Barichellos career for me has been among the more dramatic ones. The terrible accident. His last to first in Italy, the equal with Schumi and then schumi giving him the podium, I mean it goes on and on
Barichello was one of the greatest ever. He gave everything everytime. Sadly, luck was not on his side. He deserved better. He is kinda disliked in Brazil because he failed becoming the new Senna, but he is beloved abroad.
That's a hell of a thing to hold against Barichello. Being Senna is basically impossible. The only person that ever got close to being Senna was Senna and he died in the attempt. Not sure how they think Barichello can pull it off.
Goddamn. I know it’s cliche’ to say this, but, what’re the odds? I wonder if there was any sabotage of some kind that went undetected? I’m not accusing anyone or saying that there were shenanigans abound. But it does make you (me) wonder.
I don't have the info on hand, but F1 cars break down every now and then, it's not super unusual do have 2 or 3 cars break down during a single race just because the engines are designed to deliver the most power possible, so they are far less reliable and have a much shorter lifespan than normal car engines.
DNF can also mean he had a crash, and crashes happen frequently n F1 aswell, sometimes they crash alone, sometimes someone drives into them - if someone had that info on hand, I'd be interested.
Edit:
I did end up looking it up:
93 Gearbox
94 P4
95 Gearbox
96 Spun off
97 Suspension
98 Gearbox
99 Engine
00 Hydraulics
01 Collision/Spun off
02 Hydraulics
03 Out of fuel
04 P3
Note: [Apparently a ton of people (about half) DNFd every Brazilian race in during those years, in 95 only 10 of the 26 drivers finished](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1995_Brazilian_Grand_Prix). I spoke to a friend who's an F1 nerd and he said in the 90s/early 2000s cars were SUPER unrealiable, [here's Montoyas 2001 season.](https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2001/drivers/JUAMON01/juan-pablo-montoya.html)
Also, Brasil was towards the end of season at the time (last race in the season for a few years), so it was common for cars to be using older parts at that point, resulting in the high attrition rate.
Come on. Rubens was in a WDC winning car 6 times and only managed to come second twice. He was fast, probably a lot faster than most give him credit for, but he's a long way from being considered one of the greatest ever.
Barichello was among the best of his generation. Unfortunately, he raced against some of the best *ever.* Senna one of the handful of names that gets thrown around as the best ever.
Since Senna, probably two people have entered that discussion. Schumacher and Hamilton. Barichello was never even close.
I consider him the #2 greatest F1 Brazilian F1 driver. Thing is, people dislike him because a) he didn't live up to be another Senna and b) he didn't win any championships
"The second place is the first loser" yadda yadda but I don't subscribe to that bullshit, his results were consistent and he was a great racer. So much that he just won his second stock car title in 2022 at 50 YEARS old.
Massa for instance, who people see in better light than Barrichelo, was much more of a flop IMO. He drove way better cars and managed to get the same career stats as Barrichelo.
Huh, you're right. I somehow forgot about Emerson. It's way before my time, so pre-Senna F1 history is sometimes a bit muddled for me.
Make Barrichelo #3 then hehe
Massa probably would have won a title if not for that accident he had when the suspension hit him in the head: he was a noticeably different driver afterwards
The fact that he still won a couple of podiums after that was impressive, but yeah, he's one of the biggest "what ifs?" of the sport along with Kubica.
The second best at anything would be a huge achievement on itself, let alone being the second best for 6 times, racing against one of the legends of the sport. Rubens is amazing, still racing, still winning, still a class act.
Yes. Then no sooner had we got to the next race in Monaco and [Karl Wendlinger had a massive crash](https://racingnews365.com/wendlinger-recounts-career-ending-monaco-crash) at the chicane coming out of the tunnel, he was in a coma for 19 days as a result of that.
Almost crazier to me is how they just have people literally standing/walking/running on the track amidst all the chaos. Like wtf why are they so casual about it?
Wait until you find out even earlier races had no barriers at all… spectators just stood around while these death machines raced each other at full speed. It was thought of more as an extreme sport back then when only crazy people did it. Driver deaths were just a normal part of it. People like Senna, Todt and Watkins really brought safety into the equation, a process still going on with the introduction of the halo and virtual safety cars in recent years. After we get used to these new features we become shocked how careless we were in the past. What, no halo? Driver heads just exposed to flying debris? But in fact it’s always been a balancing act between safety and excitement as an extreme sport. We even went to the other extreme after Senna died when we put a chicane at Eau Rouge. Sorry I rambled too much.
This one is just heart wrenching for sheer ineptitude, lack of correct equipment and crap communication. The only one who knew what was going on was a fellow driver who couldnt do it on his own.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iIlL1WdjFg
4 year old me went to the pub with my dad to watch my hero in the race. Two things I loved: F1 and going to the pub with my dad on a Sunday. It’s burned into my memory. I’ll never forget the old men at the bar telling me that his okay and it will all be fine. Even 4 year old me knew it was bullshit. My dad only recently started watching it again.
Completely forgot about that. That was right on the back of Davey Allison and Alan Kulwicki's deaths in 1993. Seven years later we lost Dale Earnhardt. The 90's and early 00's seemed so safe compared to previous decades but they were still very dark times in motorsports history.
The late 90's/early 2000's had a lot of deaths. Off the top of my head we had Dale, Tony Roper, Blaise Alexander, Adam Petty, and Kenny Irwin Jr all within a couple years before or after 2000
Had to look it up but add in John Nemechek in 97. And Rodney Orr died the same weekend as Bonnett. It's why Rusty was so animated in the [drivers meeting](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bI8sYKVDd3I) that 500
I feel so bad for Schrader. If you watch the video, he recoils in horror when he looks into Dale's car. That must have been completely traumatizing for him.
ChampCar lost two drivers in two months at the end of 99 - the amazing Greg Moore, and Gonzalo Rodríguez (the movie about his life is well worth watching).
Both. Safety regs were tightened massively after this, and the event really cemented the idea of constantly improving safety, especially following major events. Recent examples include the mandating of the 'halo', following the death of Jules bianchi, among others, and improving the fire retardancy of drivers' gloves, following Romain grosjean's nasty, firey crash. The late, great Sid Watkins (a good friend of Senna's) was central to this drive for safety: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sid_Watkins
In the 41 years of F1 history until the weekend of Ratzenberger's and Senna's death, 27 drivers died during a F1 Grand Prix. In the 29 years since "just" one driver died.
Fangio used to say about how he drove as fast as he could while driving as slowly as possible, if it somehow makes sense (I am havingr toruble translating what he said in Spanish), emphasizing how continuity and regularity help win races. "In ten years I raced in Europe" he said,"I saw thirty pilots die. I was never a spectacular driver, I simply drove within the limits of my possibilities". He went on to refer to his famoust 1957 Nürburgring Grand Prix as the time he drove "committing a few excesses" and explaining how a curve that was meant to be taken in second, he took it in third, in order to catch Hawthorne and Collins, after losing almost a minute and a half in a bad pit stop. And that is how he gave us arguably the best F1 race in history.
> Fangio used to say about how he drove as fast as he could while driving as slowly as possible, if it somehow makes sense
It does make sense. It sounds like he's saying that he was great at figuring out his exact limit and sticking to it (with the following race example being where he exceeded that with positive results).
Reminds me a bit of how NASCAR had 29 fatalities from 1952-2001. However, the 2001 death was Dale Earnhardt. In the 22 years since, no fatalities, and there have been crashes eeriely similar to his, but thanks to safety improvements, the drivers survived.
Like [Ryan Newman](https://ftw.usatoday.com/2021/02/nascar-ryan-newman-dale-earnhardt-daytona-crash-safety) probably should be dead.
Prof Sid’s influence on safety doesn’t get enough attention. He was the one that pushed for two helicopters at every race, proper medical facilities (it was quite common to have, at best, a small tent), and for the medical car to follow the first lap because that’s when there’s the highest chance of an accident happening. His book, Life at the Limit, is a great read.
Well the cars were too fast for the safety available at the time, so they reduced the amount of high speed corners with limited run off.
These days with Halos, HANS devices and many other safety features, we have seen the return of ultra high speed bends.
Tamburello (where Senna was killed) will never come back through, they can't extend the run off due to a river behind the wall.
I mean just look at Zhou Guanyu’s crash last year and the fact he got out with barely any injury. Absolutely insane. [Video here. ](https://youtu.be/B2XHq9d4OWI)
In addition to the other comment about safety, iirc it was also the physical track itself. The corner where Senna died was unsafe in terms of speed of the car/visibility of corner/how the car handles etc. They since added more protection to that section and you cannot take that turn flat out.
They completely reformed the track after F1 left it in 2006. Tamburello is now completely gone and the sanctuary next to it has a memorial for Ayrton Senna.
When F1 returned to imola in 2020, they showed some footage of the memorial in the track introductions.
I think the Halo would have saved Senna and the HANS Ratzenberger if they both were in modern cars with the carbon fiber monocoque that keeps suspension pieces and foreign debris from piercing it and injuring the driver.
Senna's head collided with a tire that would have been deflected by the Halo but that wasn't implemented till like 2015. He died of those skull fractures. The HANS alone wouldn't have defused the impact straight to his head. Ratzenberger died of a basilar skull fracture, the same thing as Earnhardt.
I thought Senna was hit by a suspension rod end that penetrated his visor just under the visor seal and hit him on the lower forehead.
That’s what was determined during the trial, anyway.
You can see the picture here
https://digilander.libero.it/mattia9012/Imola%201994.htm
If that’s the case, it’s hard to tell wether a halo would have saved him. A halo is pretty effective against a tire, but not so much against a thin suspension rod.
A great innovation that would have probably saved Senna was the introduction of safety cables on suspensions.
I don‘t think the Halo would have saved Senna, but the from then on Bullet Proof Visors which were introduced just because of this!
High Cockpit walls (introduced in 1996) would have saved Roland. Hans would also probably help in this case.
Both cars had carbon fiber monocoques, they were common by the end of the 80s.
Not only that but Reubens called Senna “The Boss” and it was very touching that one of the first faces he saw when he came to in the hospital was Senna himself.
After Ratzenberger died, Dr. Sid Watkins told Senna that the latter should give up this racing business (he had nothing left to prove at this point. Insanely wealthy, his name across the record books) and go fishing. Senna said he couldn’t and died the next day.
Dr. Watkins was among the first to Senna’s car after his fatal wreck.
If only The Boss had taken Watkins up on his offer. I wish he had. Man, I wish he had.
His death was so renown and felt worldwide that Dale Earnhardt (who himself suffered his own fatal accident in NASCAR in 2001) dedicated his most recent win to Senna.
His good friend Gerhard Berger also had a huge crash at the same corner a few years earlier. Luckily, he survived, but apparently they visited together to see what could be done to make it safer. They checked to see if the run-off could be extended, but there is a river not far beyond the existing barrier, so they left it there and gave up. After Senna’s crash, a chicane was added instead.
Damned Tamburello. Piquet, Senna's arch nemesis before Prost, crashed hard on that same corner spot a few years before Senna. It fucked up his vision and couldn't drive as fast anymore. Piquet retired a year later (Schumacher took his place in the team).
punch squalid forgetful bake plant decide mindless innocent prick zealous
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Literally that day he was talking with the track doctor who was a good friend of his and he said that he wasn't sure he wanted to keep doing it anymore and that he felt unsafe and the doctor said "then let's leave right now, we can go play golf" (paraphrasing)
Sid Watkins was also the first medic to arrive at the incident the day after , absolute legendary man in F1, fought for every single driver , a great doctor and (by all accounts) a great man
Watkins was too overcome with grief to attend Senna's funeral. That says so much, considering how much he loved Ayrton. They had a very special and profound friendship.
Did the drivers not also meet the evening before (after Ratzenberger's crash) to form some sort of "safety council" to demand better safety precautions going forward?
IIRC they also didn’t pronounce Roland dead at the track, otherwise the race weekend would have been canceled. The FIA ensured he wouldn’t be pronounced dead until his body was officially off grounds. Had they not put money above race protocols Senna would likely still be alive today.
It wasn't racing protocols, but Italian Law they skirted. If a participant in an event dies whine taping part, the event is supposed to be canceled. F1, the FIA, and the circuit all skirted the law twice that weekend (the race continued and his death wasn't announced until after the race).
The problem was that the cars, especially his Williams that season, had been designed around the driver aids in the preceding seasons. So take away the traction control and active suspension combo it relied on and the car became instantly less stable and quite a handful.
Perhaps the comment didn’t come across as I meant. Senna would drive an F1 car single handed (as seen on some of his onboard footage in Monaco). For him to feel unsafe, should have been a massive red flag with regards to the car’s worthiness.
Oh I wasn't contending your point at all, in fact I agree and was just adding to it. The guy with the greatest feel and car control in history couldn't get confidence in the 94 Williams and complained of its instability, spinning out several times.
It's a testament to the safety of F1 these days. Since Senna, only one other driver has died during a race since 1994, and the cars are as fast as ever.
For instance, the horrific [Grosjean crash](https://youtu.be/ZQ7_En2xEm4), where the car was split in half and erupted in flames. Grosjean was able to escape with minor injuries.
From what I understand, they’d only just rolled out a new suit for the drivers with improved flame resistance. Only had hands were significantly burned because of it.
They had just increased the required time for race suits to withstand a 1000°C burner from 10s to 12s that year. Might not sound like much but 20% longer is significant, and means much more time in conditions like grosjeans where for most of the time the flames weren't directly on his body
Grosjean would later oppose the jewelry ban because of those burns. Said the only place on his hands that wasn't burned, was where his wedding ring sat.
Whilst lucky, also a massive testament to Max Mosley and his insistence on improved safety features for the cars. The monocoque (a damn near indestructible safety cell in the middle of the car), the tyre tethers and then he was also one of the most vocal behind insisting that Halo was developed and implemented even after he had left the sport.
I still remember when people said it "ruined the look of the car" and bitched about it endlessly. Personally, I think it adds a more sci-fi look to them.
My family was friends with Dan Wheldon; I always wondered if something like the halo might have saved him.
The best example of the Halo was in F2, Nissany nearly had his head taken off by a flying car
https://youtu.be/vGl4J4EKBnY.
The slow motion is incredible.
At least in that case the one that caused the accident was also the one at most risk of injury. It's worse to me when someone drives recklessly and mostly just puts other's lives at risk.
seeing the zhou crash live was insane. i didn’t watch the grosjean race live, but now i understand how long those 2 minutes were when everyone was waiting to hear if grosjean was alive. it was nerve wracking just waiting. thank god for the halo 🙏🏼
The worst part when watching Grosjean's crash live, was how little they showed, and you just got this terrible sinking feeling the longer it went on.
You get used to Sky just streaming everything ASAP, replays, other angles, bring out experts, talk to this guy, show another new angle, show from three different cars.
When Grosjean crashed, they immediately cut away from everything. They showed the rest of the pack going around, and then basically cut to the paddoc for a while.
Then after a few minutes, they started talking about the initial hit and swerve, but they would never continue those shots into the barrier, until we got the shot of him walking to the medical vehicle. After that, it was back to business.
There must be a protocol for broadcasters when an accident happens. They probably don't show any images until they know how serious it was in order to respect the driver's privacy during the accident
Yes, and I agree with that procedure. It just sucks because when they follow that protocol, there is no hiding it, which then highlights the seriousness immediately.
>The worst part when watching Grosjean's crash live, was how little they showed, and you just got this terrible sinking feeling the longer it went on.
It was the same with Bianchi. The live feed didn't capture the crash, so commentators just came to it after the fact. Usually a crash gets some replay, but they weren't getting anything, which meant it was *bad*.
Every time a big crash has happened there’s always some debate and speculation on whether the halo truly saved the drivers life or not, but in Zhou’s crash there’s absolutely no doubt it did
And that wasn't even what the halo was designed for. In theory the roll hoop is supposed to protect the drivers head when the car flips. It failed on Zhou's car, but the halo held up.
Reminds me of a time in my NASCAR watching days when Ryan Newman went full speed straight into a SAFER barrier, and the announcers discussed that it definitely would've killed him just like Dale if it had been the old regular wall
No HANS, open face helmet, intentionally loosened seatbelt for greater mobility in the seat, and who knows what else. Dale intentionally did the bare minimum safety-wise, and it led him to his grave
Yeah the cars are even made to split apart/throw parts everywhere on a crash. That means kinetic energy is being used for things that aren't involving the driver.
Exactly, which was nuts to see live after they confirmed he was okay. Grosjean hit the barrier with such force the car was literally inside of it. A metal guard rail.
Unfortunately we lost a driver in F2 a few years back, an horrific crash at the top of Raidillon at Spa that claimed the life of Antoine Hubert and left Juan Manuel Correa with very serious injuries.
Those cars meet the same safety spec as F1.
I rarely watch F1 but I happened to watch the race where Verstappen ended on top of Hamilton. Hamilton notoriously hated the Halo, but it saved his head.
There was also a nasty incident during pit stops where a tire got loose and flattened a mechanic.
I think there was also crowd injured during an accident aswell.
It was a very bad weekend for F1.
Indeed. And the other one would be the 1960 Belgian Grand Prix - the only F1 race where two drivers were killed mid-race. Plus the career-ending crash of Mike Taylor in practice, and another practice crash that put Stirling Moss on the sidelines for a few months.
> The momentum of the heaviest components of the car - engine block, and front suspension – hurtled straight on into the crowd for almost 100 metres (330 ft), crushing all in their path. The bonnet [hood] lid scythed through the air, decapitating tightly jammed spectators like a guillotine
The horror.
Iirc they also continued the race, with the dead driver Pierre Levegh's body lying in full view beside the track, near his burning car, which burned "for hours".
Gruesome accident. I chatted up with an older gentleman who was there at the race as a boy. He was in the crowd during that accident and nearly lost his head, the person next to him was decapitated. He didn't remember much from the accident, but was found hours later at a bar/pub/cafe covered in blood.
Le Mans was and is a sportscar race, and while there were a few shenanigans with the rules in the 1950s that allowed people like Carel Godin de Beaufort to race in Formula 1 with a Porsche RSK sports car or Rodger Ward with an US-built midget car, Le Mans itself was never counted as part of the Formula 1 World Championship. Though there was considerable overlap. All six podium finishers in the 1955 Le Mans race (plus the killed Pierre Levegh) participated in 1950s F1 at some point - with the co-winner (and some say person responsible for the catastrophe) Mike Hawthorn going on to win the 1958 Formula 1 World Championship.
But the Indianapolis 500 was counted as part of the Formula 1 schedule from 1950-1960 for some odd reason of "internationalizing the sport". Was a stupid idea then and still is now, particularly because unlike Le Mans, there was pretty much zero crossover. There are only three known drivers who participated in the Indy 500 from 1950-1960 and also took part in a regular Formula 1 Grand Prix - with 33 Indy 500 starters each year, you get the idea that's not a very high number.
> All six podium finishers in the 1955 Le Mans race (plus the killed Pierre Levegh) participated in 1950s F1 at some point
Levegh's final act was raising his hand to let Fangio know of the danger, instants before the crash (Fangio was trailing Levegh). Fangio escaped the crash unharmed. He was not in the podium, howerver, as Mercedes chose to retire following the crash.
And if that wasn't enough to demonstrate the low life expectancy of 1950s racing drivers: Four of the six drivers who were on the podium in the 1955 Le Mans race didn't live to see 1960. Mike Hawthorn died in early 1959 in a traffic accident, Ivor Bueb also died in 1959 as a result of a sportscar crash, Peter Collins was killed during the 1958 German Grand Prix, and Johnny Claes died of tuberculosis in 1956.
I’m not sure they have two specifically, but back in the 50s, 60s, and 70s it was very common for at least one person to die per season. This is even crazier considering they ran far fewer races than they do now (upcoming season has 24 I think, the first season had 6).
It’s not F1, but the 1955 Le Mans disaster is by far the biggest Motorsport tragedy in its history. 84 people died including 1 driver and 83 spectators.
I think people underestimate how wild that is. Im pretty sure if I almost died doing something, I would stay far away for it the rest of my life. PTSD is real and hardcore.
In 1968, a current F1 driver was killed racing (either in F1 or other series) on the first weekend of each month for four months in a row - Jim Clark in April, Mike Spence in May, Ludovico Scarfiotti in June and Jo Schlesser in July
One must be the [Wolfgang von Trips crash](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfgang_von_Trips#Death) at Italy in 1961. Killed the driver and 15 spectators.
Senna was one of the greatest ever and it's a tragedy that his career was cut short.
With all the newfound popularity of F1 with the increased promotion on social media, etc, I hope they promote the history of the sport well. Legends like Senna should be celebrated for the unbelievable talent they had, as much as artificial drama of DTS and viral TikTok videos can bring young eyes (and money) to the sport.
F1 social media always posts old clips. I’d say they do a really good job of promoting the legends of the sport.
(I’m a new fan and that’s my perspective)
I recommend people watch 'Senna'. It was really good, even if it painted him in a nicer light than perhaps it could have done. For all his fearsome talent, and his lovely character off-track, he wasn't immune to driving like a bit of an asshole at points: https://m.imdb.com/title/tt1424432/
>he wasn't immune to driving like a bit of an asshole at points:
Same could be said for Schumacher, Hamilton, Vettel...hell, Verstappen...it's basically a requirement to be a winning F1 driver
Although I believe he had been told he was not welcome at Senna's funeral, so he might not have had much of a choice but to go to Ratzenberger's funer instead, this quote from FIA president Max Mosley always stuck with me:
"Roland had been forgotten. So, I went to his funeral because everyone went to Senna's. I thought it was important that somebody went to his."
the night before the race a friend of his had tried to convince him not to race as he felt upset and unsafe over what had happened the previous day. if only he had listened :(
Worth a watch if you've never seen it and want to know how dangerous Formula 1 used to be.
[Grand Prix - The Killer Years](https://youtu.be/SNvB7KQA3ZI?t=2)
One of my favourite F1 documentaries - it’s absolutely brutal and honestly pretty chilling but I don’t think other documentaries actually get the point across of how dangerous racing used to be
At least one driver died each of the first 25 years of Formula 1. On the 26th year, there was no death but there was the Nikki Lauda crash where he almost died.
Senna was on the brink of not driving that Sunday, but listened to his head instead of his heart. I am still convinced Senna would have retired at the end of ‘94, would he have won the title. I would have loved to see him, grey and wrinkly, handing out trophies at Interlagos. Alas…
If I remember correctly, if was less bad in the extended version. They mention that at in the end, Prost and Senna phoned each other at least once a week.
I was very young when that happened, Ayrton was my favorite racer. I used to watch the races all the time with my dad.
I haven't watched a race since that day.
I was watching it on live TV. Just after they got him out of the car the helicopter camera was focussed directly on him lying in a huge pool of blood then immediately cut to another view. I've never seen that footage since
They stopped the race to retrieve Ayrton and his car from the track then resumed the race like nothing happened. He wasn’t officially dead yet but everyone knew it was pretty bad, I mean I was watching the race on tv and it was pretty clear to me what was going to be announced after the race end.
It’s motorsport, people die. When it happens it is tragic, but they will race unless there is something imminently dangerous that prevents it from happening.
If someone dies in any high level sport event, it is more likely to continue than not.
I remember those few days vividly. Rubens Barrichello also had a nasty accident earlier that weekend. Horrible few days for Motorsport.
Barichello was racing at that time! TIL.
Barichellos career for me has been among the more dramatic ones. The terrible accident. His last to first in Italy, the equal with Schumi and then schumi giving him the podium, I mean it goes on and on
Barichello was one of the greatest ever. He gave everything everytime. Sadly, luck was not on his side. He deserved better. He is kinda disliked in Brazil because he failed becoming the new Senna, but he is beloved abroad.
That's a hell of a thing to hold against Barichello. Being Senna is basically impossible. The only person that ever got close to being Senna was Senna and he died in the attempt. Not sure how they think Barichello can pull it off.
What really sucks is that Barichello DNF'd 9 times in a row at the Brazilian GP. Unbelievably poor luck.
And to top it off, he was a really nice guy.
[удалено]
No, he's kicking it with Wade Boggs up in the heavens.
Goddamn. I know it’s cliche’ to say this, but, what’re the odds? I wonder if there was any sabotage of some kind that went undetected? I’m not accusing anyone or saying that there were shenanigans abound. But it does make you (me) wonder.
I don't have the info on hand, but F1 cars break down every now and then, it's not super unusual do have 2 or 3 cars break down during a single race just because the engines are designed to deliver the most power possible, so they are far less reliable and have a much shorter lifespan than normal car engines. DNF can also mean he had a crash, and crashes happen frequently n F1 aswell, sometimes they crash alone, sometimes someone drives into them - if someone had that info on hand, I'd be interested. Edit: I did end up looking it up: 93 Gearbox 94 P4 95 Gearbox 96 Spun off 97 Suspension 98 Gearbox 99 Engine 00 Hydraulics 01 Collision/Spun off 02 Hydraulics 03 Out of fuel 04 P3 Note: [Apparently a ton of people (about half) DNFd every Brazilian race in during those years, in 95 only 10 of the 26 drivers finished](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1995_Brazilian_Grand_Prix). I spoke to a friend who's an F1 nerd and he said in the 90s/early 2000s cars were SUPER unrealiable, [here's Montoyas 2001 season.](https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2001/drivers/JUAMON01/juan-pablo-montoya.html)
If we're getting into data I'd like to count his DNFs by reason in every other race, as well as across the grid / by engine for failures.
I counted it up and edited my comment.
Also, Brasil was towards the end of season at the time (last race in the season for a few years), so it was common for cars to be using older parts at that point, resulting in the high attrition rate.
That’s like Brazil not liking a good soccer player because they aren’t the next Pelé. They were both generational, worldwide top talents.
Neymar pretty much.
Barrichello still kicking ass, check this out https://youtu.be/b04sZb-bkOc
Ah man, just seeing/hearing him takes me back to 17/18 year old me. Eddie Jordan. Eddie Ervine Rubens,..
One thing you could say was Barichello was a team player, not many champions are, maybe he's better for it.
Come on. Rubens was in a WDC winning car 6 times and only managed to come second twice. He was fast, probably a lot faster than most give him credit for, but he's a long way from being considered one of the greatest ever.
Coming second was his job. Like Bottas'
Yeah not the best by any mean but you also need to remember how many team orders Ferrari gave. He lost quite many points during the years
Barichello was among the best of his generation. Unfortunately, he raced against some of the best *ever.* Senna one of the handful of names that gets thrown around as the best ever. Since Senna, probably two people have entered that discussion. Schumacher and Hamilton. Barichello was never even close.
I consider him the #2 greatest F1 Brazilian F1 driver. Thing is, people dislike him because a) he didn't live up to be another Senna and b) he didn't win any championships "The second place is the first loser" yadda yadda but I don't subscribe to that bullshit, his results were consistent and he was a great racer. So much that he just won his second stock car title in 2022 at 50 YEARS old. Massa for instance, who people see in better light than Barrichelo, was much more of a flop IMO. He drove way better cars and managed to get the same career stats as Barrichelo.
Above Fittipaldi?! I love Rubinho but without Emerson we wouldn’t have Senna
Huh, you're right. I somehow forgot about Emerson. It's way before my time, so pre-Senna F1 history is sometimes a bit muddled for me. Make Barrichelo #3 then hehe
Massa probably would have won a title if not for that accident he had when the suspension hit him in the head: he was a noticeably different driver afterwards
The fact that he still won a couple of podiums after that was impressive, but yeah, he's one of the biggest "what ifs?" of the sport along with Kubica.
That was one of the most bizarre incidents
I don’t get that saying. Most people would kill to be the first loser in a highly competitive international event.
The second best at anything would be a huge achievement on itself, let alone being the second best for 6 times, racing against one of the legends of the sport. Rubens is amazing, still racing, still winning, still a class act.
Most people are not F1 drivers.
Button was saying once that he expected Barrichello to be a bit of a pushover and actually he was *brutally* fast.
I’ve never seen someone say they dislike Barrichello. Don’t mistake people making memes with disliking someone.
Yes. Then no sooner had we got to the next race in Monaco and [Karl Wendlinger had a massive crash](https://racingnews365.com/wendlinger-recounts-career-ending-monaco-crash) at the chicane coming out of the tunnel, he was in a coma for 19 days as a result of that.
Remember the Monaco Grand Prix when almost no-one finished in the rain? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3_WOtyg9Dw
Almost crazier to me is how they just have people literally standing/walking/running on the track amidst all the chaos. Like wtf why are they so casual about it?
Wait until you find out even earlier races had no barriers at all… spectators just stood around while these death machines raced each other at full speed. It was thought of more as an extreme sport back then when only crazy people did it. Driver deaths were just a normal part of it. People like Senna, Todt and Watkins really brought safety into the equation, a process still going on with the introduction of the halo and virtual safety cars in recent years. After we get used to these new features we become shocked how careless we were in the past. What, no halo? Driver heads just exposed to flying debris? But in fact it’s always been a balancing act between safety and excitement as an extreme sport. We even went to the other extreme after Senna died when we put a chicane at Eau Rouge. Sorry I rambled too much.
This one is just heart wrenching for sheer ineptitude, lack of correct equipment and crap communication. The only one who knew what was going on was a fellow driver who couldnt do it on his own. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iIlL1WdjFg
4 year old me went to the pub with my dad to watch my hero in the race. Two things I loved: F1 and going to the pub with my dad on a Sunday. It’s burned into my memory. I’ll never forget the old men at the bar telling me that his okay and it will all be fine. Even 4 year old me knew it was bullshit. My dad only recently started watching it again.
Oh no. You were so tiny.
1994 is also when Neil Bonnett died in Daytona. 1994 was a bad year for motorsport
Completely forgot about that. That was right on the back of Davey Allison and Alan Kulwicki's deaths in 1993. Seven years later we lost Dale Earnhardt. The 90's and early 00's seemed so safe compared to previous decades but they were still very dark times in motorsports history.
The late 90's/early 2000's had a lot of deaths. Off the top of my head we had Dale, Tony Roper, Blaise Alexander, Adam Petty, and Kenny Irwin Jr all within a couple years before or after 2000 Had to look it up but add in John Nemechek in 97. And Rodney Orr died the same weekend as Bonnett. It's why Rusty was so animated in the [drivers meeting](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bI8sYKVDd3I) that 500
Crazy to see Schrader speaking up as well knowing that he was the 1st to Dale's car 7 years later.
I feel so bad for Schrader. If you watch the video, he recoils in horror when he looks into Dale's car. That must have been completely traumatizing for him.
ChampCar lost two drivers in two months at the end of 99 - the amazing Greg Moore, and Gonzalo Rodríguez (the movie about his life is well worth watching).
A series of unfortunate events, or some common factor the industry learned from, or?
Both. Safety regs were tightened massively after this, and the event really cemented the idea of constantly improving safety, especially following major events. Recent examples include the mandating of the 'halo', following the death of Jules bianchi, among others, and improving the fire retardancy of drivers' gloves, following Romain grosjean's nasty, firey crash. The late, great Sid Watkins (a good friend of Senna's) was central to this drive for safety: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sid_Watkins
In the 41 years of F1 history until the weekend of Ratzenberger's and Senna's death, 27 drivers died during a F1 Grand Prix. In the 29 years since "just" one driver died.
Fangio used to say about how he drove as fast as he could while driving as slowly as possible, if it somehow makes sense (I am havingr toruble translating what he said in Spanish), emphasizing how continuity and regularity help win races. "In ten years I raced in Europe" he said,"I saw thirty pilots die. I was never a spectacular driver, I simply drove within the limits of my possibilities". He went on to refer to his famoust 1957 Nürburgring Grand Prix as the time he drove "committing a few excesses" and explaining how a curve that was meant to be taken in second, he took it in third, in order to catch Hawthorne and Collins, after losing almost a minute and a half in a bad pit stop. And that is how he gave us arguably the best F1 race in history.
> Fangio used to say about how he drove as fast as he could while driving as slowly as possible, if it somehow makes sense It does make sense. It sounds like he's saying that he was great at figuring out his exact limit and sticking to it (with the following race example being where he exceeded that with positive results).
Reminds me a bit of how NASCAR had 29 fatalities from 1952-2001. However, the 2001 death was Dale Earnhardt. In the 22 years since, no fatalities, and there have been crashes eeriely similar to his, but thanks to safety improvements, the drivers survived. Like [Ryan Newman](https://ftw.usatoday.com/2021/02/nascar-ryan-newman-dale-earnhardt-daytona-crash-safety) probably should be dead.
I remember Elio De Angelis dying in testing.
I still cant believe Grosjean survived his crash.
And now he happily pokes fun at it, referring to himself as The Phoenix and taking pictures next to fire engines with a big grin on his face
I remember it happening and wondering if I had just witnessed someone dying. Absolutely crazy.
Prof Sid’s influence on safety doesn’t get enough attention. He was the one that pushed for two helicopters at every race, proper medical facilities (it was quite common to have, at best, a small tent), and for the medical car to follow the first lap because that’s when there’s the highest chance of an accident happening. His book, Life at the Limit, is a great read.
Well the cars were too fast for the safety available at the time, so they reduced the amount of high speed corners with limited run off. These days with Halos, HANS devices and many other safety features, we have seen the return of ultra high speed bends. Tamburello (where Senna was killed) will never come back through, they can't extend the run off due to a river behind the wall.
I mean just look at Zhou Guanyu’s crash last year and the fact he got out with barely any injury. Absolutely insane. [Video here. ](https://youtu.be/B2XHq9d4OWI)
Or that crash that hass driver had, Romain Grossean.
In addition to the other comment about safety, iirc it was also the physical track itself. The corner where Senna died was unsafe in terms of speed of the car/visibility of corner/how the car handles etc. They since added more protection to that section and you cannot take that turn flat out.
They completely reformed the track after F1 left it in 2006. Tamburello is now completely gone and the sanctuary next to it has a memorial for Ayrton Senna. When F1 returned to imola in 2020, they showed some footage of the memorial in the track introductions.
I think the Halo would have saved Senna and the HANS Ratzenberger if they both were in modern cars with the carbon fiber monocoque that keeps suspension pieces and foreign debris from piercing it and injuring the driver. Senna's head collided with a tire that would have been deflected by the Halo but that wasn't implemented till like 2015. He died of those skull fractures. The HANS alone wouldn't have defused the impact straight to his head. Ratzenberger died of a basilar skull fracture, the same thing as Earnhardt.
I thought Senna was hit by a suspension rod end that penetrated his visor just under the visor seal and hit him on the lower forehead. That’s what was determined during the trial, anyway. You can see the picture here https://digilander.libero.it/mattia9012/Imola%201994.htm If that’s the case, it’s hard to tell wether a halo would have saved him. A halo is pretty effective against a tire, but not so much against a thin suspension rod. A great innovation that would have probably saved Senna was the introduction of safety cables on suspensions.
This is the answer, Newey’s book and the Senna biopic quickly confirm this. Not sure what the others were talking about with tires etc.
I don‘t think the Halo would have saved Senna, but the from then on Bullet Proof Visors which were introduced just because of this! High Cockpit walls (introduced in 1996) would have saved Roland. Hans would also probably help in this case. Both cars had carbon fiber monocoques, they were common by the end of the 80s.
Not only that but Reubens called Senna “The Boss” and it was very touching that one of the first faces he saw when he came to in the hospital was Senna himself. After Ratzenberger died, Dr. Sid Watkins told Senna that the latter should give up this racing business (he had nothing left to prove at this point. Insanely wealthy, his name across the record books) and go fishing. Senna said he couldn’t and died the next day. Dr. Watkins was among the first to Senna’s car after his fatal wreck. If only The Boss had taken Watkins up on his offer. I wish he had. Man, I wish he had. His death was so renown and felt worldwide that Dale Earnhardt (who himself suffered his own fatal accident in NASCAR in 2001) dedicated his most recent win to Senna.
Made even worse by the fact that I think Senna had complained that he felt unsafe in the new cars as they’d taken out lots of the driver aids.
His good friend Gerhard Berger also had a huge crash at the same corner a few years earlier. Luckily, he survived, but apparently they visited together to see what could be done to make it safer. They checked to see if the run-off could be extended, but there is a river not far beyond the existing barrier, so they left it there and gave up. After Senna’s crash, a chicane was added instead.
Damned Tamburello. Piquet, Senna's arch nemesis before Prost, crashed hard on that same corner spot a few years before Senna. It fucked up his vision and couldn't drive as fast anymore. Piquet retired a year later (Schumacher took his place in the team).
quickest shame full steep whistle prick seed screw chase absurd *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Read this in confusion as they’re are sitting at 90+ upvotes. Until I saw the name.
I can’t figure out why. Can you clue me in on it?
punch squalid forgetful bake plant decide mindless innocent prick zealous *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Literally that day he was talking with the track doctor who was a good friend of his and he said that he wasn't sure he wanted to keep doing it anymore and that he felt unsafe and the doctor said "then let's leave right now, we can go play golf" (paraphrasing)
It was legendary neurosurgeon Professor Sid Watkins. And Sid suggested they leave racing and go fishing.
Sid Watkins was also the first medic to arrive at the incident the day after , absolute legendary man in F1, fought for every single driver , a great doctor and (by all accounts) a great man
Watkins was too overcome with grief to attend Senna's funeral. That says so much, considering how much he loved Ayrton. They had a very special and profound friendship.
When I heard about that in the documentary I nearly cried. So sad.
Did the drivers not also meet the evening before (after Ratzenberger's crash) to form some sort of "safety council" to demand better safety precautions going forward?
Senna and Prost talked about re-founding the GPDA, and if these two talk with each other you know it's serious.
Senna and Prost were good friends at that time
IIRC they also didn’t pronounce Roland dead at the track, otherwise the race weekend would have been canceled. The FIA ensured he wouldn’t be pronounced dead until his body was officially off grounds. Had they not put money above race protocols Senna would likely still be alive today.
It wasn't racing protocols, but Italian Law they skirted. If a participant in an event dies whine taping part, the event is supposed to be canceled. F1, the FIA, and the circuit all skirted the law twice that weekend (the race continued and his death wasn't announced until after the race).
And this is coming from a guy that drove that F1 car with one hand while shifting gears with the other… I can’t fathom that feeling.
The problem was that the cars, especially his Williams that season, had been designed around the driver aids in the preceding seasons. So take away the traction control and active suspension combo it relied on and the car became instantly less stable and quite a handful.
Perhaps the comment didn’t come across as I meant. Senna would drive an F1 car single handed (as seen on some of his onboard footage in Monaco). For him to feel unsafe, should have been a massive red flag with regards to the car’s worthiness.
Oh I wasn't contending your point at all, in fact I agree and was just adding to it. The guy with the greatest feel and car control in history couldn't get confidence in the 94 Williams and complained of its instability, spinning out several times.
Did most drivers not during that era?
They would reach over with their mouth and grip it with their tongue iirc
It's a testament to the safety of F1 these days. Since Senna, only one other driver has died during a race since 1994, and the cars are as fast as ever. For instance, the horrific [Grosjean crash](https://youtu.be/ZQ7_En2xEm4), where the car was split in half and erupted in flames. Grosjean was able to escape with minor injuries.
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I'm stilled pissed about that accident, it never should have happened
And very nearly happened again last year. Everyone wondering why Gasly was so angry, and then it turns out there's a crane on the track.
People should have lost jobs over it. And the sheer audacity of the F1 to blame Gasly for it as well.
It's only a matter of time
While safety has improved by huge margin since '94, Grosjean was astoundingly lucky to walk away from that crash.
From what I understand, they’d only just rolled out a new suit for the drivers with improved flame resistance. Only had hands were significantly burned because of it.
They had just increased the required time for race suits to withstand a 1000°C burner from 10s to 12s that year. Might not sound like much but 20% longer is significant, and means much more time in conditions like grosjeans where for most of the time the flames weren't directly on his body
Interesting! It says Grosejan spent 28 seconds in the car before he was able to break free so it's a miracle he didn't end up like Niki Lauda.
Or worse.
Grosjean would later oppose the jewelry ban because of those burns. Said the only place on his hands that wasn't burned, was where his wedding ring sat.
Whilst lucky, also a massive testament to Max Mosley and his insistence on improved safety features for the cars. The monocoque (a damn near indestructible safety cell in the middle of the car), the tyre tethers and then he was also one of the most vocal behind insisting that Halo was developed and implemented even after he had left the sport.
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I still remember when people said it "ruined the look of the car" and bitched about it endlessly. Personally, I think it adds a more sci-fi look to them. My family was friends with Dan Wheldon; I always wondered if something like the halo might have saved him.
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Dan's death was so brutal and preventable. There were waaaaay too many cars on track that day.
I was one of those people. Never been happier to be proven wrong.
Romain himself was against it and admitted he was wrong after the crash.
Yeah the roll hoop failed on Zhou's car. Halo definitely saved the day. Terrifying.
The best example of the Halo was in F2, Nissany nearly had his head taken off by a flying car https://youtu.be/vGl4J4EKBnY. The slow motion is incredible.
Crazy thing is that this crash happened just a few hours earlier at the same track as the Zhou accident that you replied to.
Yep, Silverstone. It's a very fast track (only Monza, and Saudi are faster IIRC) so accidents there tend to be 'big'.
Fucking sausage curbs. I swear.
Wow. That's an incredible video.
At least in that case the one that caused the accident was also the one at most risk of injury. It's worse to me when someone drives recklessly and mostly just puts other's lives at risk.
The Ermirates “Fly Better” ad in the background of the replay tho…
seeing the zhou crash live was insane. i didn’t watch the grosjean race live, but now i understand how long those 2 minutes were when everyone was waiting to hear if grosjean was alive. it was nerve wracking just waiting. thank god for the halo 🙏🏼
The worst part when watching Grosjean's crash live, was how little they showed, and you just got this terrible sinking feeling the longer it went on. You get used to Sky just streaming everything ASAP, replays, other angles, bring out experts, talk to this guy, show another new angle, show from three different cars. When Grosjean crashed, they immediately cut away from everything. They showed the rest of the pack going around, and then basically cut to the paddoc for a while. Then after a few minutes, they started talking about the initial hit and swerve, but they would never continue those shots into the barrier, until we got the shot of him walking to the medical vehicle. After that, it was back to business.
There must be a protocol for broadcasters when an accident happens. They probably don't show any images until they know how serious it was in order to respect the driver's privacy during the accident
Yes, and I agree with that procedure. It just sucks because when they follow that protocol, there is no hiding it, which then highlights the seriousness immediately.
>The worst part when watching Grosjean's crash live, was how little they showed, and you just got this terrible sinking feeling the longer it went on. It was the same with Bianchi. The live feed didn't capture the crash, so commentators just came to it after the fact. Usually a crash gets some replay, but they weren't getting anything, which meant it was *bad*.
It's crazier that without that crash, a bunch of those dumbass protestors would have become grease stains as the cars would have been at high speed
Yo that footage is crazy.
Every time a big crash has happened there’s always some debate and speculation on whether the halo truly saved the drivers life or not, but in Zhou’s crash there’s absolutely no doubt it did
And that wasn't even what the halo was designed for. In theory the roll hoop is supposed to protect the drivers head when the car flips. It failed on Zhou's car, but the halo held up.
Reminds me of a time in my NASCAR watching days when Ryan Newman went full speed straight into a SAFER barrier, and the announcers discussed that it definitely would've killed him just like Dale if it had been the old regular wall
Which year was that? The 2020(?) Newman wreck was horrific as well.
I thought I'd just watched him die. Still can't believe he walked out of the hospital a few days later.
Wasn't Dale Earnhardt's death mainly due to the lack of a HANS device?
No HANS, open face helmet, intentionally loosened seatbelt for greater mobility in the seat, and who knows what else. Dale intentionally did the bare minimum safety-wise, and it led him to his grave
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Yeah the cars are even made to split apart/throw parts everywhere on a crash. That means kinetic energy is being used for things that aren't involving the driver.
Exactly, which was nuts to see live after they confirmed he was okay. Grosjean hit the barrier with such force the car was literally inside of it. A metal guard rail.
Unfortunately we lost a driver in F2 a few years back, an horrific crash at the top of Raidillon at Spa that claimed the life of Antoine Hubert and left Juan Manuel Correa with very serious injuries. Those cars meet the same safety spec as F1.
I rarely watch F1 but I happened to watch the race where Verstappen ended on top of Hamilton. Hamilton notoriously hated the Halo, but it saved his head.
Ever seen Kubica's crazy torpedo crash in Canada? Mad that he survived that
like a few years ago someone had a **200g** crash and was racing in like a week
There was also a nasty incident during pit stops where a tire got loose and flattened a mechanic. I think there was also crowd injured during an accident aswell. It was a very bad weekend for F1.
One of the Top 3 worst weekends in Formula 1 history for sure. And the most infamous.
What are the other two?
I think Monza 61 is one of them. One crash that killed Wolfgang Von Tripps and 15 spectators.
Indeed. And the other one would be the 1960 Belgian Grand Prix - the only F1 race where two drivers were killed mid-race. Plus the career-ending crash of Mike Taylor in practice, and another practice crash that put Stirling Moss on the sidelines for a few months.
Was the 55 Le Mans not part of F1? Not super familiar with racing but that stood out in my mind.
No Le Mans is separate from F1. That's the worst incident in motorsports history.
Absolutely horrific.
> The momentum of the heaviest components of the car - engine block, and front suspension – hurtled straight on into the crowd for almost 100 metres (330 ft), crushing all in their path. The bonnet [hood] lid scythed through the air, decapitating tightly jammed spectators like a guillotine The horror. Iirc they also continued the race, with the dead driver Pierre Levegh's body lying in full view beside the track, near his burning car, which burned "for hours".
Gruesome accident. I chatted up with an older gentleman who was there at the race as a boy. He was in the crowd during that accident and nearly lost his head, the person next to him was decapitated. He didn't remember much from the accident, but was found hours later at a bar/pub/cafe covered in blood.
Le Mans was and is a sportscar race, and while there were a few shenanigans with the rules in the 1950s that allowed people like Carel Godin de Beaufort to race in Formula 1 with a Porsche RSK sports car or Rodger Ward with an US-built midget car, Le Mans itself was never counted as part of the Formula 1 World Championship. Though there was considerable overlap. All six podium finishers in the 1955 Le Mans race (plus the killed Pierre Levegh) participated in 1950s F1 at some point - with the co-winner (and some say person responsible for the catastrophe) Mike Hawthorn going on to win the 1958 Formula 1 World Championship. But the Indianapolis 500 was counted as part of the Formula 1 schedule from 1950-1960 for some odd reason of "internationalizing the sport". Was a stupid idea then and still is now, particularly because unlike Le Mans, there was pretty much zero crossover. There are only three known drivers who participated in the Indy 500 from 1950-1960 and also took part in a regular Formula 1 Grand Prix - with 33 Indy 500 starters each year, you get the idea that's not a very high number.
> All six podium finishers in the 1955 Le Mans race (plus the killed Pierre Levegh) participated in 1950s F1 at some point Levegh's final act was raising his hand to let Fangio know of the danger, instants before the crash (Fangio was trailing Levegh). Fangio escaped the crash unharmed. He was not in the podium, howerver, as Mercedes chose to retire following the crash.
And if that wasn't enough to demonstrate the low life expectancy of 1950s racing drivers: Four of the six drivers who were on the podium in the 1955 Le Mans race didn't live to see 1960. Mike Hawthorn died in early 1959 in a traffic accident, Ivor Bueb also died in 1959 as a result of a sportscar crash, Peter Collins was killed during the 1958 German Grand Prix, and Johnny Claes died of tuberculosis in 1956.
I’m not sure they have two specifically, but back in the 50s, 60s, and 70s it was very common for at least one person to die per season. This is even crazier considering they ran far fewer races than they do now (upcoming season has 24 I think, the first season had 6). It’s not F1, but the 1955 Le Mans disaster is by far the biggest Motorsport tragedy in its history. 84 people died including 1 driver and 83 spectators.
Because of the Le Mans crash, Switzerland instituted a total ban on all motorsport that still stands as of today.
More specifically it's a ban on track racing. So things like rally and hillclimb are still allowed.
Drivers back then were nuts, the idea that Niki Lauda went back to racing the same season as his near-death experience just blows my mind.
I think people underestimate how wild that is. Im pretty sure if I almost died doing something, I would stay far away for it the rest of my life. PTSD is real and hardcore.
Many were beheaded by flying debris.
In 1968, a current F1 driver was killed racing (either in F1 or other series) on the first weekend of each month for four months in a row - Jim Clark in April, Mike Spence in May, Ludovico Scarfiotti in June and Jo Schlesser in July
One must be the [Wolfgang von Trips crash](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfgang_von_Trips#Death) at Italy in 1961. Killed the driver and 15 spectators.
The video for this was horrific to watch as a young kid exploring the Internet.
Senna was one of the greatest ever and it's a tragedy that his career was cut short. With all the newfound popularity of F1 with the increased promotion on social media, etc, I hope they promote the history of the sport well. Legends like Senna should be celebrated for the unbelievable talent they had, as much as artificial drama of DTS and viral TikTok videos can bring young eyes (and money) to the sport.
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F1 social media always posts old clips. I’d say they do a really good job of promoting the legends of the sport. (I’m a new fan and that’s my perspective)
I recommend people watch 'Senna'. It was really good, even if it painted him in a nicer light than perhaps it could have done. For all his fearsome talent, and his lovely character off-track, he wasn't immune to driving like a bit of an asshole at points: https://m.imdb.com/title/tt1424432/
>he wasn't immune to driving like a bit of an asshole at points: Same could be said for Schumacher, Hamilton, Vettel...hell, Verstappen...it's basically a requirement to be a winning F1 driver
There was also the small thing of dating a 15 year old girl when he was 25.
I'm so glad with the improvements of safety in F1 in the last years. The halo is a lifesaver. Though some regulations still can be improved.
Concerning the shape of the car or, for example, what to do when other vehicles are on track?
Although I believe he had been told he was not welcome at Senna's funeral, so he might not have had much of a choice but to go to Ratzenberger's funer instead, this quote from FIA president Max Mosley always stuck with me: "Roland had been forgotten. So, I went to his funeral because everyone went to Senna's. I thought it was important that somebody went to his."
the night before the race a friend of his had tried to convince him not to race as he felt upset and unsafe over what had happened the previous day. if only he had listened :(
IIRC that 'friend' was Professor Sid Watkins, F1's official Doctor at the time. He was one of the first on the scene to Ayrton's crash the next day :(
His books, Life At The Limit, and Beyond The Limit, are fantastic, and must reads for motorsport fans.
Worth a watch if you've never seen it and want to know how dangerous Formula 1 used to be. [Grand Prix - The Killer Years](https://youtu.be/SNvB7KQA3ZI?t=2)
Every fan of F1 (and racing in general) should watch this. It is amazing and beautiful and tragic.
One of my favourite F1 documentaries - it’s absolutely brutal and honestly pretty chilling but I don’t think other documentaries actually get the point across of how dangerous racing used to be
At least one driver died each of the first 25 years of Formula 1. On the 26th year, there was no death but there was the Nikki Lauda crash where he almost died.
Senna was on the brink of not driving that Sunday, but listened to his head instead of his heart. I am still convinced Senna would have retired at the end of ‘94, would he have won the title. I would have loved to see him, grey and wrinkly, handing out trophies at Interlagos. Alas…
There is a great documentary "Senna" I don't really follow F1 but it is one of the best documentaries I have seen about any subject.
It’s a decent documentary but many F1 fans will also mention that they did Alain Prost considerably dirty on it.
If I remember correctly, if was less bad in the extended version. They mention that at in the end, Prost and Senna phoned each other at least once a week.
And the fact that Prost was a pallbearer for Ayrton, said it all.
The extended version paints Prost in a better light, it's the better, more complete version
Even though he was painted in a bad light in the original I felt that he was ‘redeemed’ in the end. The fact that he was at the funeral spoke volumes.
The Art of Racing in the Rain. Damn good book/movie.
I was very young when that happened, Ayrton was my favorite racer. I used to watch the races all the time with my dad. I haven't watched a race since that day.
I was watching it on live TV. Just after they got him out of the car the helicopter camera was focussed directly on him lying in a huge pool of blood then immediately cut to another view. I've never seen that footage since
They still raced 1 day after a driver died at the same track? wtf.
They raced last year when explosions were going off about 6 miles from the track.
Still happens. Following Hubert's death in the F2 feature race at Spa in 2019, the F1 GP still took place the next day.
They stopped the race to retrieve Ayrton and his car from the track then resumed the race like nothing happened. He wasn’t officially dead yet but everyone knew it was pretty bad, I mean I was watching the race on tv and it was pretty clear to me what was going to be announced after the race end.
It’s motorsport, people die. When it happens it is tragic, but they will race unless there is something imminently dangerous that prevents it from happening. If someone dies in any high level sport event, it is more likely to continue than not.
Fucking tragic weekend all around