The terrible weekend started on Friday, when Rubens Barrichello had a violent crash in his Jordan. Only prompt intervention by Prof Sid Watkins prevented the Brazilian from swallowing his own tongue.
RUBENS BARRICHELLO: "When I came round in the medical centre after my accident, the first face I saw was Ayrton's, with tears in his eyes. I had never seen that with Ayrton before. I had the impression that he felt as if the accident was like one of his own. He said to me, 'Stay calm. It will be all right.'"
Worse was to come on Saturday (30 April). Rookie Roland Ratzenberger, trying to qualify the new Simtek, suffered a high-speed front wing breakage and lost all steering control. The car flew off the road and hit the wall at massive speed. Ratzenberger suffered critical head injuries and, despite the best medical attention, could not be revived.
NICK WIRTH (Simtek owner): "You can't really describe the emotions. I just have an extremely vivid memory of Roland having heart massage on the grass. I felt like I was going to end up in a heap on the ground - I just couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I remember having real difficulty walking from the pit wall back to the garage.
"It was just awful. Roland was just a great, great guy. He'd be top of the list if you were going out for a drink with the boys. He wasn't conceited, he wasn't arrogant. The sad thing was that Formula 1 didn't get to know him. What level he would have reached, I wouldn't like to say, but I don't think it's important. His dream was Formula 1, and I'm just pleased that we had that Aida race, and he did it. That's about the only thing that you can cling on to."
Gerhard Berger also witnessed the fatality on TV monitors in the pits. The veteran Austrian, who had survived a fiery accident at Imola's Tamburello corner in 1989, frankly discussed the agony of his decision to get back in his Ferrari.
GERHARD BERGER: "I felt sick and my whole body was shaking. In our job, you must be prepared to see situations like this. But it was another Austrian driver, and a personal contact, so it was even worse. It gave me again the picture of how close sometimes we are between life and death. Then I knew the difficult question was coming. I had to ask myself if I was prepared to take risks like this. It was a difficult decision, very hard. But I said I was going to race."
Senna visited the scene of the Ratzenberger accident, and it was clear that the tragedy had a profound effect on him. On Sunday, he started from his third pole of the season, but JJ Lehto stalled his Benetton, which was hit hard by the Lotus of Pedro Lamy, throwing debris into the crowd and injuring several people. The Safety Car was deployed and, for several laps, Senna led Schumacher and the rest of the field slowly around. The restart was calamitous.
Sunday 1 May: Shortly after the restart, Senna’s Williams hurtled off the road at Tamburello, the scene of many major accidents over the previous decade. Although it was a big accident, the TV pictures suggested that the car was not seriously damaged. But the medical team saw instantly that Senna's helmet had been penetrated by a broken suspension component.
PROF SID WATKINS: "He looked serene. I raised the eyelids and it was clear from the pupils that he had a massive brain injury. We lifted him from the cockpit and laid him on the ground. As we did so, he sighed. Although I'm agnostic, I felt his soul departed at that moment. More help arrived, and Dr Pezzi, one of the trackside medical team, got on with intubating Senna. We got several IV infusions into the inert form and, although I could feel his pulse, I knew from seeing the extent of his injury that he could not survive."
Soon after the finish, it was confirmed that Ayrton Senna was dead. Race winner Michael Schumacher and most of his peers wept openly. All were stunned.
NIGEL MANSELL: "There is not a driver in the world who will not be shocked and deeply affected by this terrible news."
FRANK WILLIAMS: "He really was all he was cracked up to be in a car. Quite, quite remarkable. And, out of the car, he was a bit special too. He was a great man, actually. Probably a greater person than he was a racing driver."
DAMON HILL: "I watched Ayrton closely, and tried very hard to appreciate what it was that made him so special. I was left with an impression that his very soul was put into competing in Formula 1. I consider myself enormously privileged to have been a team mate to a driver of his greatness."
MICHAEL ANDRETTI: "He might have been the greatest driver of all time. There was no weakness in Ayrton Senna. He was also the most misunderstood person out there, because he got such a bum rap in the media. He comforted me when I was having trouble at McLaren and he called to congratulate me when I won again this year in IndyCars. I just want everybody to know that I knew Ayrton first-hand and he was a very good person."
The tragic events, the worst since the deadly Spa of 1960, and the first at a race meeting since Ricardo Paletti's death in Canada 1982, led to a debate over Formula 1 safety that would rage for a long time. In Italy, the cause of Senna's crash became a legal issue that would haunt the Williams team for several years.
The nightmare continued two weeks later at the Monaco GP, where Sauber's Karl Wendlinger suffered severe head injuries in a practice crash. In hospital, he was kept in a coma and on a respirator to relieve brain damage, from which he would eventually recover. Peter Sauber withdrew his other car because the team was "not in an emotional condition to race."
Before the start, all the drivers stood for a moment of silence at the front of the grid, on which the first two places were left empty as a mark of respect for Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger.
Schumacher drove his Benetton flawlessly to win easily, Martin Brundle was an encouraging second for McLaren, and Berger - who, like the other drivers, overcame his personal fears about racing - finished a fighting third for Ferrari.
MICHAEL SCHUMACHER: "I was not sure I could continue racing like normal. I think Ayrton would wish us all to continue in his sport."
MARTIN BRUNDLE: "I had trouble keeping my head together. I cried when I saw a film tribute to Ayrton. My son asked me if he was really dead."
GERHARD BERGER: "I remember when I was young and danger didn't exist. Now it exists always more."
- excerpt from FORMULA 1 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY (edited by GD)
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