Senna mind as he was a legend
2 drivers in Formula one died at this racetrack,it was a sad day!! Niki Lauder did not want to race the day that he had his really bad crash and Aryton did not want to race in this race...Maybe the officialdom should listen to the drivers more?? F1 is a lot safer now than it was back then thank goodness.
Clickbait is everything these days. Just look how many Videos are like "What happened to Schumacher" and i have seen a thumbnail a picture of M Schumacher in Hospital, a black and white picture with tubes in his nose to show he is trying tu survive, in need of oxygen etc... Just report those people.
That day is what many fans believe to be a curse, but I think the FIA has finally seen the "side effects" of removing all electronic driving aids....
You think about this entire race weekend at this one track alone. All the accidents, all the bad ones, all the wrecks, to think, formula1..... just kept moving the weekend along without thinking about stopping the race, well before when they had the very first opportunity to do so. They could have taken the fewer wrecks that happened, and done research there and could have prevented some of the worser wrecks.
The cause of the crash was not Senna pushing it or a faulty steering column. Accidents like these are often a combination of events that come together in the right way to cause the accident and usually have multiple causes. The first cause was the running of soft tyres. Before a race the tyres are warmed by a specially made electric blanket that makes the tyres sticky. The warm air in the tyre expands increasing the cars tyre pressure which racers will often reduce to get maximum surface area in contact with the ground increasing grip. The second cause was the cars ride hight. The lower the car is to the ground the faster the air moves underneath the car creating downforce. The faster the car goes the more downforce is applied and the more the car gets sucked (pushed by the airpressure above in reality) to the gound decreasing the ride height further, increasing the grip and allowing the car to go faster ect, ect in a feed back loop. Mechanics before the race will set the ride height based on tyre pressure which would have been set very low because the tyres would have been warm from the blankets and warmed up during the warm up lap causing the ride height to be a little higher than what would be deemed dangerousduring the race. The third cause was the saftey car. As the debris on the track was being cleared the saftey car was going way to slow for the racers the maintain sufficient heat in the tyres, dropping the cars ride height as the air inside the tyre cooled. As the saftey car left the track Senna started pushing the car again unaware he was dangerously close the the car bottoming out. As he pushed the car flat out around the corner the cold tyres, the low ride height and huge downforce pushed the car into the ground bottoming out the car causing a complete loss of grip and control sending him into the wall. I am not sure if this was ever the official conclusion or not but I know that it was investigated by a team of mechanical engineers and specialists that investigate leathal motorsport accidents.
There is a foto, Ayrton on a ground, and steering wheel next to him "face" down, with over a foot of steering column in it pointing up. Its pretty clear that column broke before the crash.
things that we got from senna's crash:
- better barriers
- better crash tests
- skid planks
- new tires
- higher sidewalls of the cockpit
- mandated and supervised wheel tethers
- standardized safety car and medical car
- every track got simulation tests for runoff areas and impacts
- revised and standardized helmet design
And don't forget the most crucial thing:
BETTER WELDING JOBS, LENGTHENING STEERING COLUMNS!
@@SuperWhiteBarryThat was probably banned after that. But Senna didn’t die because the steering column broke. It might have broken later on if he hadn’t crashed but that’s not what caused it. What caused it is a lot more complex and harder to understand than a simple steering column failure.
@@hmdwgfNo It was not bottoming out, or loss of down force because of aero, or to low tire pressure etc., it was a steering column failure... A bad welding job by a local Italian welder that weekend. Newey drew up the plans to reposition the steering column and reduce its diameter at one point. He described the changes as “two very bad pieces of engineering”. “The honest truth is that no one will ever know exactly what happened. There’s no doubt that the steering column failed and the big question was whether it failed in the accident or did it cause the accident? It had fatigue cracks in it and it would have failed at some point. There is no question that its design was very poor.” His own words not mine.
It's mind boggling that you even question that with all the information available. The way the car behaved, lack of control and especially lack of input from Senna except for braking, says it all... Also the onboard view of the steering wheel and its buttons. The whole accident screams steering column! I'm sorry, you have to be blind, stupid or both not to see it!
@@hmdwgf Also check what one of the investigators had to say about it: Professor Enrico Lorenzini said that the "steering was not working properly". However, he goes on to state that he is certain that the steering column broke before the crash, and was due to the column being "badly welded together".
"The rod joining the steering wheel to the wheels was virtually sliced in half. It had been badly welded together about a third of the way down and couldn't stand the strain of the race. We discovered scratches on the crack in the rod. It seemed like the job had been done in a hurry, but I can't say how long before the race. Someone had tried to smooth over the join following the welding. I have never seen anything like it".
"The two parts were of different diameters and I have heard that the job was done so that the steering whell could be lowered for comfort. But this is the first time I have ever seen such a job. Generally, these simple steel rods - around 70cm long - are always in one piece. This one had been welded together at the 23cm mark. I believe that the rod was faulty, probably cracked, even during the warm-up. And moments before the crash only a tiny piece was left connected and therefore the car didn't respond in the bend".
It didn‘t bottom out??? You must be either blind or stupid, or what do you think the sparks were?
And Schumacher reported the car oversteered out of the corner… but why trust a 7-times world champion when a moronic dipshit thinks he knows anything about engineering
I read somewhere once that Ayrton isn't dead. He's just one lap ahead of the rest of us. What a legend he was
That might be one of the best things I’ve ever heard
❤
I wish he isnt one lap ahead and still with us
Ok but he like 15 year olds
I really like this
The fact that so many people (like me) who were born after his death and know him and his stories says how great a driver he was
I am old enough to see him race, and contrary to most, I always detested him as a driver.
De mortis nil nisi bonum 🤷♀️
I only knew him after I replayed Gran Turismo 6, but when I played as a child, I was playing Version 1.0. This year, I had fully updated the game. Then there was the Ayrton Senna Tribute. I played it through, read the stories about him, and furthermore, learned about him on YT. After these I can definitely say: If Muhammad Ali is the Goat of Boxing, if Michael Jackson is the Goat in pop, Ayrton Senna is the Goat of Formula 1
@@LathropLdST He was a racer who raced for himself. But in private he was a caring man. He is one of the greatest drivers ever. In the car he only wanted to do one thing, Win!. That is a racer everything is irrelevant.
The Greatest Ever. This is what Senna is.
@@thatguyuk1Not one of the Greatest,The Greatest ever.😎
After Senna's death, there were no fatalities in F1 grand prix for 20 years. They said it was because Senna's soul was guarding F1. That was until Bianchi's crash in 2014 during the Japanese Grand Prix.
And then there was Anthoine Hubert in 2019 and Dilano van't hoff this year.
@@Depressed_Ferrari_Fan_16Those were F2
@@dutchthespitfire3204yeah but dilano was in formula regional
@@driftaerwhat’s that
This is biggest crap I have ever heard.
Ratzenbergers deaths is often overlooked by Senna's death. Both equally tragic deaths, RIP Senna and Ratzenberger.
Both died at age 34 as well,tragic coincidence!
@@betoborrela i was about to say that.
Never overlooked by Senna fans, we always remember Roland every year.
@@gtvrossa Senna was very concerned in that day. He was feeling something...
@gtvrossa although was bought up this year (2024) when it was heavily senna at a point and to remember we lost two at the weekend
I vividly remember watching this race at University when I was 19. Senna's and Ratzenberger's deaths were both equally tragic. It must have been very difficult for Ratzenberger's family after the events of that weekend, as his death was totally overshadowed by Senna's.
Didn't Rubens Barrichello have a bad accident as well on the Friday practice ?
@@norfolkhall yes, it's mentioned in the video
I was twelve, watching the grand prix live. When the crash happened, I felt I couldn't keep on watching this race, not knowing whether he would survive. So I played Super Mario Kart, to still be connected to him and hoping to send him strength.
Then finally at around 19:00, I turned on the radio.
The next day at school, the atmosphere was somber. To us French kids, Senna had been for all those years this menacing presence, the threat to our national pride Alain. We were all unusually silent that day. So much so, in fact, that without any of us mentioning anything about Senna, a sports teacher said to us something like 'Come on, it' s sad but it's just one guy, the world won't stop turining! ' No one answered, silence remaining the only fitting attitude. We were all so sad.
Love to our Brazilian brothers.
Well that's a callous and inappropriate comment if ever I heard one, and from a teacher no less, who should know better. Disgusting.
I didn’t know the French kids were as much into F1 as we Brazilian kids. Or that Alain Prost was so idolized.
Senna was a guest commentator on a French TV broadcast of the race during the 1st lap of the warm-up, then he got off script and said
"This goes to my dear friend Allain, we, miss you, I miss you Allain".
They were fierce rivals but never enemies
Every active driver of the 1994 grid attended Senna’s funeral.
Only 5 from the same grid attended Ratzenberger’s.
They were the following:
*David Brabham*
*Karl Wendlinger*
*Gerhard Berger*
*Johnny Herbert*
*Heinz-Harald Frentzen*
*Max Mosley* FIA president at the time would later state in an interview 10 years after Roland and Senna’s death: “ _Roland has been forgotten. So I went to his funeral because everyone went to Senna’s. I thought it was important that someone went to his_ ”.
I was still quite young in 94 and didn’t know anything about F1. I had just started watching NASCAR, but Senna was enough of a legend that I learned of him, and his death because Dale Earnhardt dedicated his win the next day (I think) to Ayrton Senna. That should speak volumes of just HOW legendary he was. Grizzled-ass NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt dedicated his win to a fallen F1 driver.
@@albeback5234Sit down and shut ya mouth
As a Brazilian F1 fan who was 21yo at the time and watched the whole thing unfold before my eyes I thank you for your kind words. RIP Senna
@@albeback5234 Bro why can't you show some respect to 2 drivers that both died on track.
same
It was the same day. I loved watching Senna and Michael. I knew when he hit it was that bad. I still remember his race in Europe the year before when he went from fifth to first the first lap. I still miss him
The Brazilian people never really got over that. Still hurts a lot. Senna was a great human being and a phenomenal driver.
He left an institute to help poor children in Brazil. He will forever be missed.
It was indeed a huge loss for the Brazilian nation. Senna inspired many of his fellow Brazilians....a very sad day for F1 and Brazil
Im not sure any of us have gotten over it
Brazil gets everything handed to it on a silver platter, the soft and fluffy creatures of the sporting world.
@@JohnSmith-rw8uhbit disrespectful mate
@@JohnSmith-rw8uhand that’s absolutely false there just better than everyone else mate
It wasn't just Ayrton crashing that changed F1 forever, it was the whole race weekend. Ayrtons crash was the straw that broke the camels back. I still have the Qualy & the race on Video from '94 and it's aftermath. I was sat at home watching the whole weekend and I'd never seen anything like it before or after that weekend. It will stay with me until the day I die. If you ever get the chance, watch the whole Qualifying and whole Race day footage. it will blow your mind.
Just as a bit of History - - - -
A total of 50 drivers have died as a result of such accidents until 2023: 28 during Formula One Grand Prix events, 7 during the Indianapolis 500 (during the time it was still part of the F1 World Championship), 9 during test sessions and 6 during events not related to a world championship.
15 drivers died in the 1950s, 14 in the 1960s, 13 in the 1970s, 4 in the 1980s, 2 in the 1990s and 2 in the 21st century as well. The largest number of deceased drivers came from the United Kingdom. Twelve British drivers died in a Formula One car. The track where the most accidents occurred was the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where seven drivers died during the Indianapolis 500, which was still part of the world championship in the 1950s. Only one driver became world champion posthumously: Jochen Rindt in 1970, who died during a qualifying session. One former world champion died during a race: Ayrton Senna in 1994.
On the point of "history" ... it should be noted, that the most drastic changes were about to be introduced and enforced long before Imola '94. Once Bernie (whatever one may think of him) held the "purse strings" and Formula 1 in his "iron grip", he went on a restless crusade to really "turn the tide" and lessons were learned from pretty much every crash ever since. Of course, him turning F1 into the multi-billion dollar spectacle we know today, only made a great many safety improvements possible in the first place... back in the "good old days" there simply wasn't enough money to go around.
You need to digitise that video and share it, there simply isn't any way folk can watch it unless they have it recorded on video like you.
It’s impossible to fibd
There is something eery about that whole weekend, like there was just something bad in the air you can feel it watching it back even all these years later.
Where can I find the video?
I was watching this race with a friend live on BBC and about 20 minutes after the crash we heard Murray Walker start to cry and he went off air only for someone else to take over the commentary. My friend said, he's just heard that Senna has died. Even more tragic because Senna didn't really want to race, especially after what happened on Saturday.
Be glad that you watched the BBC coverage which cut away from the accident aftermath. The RAI coverage stayed with it and to those of us watching it (on video tape for me as I was at the race itself) it was obvious that he was gone.
Tears came from reading that
Murray never went off air he commentated bravely right til the end of the race it was an awful day and weekend
I remember exactly where I was. I was 9 years old. And I cried like the child I was because this great man was lost to us. I still do when I remember it. What a legend Ayrton was.
Whilst all the grandees went to Brazil for his funeral, Max Mosley chose to attend Roland's funeral.
Respect to Mosley for that. Roland deserved somone there.
I remember hearing someone say that that year at Imola the race seemed cursed. Two drivers passed away that weekend. It was because of their passing that safety features were improved.
What a driver. Live forever Ayrton Senna. 🇧🇷🥇
Incredible video. Goosebumps are real. Senna is and always will be my biggest inspiration. Senna was an Incredible man in every aspect of life
My father said this was the saddest day in Brazil, Ayrton was the face of Brazil in the 90s and maybe even impacted the nation more than Pelé did. R.I.P Ayrton Senna one of the best
Pelé died in peace, after achieving everything he could. Senna died at his best career moment.
Sports were hitting the big time. Interestingly espn was starting and didn't have money for big sports so they showed all kinds of other sports and racing. It caused a big growth in all motor sports. This crash ended formula 1 in America as a major interest.
Maybe for F1 but the blackest day in Motorsport is certainly the 11th June 1955, 1 driver, 83 spectators lost their lives at the 1955 24 hours of Le Mans
I remember this like yesterday. An event like this changed NASCAR too. Dale SR and Senna are legends that left to soon
Thank you for a very heartfelt telling of this tragedy.
After Ratzenberger`s tragic accident the race should`ve been canceled from the calendar that year. It`s incredible how the sport was back then. It was tragedy after tragedy and they went on racing with a shrug.
money talks
tbf ratzenberger died, because he damaged his front wing on a curb when he went unclean through a corner ( or did he went off and when come back to the track he damaged it on the curb - it has been so long, i start to forget the shit, because i start getting old now xD). it was "his own fault". as hill said, it was not a place on the track were the car is anywhere near its limits - and you cant put the whole track into some cotton protection. ratzenbergers frontwing detached and he had no grip to take the light right turn tha led up to the rivazza ( i think it was the rivazza, i might be wrong here, though).
senna died because his mechanics did a poor job at welding his steering wheel into a new position or whatever he wanted. there is a difference between an unlucky coincidence as in ratzenbergers death and the dance with the devil which the williams mechanics did ( no offense to them, im sure they tried their best to weld it in a way that they thought was safe).
was it a tragedy? yes. it were the first deaths in f1 in i think almost 9 years, i think the last f1 driver died in 1986 and i even cant remember his name. there was a general feeling that the cars had become incredibly safe ( which is somewhat true) and as it is with the human race: we will only react and never act, that is how we learn - but we learn good, dont you think? unfortunately it takes these events. following this train of thought, i want to leave a horrendous implication: we havent abandoned war after the second world war. there will be a bigger one. lets hope imola 1994 was the epitome of what has to be payed for the safety of the sport - and things look quite safe and good in motorsport, dont they?
@@homerp.hendelbergenheinzel6649 yes but run off areas should be set up with all errors in mind plus an extra margin so unless he wanted to commit suicide and go full throtle and no brakes there's no excuse what happened. And for Senna's car it wasn't a bad weld but failure due to stress fatigue on the steering column because of the big bumps on the surface of the track. It was 100% track conditions fault. Looking at the footage these days is inconceivable how loosd the rules were back then. Pilots or marshalls running on the track through running cars. Somehow i wish it was the same now. Haha
I sadly remember watching the racing that weekend and just how tragic the events were. When the Senna film came out and we got to Imola 94 all the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. I am a F1 fan and as skilled as the drivers are today I have never seen anyone as impressive as Senna. Watch the in car footage of him wrestling a car round Suzuka changing gear with his right hand. The work rate required for those cars was phenomenal! RIP Aryton, racing legend!
He was a different breed and outstandingly talented….many people still grieve his loss, me included! 😞
Watch Donnington 1993.🙏🙏🙏
@@ricardagottschalk_duran2677 I remember watching that live….god like driving that’s not been repeated since! 😊😎
Senna ranks among Jackie Stewart and Stirling Moss.
Forget the year, but watching Senna in the wet pass countless cars on the first lap at Donnington showed me what he was capable of.
There was a very well done documentary done about Sennas crash. Using an onboard camera and plotting a arc from a yellow button on the steering wheel it follows the wheel the entire weekend. It shows the button followed the exact same arc until the milliseconds before the accident. The button jerks wildly from the smooth arc, all but proving the steering column broke in his hands. Some have argued the steering wheel could move similar the the DAS system Merc had, but it didn't deviate at all until that corner. Williams altered the steering column, by welding in piece of metal to make the column longer for Senna sometime before. Also Williams refused to let the car be examined until after their mechanics had and many allege it had been altered when it was brought back, which reeks even more of a cover up.
Yeap, and the car should have been siezed immediately just as in a criminal investigation. Even the other Williams drivers covered their own asses by saying that Senna was nervous and overly aggressive in his driving. Senna knew what he was doing, but the thing he should have done most of all, was listen to his gut instinct and not driven the car.
The jerking motion could just as easily have been the result of the front end breaking traction. But yeah, there's definitely something fishy about the way Williams acted
True story and the fact that Williams removed the black box and then ‘allegedly’ damaged it was very underhand, rather like their botched steering modification in which they used inferior steel.
@@Sennaral exactly, I've read it somewhere that the recording was altered and it was missing the most crucial part around the time of the accident... 😕
Oh man, I remember that day. As soon as Senna went off, I knew his time was up.
That whole weekend was crazy😢
I think you're fooling yourself if you think Ayrton survived the crash at all. The impact separated the base of his skull from his spine (Basilar skull fracture), Dr Sid Watkins confirmed this many years later. They kept Ayrton 'alive' as there was an unwritten rule that drivers don't die at the circuit plus Italian Law would mean the race could not restart!
Pah. A man was dying. And one died the day before. Such disrespect from Italy.
So when three-time champion Ayrton Senna dies from his crash, investigations are launched, people are brought to court, someone should be responsible, someone needs to go to jail...! The day before, Roland Ratzenberger crashed and died, a driver that most people never heard of, driving for a team that most people never heard of... I never heard of anyone being dragged to court for that...! Really disturbing how different the two accidents were treated.
and that is mainly because the reason for the tragic accident of Ratzenberger was quite obvious: his front wing (or part of it) was stuck under the front of his car lifting it up a bit only to loose traction and thus rendering it uncontrollable if I'm not mistaken. It was seen on the coverage of the qualifying, or analized afterwards.
I was a young boy back then and all I can understand about F1 is that Benetton cars looks good. Of course, I was already at an age that know what death means, when dad told me of Senna's passing from the news, but as F1 wasn't really under the spotlight in my country (even now), it wasn't until Brazil won the FIFA World Cup that year and their players and staff waving a banner about dedicating the win to Senna, that I began to see how much Senna means to the people of Brazil.
I still remembered when my mom told me about his death, where I was, how sad I was. He such a legend that I will never forget.
It was a good video. As to why Senna's FW16 let go in the middle of Tamburello that day, the investigation showed a very poor welded modification was made to the steering column to make it longer, and because the modification was done improperly this cause a stress fracture and sudden failure as the car bounced through Tamburello on Lap 7. There was solid physical evidence of this as you would expect. I always felt it was a shame they made up another story to protect Williams and F1 from the legal consequences of the negligence of the poor steering column modification.
To be fair. It's not like it was done on purpose. They were just trying to fix the car. They didn't know what would happen. Or at least. That's what it seemed like to me. Please correct me if I'm wrong
@@chasegrant2817 Of course no one would say they deliberately made the modification to fail on purpose. It was however found that the team and specifically chief engineer Head were negligent due to the poorly designed and executed modification to such a vital component.
Ah. Thank you for the elaboration dude.
The Italian courts tried to charge Frank and Patrick Head with manslaughter, it was only when the teams threatened to boycott Italy they cancelled the charges.
Was this actually proven? Yes the steering column was welded and was found in two parts after the crash, but as to when it broke is a matter of speculation. The more logical explanation is that the cold tyres and low ground clearance led to the car losing traction and finding it again when it was pointed towards the wall.
This is the first time i witnessed a death in F1. Ayerton seemed immortal like he would live forever.
You no what pisses me off.that all these videos about senna miss one massive massive thing out and that's Ronald ratzenberger.. RIP to both..
Wow - as a newly F1 follower I cant believe they still ran this race after the fatality on the Saturday.
People died a lot more back then especially in the 60s I think people were more desensitised to it than today
I watched this on tv with my Dad, Senna was our man. That whole race weekend was the most horrible thing to see. Ruebens crash was awful, Ratzenberger dying, it was terrifying to see. There was one specific shot on tv of Senna in his car, he just didn't look okay, which was understandable, like a thousand yard stare. Me and my Dad looked at each other and we just knew the race was going to be more of the same for some unfortunate driver. We never thought it would be Senna. That's the only race that I've watched live that I wish had never started. I never knew about the flag he carried for Ratzenberger until this vid, so thanks for that. It shows the true class of the man.
The video:😢
The music and audio:😢
What a legend😢
It is often forgotten that there were so many other major incidents at this race weekend. Indeed a tragic event weekend. I can sadly remember watching all of this on live TV at the time.
What is your most cherished memory of Ayrton Senna? 🤔
1993 the last race
Sadly, I'm too young to have seen Senna live... But, I believe he was the greatest... Owing to the fact that when it comes to racing, he was ruthless. But, when it comes to being human, he'd get out of his car to help a fellow racer. Or that he'd give millions to the poor....
Rest in Peace, Ayrton.
I hope there's an afterlife, because I'd like a meetup
Him winning his first Brazilian GP. What he had to do with that car...that day? Unbelievable.
I have a couple of happy memories like watching Ayrton win his home grand prix in Brazil on his birthday in 1991, watching Ayrton save Erik comas by stopping his car engine, letting Gerhard Berger his current team-mate win the race and his concern for the well being of the children in Brazil. He was a great man and I haven't seen any other formula one driver do any of these things since. Rip Ayrton ❤
On the track his 88 Monaco everything expect the crash. Off the track calling Prost a coward in a press conference
F1 has always had races, usually lethal ones, that have changed the sport going on. And many involving the drivers considered the best of their generation.
The big difference with the Senna crash was down to the cars in that season. Those things were more complex than a spacecraft, and as Mansell said;- the cars were incredibly fast, pushing the technology to the limits and more, but anyone of them was like riding a tiger.
The cars were quicker than 2023's cars, full of all kinds of fancy tech driven by prehistoric computers, and crash protection negligible. And when those cars were on track they were constantly fighting the driver, when they stepped out or lost grip, or a small part breaking in them they didn't ever have a small accident, but huge violent ones.
Before Sennas death fatal or life changing crashes were extremely common. After Senna the new rules and crash structures made fatal crashes extremely rare. We forget that now, but watching f1 in the 70's and 80's were full of horrendous accidents.
Being a Brazilian it is safe to say that this crash and death eliminated the joy and excitement of so many people for high end racing sport, that many people still say: "I watched formula 1 until Senna died...". He was not only a pilot/driver, he was a national hero.
Some of us still have hope that some other genius could represent us in the sport, but it seems very difficult to happen in the short term. Too bad for this nation.. peace out!
This year marks 30 years since that tragic day
Ironically it is also my Birthday 😞
Im 37y old brazilian guy that always fall in tears when I remember that day. To the world, Senna was a legend race driver. To us, he IS much much more than that!
Senna basically died on the impact but of course they couldn't declare that he has died on the track, too much severe repercussions for the officials. The steering column broke before the impact and it was eventually proved by court. Rest in peace, Legend.
It was proved to the court but no-one went to jail
@@CelicaSainz yes, exactly.
Im always a bit surprised and shoked, that in every single documentation about this day, the death of another driver (ratzenberger) is just a 10 second sidenote, like its nothing special...
It's a real shame that today's F1 fans born after Senna's death know little about how great this man was. On and off the track. A few now have won more races. But not one comes close to his skill and talent. He started in one of the least competitive cars a Toleman. And overtook legends at Monaco to win the race. However the politics that followed his career started then when they stopped the race early to give Prost the win. This was the start of his amazing show of talents. My favourite was his first win in Brazil. With only one gear left working, he won his first home GP. Tears followed and always do when I think of this man.
I first became aware of Ayrton Senna daSilva when he was racing in Formula 3. He was an astonishing driver, and the best I've ever seen!! He had it all stats notwithstanding. I watched his final race at 4am in the morning and knew after his crash, I had just watched my hero die. Thankfully, I met him at the 1987 USGP in Detroit just after he put his Lotus on the front row. He won that race as his legendary career was just beginning. Rest in peace, Champ!! ❤
1:24 imagine being so skillful of a driver that instead of not having enough driver for the car, there isn't enough car for the driver. even crazier when it's an f1 car :o
RIP Ayrton 😢😢. Gone but not forgotten
It is infuriatingly sad to think of how many F1 drivers may have died in the years following had Senna not crashed and died as a result. There’s no way to know exactly how many lives Senna has saved.
can say the same about the late Dale Sr
The sad part is, that it always has to claim lives before improvements are made. That's just wrong to me on any level.
@@SuperMoofie totally agree
@@SuperMoofie true. What I’ve always felt was more sad though was in the past it didn’t just take deaths to instigate change. It took the deaths of legends, icons, THE guy you think of when you think of the sport. But across the timeline of Motorsport even that is fairly new. Because there was a time when not even that forced safety changes. Ayrton Senna’s death was seemingly a tipping point. But not everywhere. Because as somebody else pointed out NASCAR didn’t change until Dale Earnhardt sr died 7 years after Senna.
B.S, Clearly Senna's steering column failed before hitting the wall
Ex nascar fan longing for good racing have stumbled into f1. Its crazy to see f1 has their own Earnhardt.
The weekend shold've been cancelled after Ratzenberger's death on track as per Italian law at the time. Obviously money won out and Senna unnecessary death was the outcome.
no no no … the whole thing must been cancelled because 👰🏿♂️🌈💍”it’s too dangerous, man”
@@albeback5234If they did that Senna would still be alive
man I was gonna cry because of you and I am not born in the 90s to watch F1 at that time
I watched many videos about senna story and death but this one was gonna put me in tears
Ayrton will still be the same guy whatever the accident he faced off. Ayrton will live forever. He was and remains a champion in F1 history.
Love how you complete forget the fact that it was only Schumacher who could qualify the Benetton that high, when his teammates (Lehto and Verstappen) were like 1- 1.5s behind.
I was watching this race live in 1994. I remember Senna lying motionless and how long it took to get him into the helicopter. There was little doubt about what had happened. I also was watching the 1999 CART race at Fontana when Greg Moore flipped straight into the wall and died. It was so shocking.
I resent Damon Hill's suggestion that Senna made a mistake. Tamburello is not a corner you have to think about. It was half-way through a very long straight, and realistically, Tamburello was just part of that long straight before the Tosa hairpin at the very end, long after you'd passed Tamburello. It makes no sense when you look at the footage that Senna's car suddenly no longer seemed to steer. Maybe Damon Hill was right, but I find it hard to believe.
This was very good. What happened to both great drivers was indeed tragic but to die doing what you love...❤
If is a big word ,but if the declared Ratzenburgers death on the track then the rest of the weekend would have to have been cancelled and maybe today the legend would still be with us.
If you read the details there's a clear indication that Senna's car dropped suddenly at the rear, right before he lost control. This wouldn't be the steering column, a lot of experts suspect a puncture. At that speed, at that part of the course its a recipe for disaster, no matter the car or driver.
Oh man, I jast found miself watching your videos for almost an hour.
You're amazing!
And you keep a high pace with how you speek, love it. 👏👏👏
I was not alive at the time but it still hurts. He was a legend and knew something was wrong with the track based on the day before. I hate how the team is trying to cover it all up and blame it on Senna. Absolutely unbelievable
Ironically NASCAR also had one of its deadly starts of their season with 2 deaths before the Daytona 500 that same year 1994
Legends never die! They learn to fly! This man could fly while he was alive! R.I.P.
Fangio once said that when he was watching this race, he knew that Senna was not going to survive this. When he saw Senna's head move slightly in the cockpit he knew it was a fatal brain injury.
It was no driver error, the steering column snapped. Senna is clearly turning left, the car suddenly veers right. Senna is STILL steering to his left, but the Williams continues to go right.
I was watching the live telecast when it happened. I had no doubt at the time that something broke in the steering at the time and to this day I have seen nothing to change my mind. I’m not one to blame the team because they are all working their best for the driver, but I have no doubt that a mechanical fault caused the crash. He was the greatest driver I have witness in my lifetime and I still think it’s sad.
His car bottomed out. You can see the sparks even in the insert in this video. I suspect the issue was low tyre pressures after the SC combined with heavy fuel load. Rear bottomed, front rose enough to mess up the aero, and the car was a bullet at that point.
@@samiraperi467 yes, it sparked the whole way around the track and this corner on this occasion was no different. What was notable is that the car didn’t do any sort of shimmy or movement, it just straighten up and went straight ahead like a dart. Plus, look at the slow motion, the front wheels never turned the whole way into the wall. So either Senna kept the wheels straight the whole way into the wall or something broke meaning he couldn’t turn.
@@samiraperi467the issue with the low tires pressure theory is that Senna literally set the fastest lap of the race the lap before he was killed the tires werent cold or had a puncture they were fine
Either the car servely bottomed out due to the bumps causing it to step out and Senna became a passenger
Or something in the steering failed
@@peterj5751 yeap, that's it, a broken steering column. Yet another problem with the car that Williams shouldn't have allowed on the track, yet they were willing to risk a driver's life for glory and money. That's about as low as it gets.
@@RANDOMZBOSSMAN1 The wheels never turned, meaning, they couldn't, or logically he would have turned them obviously, due to a failure.
Concrete Walls of Tamburello yielded itself to no one...not even to great Ayrton Senna. It stood still in collision, witnessing the destruction of our best engineering achievement in form FW16, and stood as a silent testament to futility of human endeavor.
Without going into more details, I was told (not long after the accident) that the front wing on Ratzenburgers car failed.
I know things were legitimately different back then, but the fact that a driver died on Saturday and they still went ahead with the race on Sunday is fucking nuts. I think we're all happy to say there's no way that would happen now
Aryton Senna Saved Eric Coma's life but when Aryton Senna's crash happend, Eric Coma saw the aftermath and knew he couldn't do anything for the man and Eric Coma went into a deep depression later on.
R.I.P Roland Ratzenberger
R.I.P Aryton Senna
It’s sad that the two biggest heroes in Motorsport from around the world had to die before people took safety as seriously as they do today
why the hell would the race still start even 4-5 crashes would occur??
I wasn't born then, but I surely have heard of Senna long after his tragic death.
His legacy lives on
It took the death one of the greatest drivers for F1 to sort safety out
Such a legend. My friend was named senna after him.
2:24 But Rubens was really lucky in misfortune back then. In the accident he swallowed his tongue and became unconscious. With a little less luck, he could have been the first death this weekend.
He knew that he was at risk that day. After the fatality the day before, the bad start the next day, the safety car. His unusual behaviour at the briefing and his numerous checks of the car he did not trust. A loss that is never forgotten. 💔🇦🇺
I found the production of this video disrespectful. The death of drivers isn't something that calls for words flying at you in capital letters. Give things a bit more thought please.
The 94' year for the Brazillians must've been bitter and sweet, they've lost Senna in Imola, but won the 1994 World Cup, they evsn paid tribute to Senna by flying a banner after the penalties.
I’d given up the World Cup to have Senna back.
You should leave the replays in the native 4:3 aspect ratio instead of stretching them to fit the aspect ratio of your video. They look goofy.
“Schumacher couldn’t match the pace and fell behind rapidly “…. And who was there right behind Senna moments before his accident? A cameraman?
dude those cars look so fragile compared to the ones today and literally the person driving looks so vulnerable to accidents wtf wtf
How can a death, any death, be considered a "tragedy" when it happens to all of us? Death is part of life which has a 100% mortality rate.
Some facts wrong here. Schumacher was actually closing on Senna, not Senna pulling away.
I remember watching a British made documentary once that speculated that the tires on Ayrton Senna's car had constricted after becoming too cold from following the Safety Car that came out after the opening lap crash. The cars back then were extremely close to the ground to get the centre of gravity as low as possible. The documentary speculated that the car bottomed out because the cold tires reduced the ride height beyond a safe level and that it caused the car to pitch to the right and crash into the wall.
We may never know if there is any truth to this but it's worth noting that there was an immediate regulation change where a wooden plank had to be inserted on the underside of the cars to lift the ride height and stop them bottoming out. I believe the current ground aero effect cars are the first since then to not have the wooden plank underneath.
I've seen that documentary too, and it is a valid theory, so is the steering column, so is outright driver error. I don't think the public will ever know for sure the true cause.
The current ground effect cars still have the plank
I doubt the tires were cold though had he crashed straight after the SC i would agree but Senna literally set the fastest lap of the race the lap before he died i doubt the tires were still cold/underpressured after that lap if they were clearly the tires at the time wouldnt have been fit for f1
@@RANDOMZBOSSMAN1 it was known that the Williams team cut and welded an extended piece onto the steering column and many people believe that it broke under the pressure it was put under. It has been denied that the steering column breaking caused the accident and instead it was claimed that it broke on impact with the concrete barrier.
including these two deaths, 6 deaths in F1 in 30+ years. Safest racing in the world. And without a silly halo. No halo's in MX/SX/MotoGP
Who went to Roland Ratsenbergers funeral. Max Mosley. I don’t like Mosley but respect he didn’t forget another human being also died that weekend.
Respect to Senna mind as he was a legend
2 drivers in Formula one died at this racetrack,it was a sad day!! Niki Lauder did not want to race the day that he had his really bad crash and Aryton did not want to race in this race...Maybe the officialdom should listen to the drivers more?? F1 is a lot safer now than it was back then thank goodness.
Using a fake photoshopped image for your thumbnail is really disrespectful
Clickbait is everything these days. Just look how many Videos are like "What happened to Schumacher" and i have seen a thumbnail a picture of M Schumacher in Hospital, a black and white picture with tubes in his nose to show he is trying tu survive, in need of oxygen etc... Just report those people.
Rip Senna 😭😭😭
Worst day of my life
That day is what many fans believe to be a curse, but I think the FIA has finally seen the "side effects" of removing all electronic driving aids....
You think about this entire race weekend at this one track alone. All the accidents, all the bad ones, all the wrecks, to think, formula1..... just kept moving the weekend along without thinking about stopping the race, well before when they had the very first opportunity to do so. They could have taken the fewer wrecks that happened, and done research there and could have prevented some of the worser wrecks.
Safety > glamour
The cause of the crash was not Senna pushing it or a faulty steering column. Accidents like these are often a combination of events that come together in the right way to cause the accident and usually have multiple causes. The first cause was the running of soft tyres. Before a race the tyres are warmed by a specially made electric blanket that makes the tyres sticky. The warm air in the tyre expands increasing the cars tyre pressure which racers will often reduce to get maximum surface area in contact with the ground increasing grip. The second cause was the cars ride hight. The lower the car is to the ground the faster the air moves underneath the car creating downforce. The faster the car goes the more downforce is applied and the more the car gets sucked (pushed by the airpressure above in reality) to the gound decreasing the ride height further, increasing the grip and allowing the car to go faster ect, ect in a feed back loop. Mechanics before the race will set the ride height based on tyre pressure which would have been set very low because the tyres would have been warm from the blankets and warmed up during the warm up lap causing the ride height to be a little higher than what would be deemed dangerousduring the race. The third cause was the saftey car. As the debris on the track was being cleared the saftey car was going way to slow for the racers the maintain sufficient heat in the tyres, dropping the cars ride height as the air inside the tyre cooled. As the saftey car left the track Senna started pushing the car again unaware he was dangerously close the the car bottoming out. As he pushed the car flat out around the corner the cold tyres, the low ride height and huge downforce pushed the car into the ground bottoming out the car causing a complete loss of grip and control sending him into the wall. I am not sure if this was ever the official conclusion or not but I know that it was investigated by a team of mechanical engineers and specialists that investigate leathal motorsport accidents.
Tbud is a perfect example of workers vs management and corporate... all the big heads care about are profits
why build concret walls next to a racing track? why build walls at all, cant it just be open landscape, grass?
Its amazing this GP went past the Quali session at all
Rip ratzenberger 😭😭😭
There is a foto, Ayrton on a ground, and steering wheel next to him "face" down, with over a foot of steering column in it pointing up. Its pretty clear that column broke before the crash.
Hill: it's was Schumacher his fault senna crashed and died.... What a sick mind.