The death of Ayrton Senna

I've heard two rumours concerning Senna's untimley death, The first is that it was caused by a snapped steering wheel. In my opinion the official cause (car bottemed out and lost downforce) seems more reasonable.

The second romour is that a bloodstained Austrian flag was fond in Senna's cockpit after the accident. Apparently if Senna had won the race he was going to hold up the flag in memory of Roland Ratzenberger who was killed in Qualifing the day before. I've heard this many times but never seen any evidence (pics of flag, Race marshells testomony etc)


Video of Senna's Fatal crash (NSFW and possibly NBFSK)

[Ali Infree]

As far as I recall, his helmet was pierced during the accident and this was the cause of his death. The cause of the accident might have been the steering column, which was found snapped after the accident or bottoming out and losing downforce and control. That section of the course is described as uneven. Viewers who saw the accident did not think it was a serious event, until it became clear that Senna was not moving at the end of the accident.

Now, the question is, what hit him in the head and killed him? There was a long investigation, and an official judicial proceeding in Italy after the accident. Frank Williams, as constructor of the F1 car in which Senna died, spent a number of years contending with various allegations. A flying wheel with part of the suspension attached is one possibility. A racing accident is a violent event and sorting them out after the fact is not easy, given the physical forces involved.

After this bloody weekend at the San Marino GP, a number of changes made F1 cars safer--drivers sat (actually laid) in cars in a lower position with much of their head protected. (Check out F1 cars from the early 1970s to compare--the high point of the car is the helmeted driver and rollbar behind his head.) Tires went from being slicks to being grooved in an effort to slow cars down. It was a great tragedy, but not really a big mystery. And Senna is the last driver to die in a Formula One event, nearly twelve years ago. Unfortunately, spectators and race marshalls have died in races since then.

Ali

PS: If there was an Austrian flag, it was probably inside his coveralls, the cockpit is no place for a piece of cloth. There are some other sites you might want to check to verify this: try The Nostaglia Forum and their search engine, part of Autosport's website.

[Ali Infree]

From the above-mentioned TNF, a quote from the official inquiry:
"The findings of the autopsy on Senna's death were read out in court. The report confirmed Senna's injuries were compatible with a massive blow above the right eyebrow. Pathologist Carrado Cipolla, said that Senna died not from the impact itself, but from a "blow to the head from a blunt object," indicating a photograph apparently showing a section of the front suspension."

[Sebbenth]

Originally Posted by F.T.M

I've heard two rumours concerning Senna's untimley death, The first is that it was caused by a snapped steering wheel. In my opinion the official cause (car bottemed out and lost downforce) seems more reasonable.

The second romour is that a bloodstained Austrian flag was fond in Senna's cockpit after the accident. Apparently if Senna had won the race he was going to hold up the flag in memory of Roland Ratzenberger who was killed in Qualifing the day before. I've heard this many times but never seen any evidence (pics of flag, Race marshells testomony etc)


Video of Senna's Fatal crash (NSFW and possibly NBFSK)

The race when Senna died was actually the first ever F1 race I've ever seen (and I turned it on about a minute before the accident). From what I can tell there is no reason to doubt the official version, although AFAIR Senna lost quite a bit of time due to tractor injury.

Originally Posted by Ali Infree

As far as I recall, his helmet was pierced during the accident and this was the cause of his death.

Sorry I didnt get my post across the way I meant. I know it was a peice of flying debries that killed him. But i'm more intrested in what caused the crash.

On a side note do you think they should of changed Tamburello or left it as it was, I remeber seeing Berger having a huge smash there in the Early 90's and escaping unharmed. Personally i think if they replaced the wall with an Armco Tamberullo could have been kept.

Ps. thanks for the info on where to find out about the Austrian flag

Having also seen the race, there was a safety car period the laps prior to the accident. This resulted in the tires cooling down and losing pressure. There was a significant bump in Tamburello that Senna hit. The car bottomed, lost downforce and developed a lot of understeer (push for the NASCAR crowd). A lot of factors were contributing in this crash. The cars had active suspensions tht would actually lower the cars to the track to aid in downforce in combination with the design of the lower body. The biggest contributor wass still the lower tire pressure due to the safety car period. Tamburello was also a very high speed corner that has since been slowed dramatically by the use of a chicane since the crash.

As far as keeping the corner in its original configuration, the FIA has been trying to get as much run off for corners as they can and Imola is built right next to a river so there is no place to construct a run off area so they had to change the corner to slow it down. They also added a chicane just before Tosa to slow the entrance speeds.

[stalker]

Did anyone find any evidence for the Austrian flag being found in his car?

Due to a recent pub conversation, I'm trying to find out whether it was there. Any reference to it that provides a cite always comes back to the same article from the Times:

A tragic weekend

6.40pm: The chief medical officer, Dr Maria Theresa Fiandri, pronounces Senna dead. Back at the track, in the shattered remains of Senna’s car, they find a furled Austrian flag. Senna had intended to dedicate his 42nd grand-prix win to Ratzenberger’s memory.

I can't actually find the 500 page official report online. I'm kinda thinking that if there was a flag in the cockpit it would've been mentioned in the report. Even if it didn't contribute to the death, it would probably be seen as something unusual.
Has anyone seen or read the report? Was it even made public?

To me, the evidence doesn't exactly look overwhelming.

[DadOf3]

I did hear this recently, on a rebroadcast of that race on Speed. They were rebroadcasting many of the old F1 races a while back. The host announcer said that Senna usually did his victory lap waving his own Brazilian flag, but that he had loaded the Austrian flag so that if he'd won, his victory lap would have remembered Ratzenberger.

ETA
This is also reported on the Grand Prix web site http://www.grandprix.com/gpe/drv-senayr.html

[Floater]

Oh, I watched that crash as it happened on live television. I also watched the Heisel Stadium disaster live. I no longer own a TV set.

[hoitoider]

I saw it live also - in the motel room before leaving for the spring Talladega race, which was won by the late Dale Earnhardt. I remember the first thing Earnhardt did during the post race interview was offer condolences to Senna's friends & family.