Friday practice ended with Rubens Barrichello in hospital after a heavy crash going into Rivazza. Saturday qualifying saw Roland Ratzenberger suffer a front wing failure and crashed into a concrete wall off Villeneuve corner where he died instantly. The mood on race day, as I imagine it must have been, was sombre. The unyielding desire to outpace bugged by a very suppressed yet palpable vulnerability.
The red lights go out aaaaand they're off! Wheels digging into the tarmac for traction, engines spitting out as many horses as they can, the chassis piercing through the humid Italian air! A 2-car incident hurls debris into the spectators and out comes the Safety Car. For the next 4 laps, there is no overtaking as the cars slow down and close up the gap, weaving left and right to keep their tyres warm. The rolling restart. Triple world champion Ayrton Senna leads the pack, chased by a very young Michael Schumacher.
The Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari was very fluid and exhilarating fast, characterized then by the intense flat-out 6th gear stretch from the start-finish to the infamous Tamburello Curve, a good full 10 seconds at 300km/h. It was at Tamburello where Senna's FW16 Williams went off and straight into a concrete wall.
Today, Tamburello has been forcibly slowed down with a chicane. But even as the cars puttputtputt by in 2nd gear, the wall that claimed Senna still stands, an unofficial memorial of its victim. Perhaps prophetically, Michael Schumacher won that race and would go on to clinch his first (of seven) world title with Benetton. Poor Ratzenberger though, he will always be known as 'The one that died before Senna'.
Ayrton Senna died on Sunday, 1 May 1994.
He was 34 years old, and already 3 times world champion.
The Brazilian demi-god. Gone to the great racing track in the sky.
Ayrton Senna (1960-1994)"Racing, competing, it's in my blood. It's part of me, it's part of my life;
I have been doing it all my life and it stands out above everything else."
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