In the Eternal Racing tracks series we remember drivers who have made a significant impact on motorsport and their rules and regulations. Today we remember Ayrton Senna, Roland Ratzenberger and Jules Bianchi.
Ayrton Senna da Silva is widely regarded as one of the most legendary Formula 1 drivers of all time. He won three championships (1988, 1990, 1991) and held many records.
Senna died after succumbing to fatal injuries sustained during his race at the San Marino Grand Prix on the 1st of May 1994. Senna’s death was considered by many of his Brazilian fans to be a national tragedy, and the Government of Brazil declared three days of national mourning.
During the race weekend of his fatal crash, there were two other serious accidents. One involving a driver by the name of Barrichello, who reported that Senna was the first visitor he received upon regaining consciousness. The other involved Austrian rookie Roland Ratzenberger, who was killed after the front wing of his car broke and he crashed into a concrete wall. Senna immediately visited the scene of the accident and the medical centre. Due to these two crashes, Senna spent his final morning talking to former teammate and rival Alain Prost. He wanted to re-establish the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, wanting to improve safety in Formula 1.
To summarize the accident on Sunday, Senna’s car left the racing line as he rounded the high-speed Tamburello corner on lap 7. His car hit a concrete wall, after which the race was red-flagged and Senna was treated by the medical team before he was airlifted to hospital. Later, under Italian law, the time of death was established to be 14:17. This because his brain stopped working the moment his car hit the wall. As later revealed, when the medical staff examined Senna, a furled Austrian flag was found in his car—a flag that he had intended to raise in honour of Ratzenberger after the race.
While that weekend on the Imola circuit was a tragedy, it did lead to some positives for motorsport in general, as nobody in the community ever wanted to experience such a thing ever again. Many safety improvements were made in the years following. These include improved crash barriers, redesigned tracks, higher crash safety standards, and major cuts to engine power.
As a result of increased standards in safety following this race, there was a 20-year gap between the deaths of Ratzenberger and Senna, and the crash of Jules Bianchi at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix which led to his death the following year.
The 2014 Japanese Grand Prix was held on the 5th of October, under recurrent heavy rainfall which was caused by the approaching Typhoon Phanfone. Bianchi lost control of his Marussia in very wet conditions and collided with a recovery vehicle which was lifting another racing car. Bianchi suffered a diffuse axonal injury and underwent emergency surgery. He was subsequently placed into an induced coma, and remained comatose until his death on 17 July 2015. Bianchi was the first Formula One driver in over 21 years to die as a result of an F1 racing accident. Attesting that while regulations had done much in order to improve safety, it cannot be guaranteed while driving race cars.
After Bianchi’s accident, it was agreed that the head should be better protected. The Halo was designed as a driver crash protection system. The system consists of a bracket that surrounds the driver’s head and is connected at three points to the vehicle frame. While many drivers and fans were at first displeased with the implementation of the Halo, the protection system has later been praised by the motorsport community following several incidents. In a Formula 2 race at Catalunya, Tadasuke Makino’s halo was landed on by fellow countryman Nirei Fukuzumi’s car. During the Belgian Grand Prix Charles Leclerc’s halo was struck by Fernando Alonso’s airborne McLaren. Both Makino and Leclerc credited the halo for possibly saving their lives. The halo was also credited with saving the life of Alexander Peroni. As the driver walked away from an airborne crash in which his vehicle landed on top of the driver’s cockpit during a Formula 3 event at Monza on Sep 7, 2019.
Whilst the accidents mentioned were tragic, this all shows that their deaths were not in vain.