The Life of Senna

by Rubython, Tom

  Gerald Donaldson, a well-known Formula One journalist who has written extensively about the accident, said: “If you ease your foot from the accelerator, there is a shift of weight forwards, as a result of which the car momentarily has more downforce at the front, and when something happens in that situation the tail is more likely to break away, but the car does not veer to the right on a left-hand bend.”

  Honda engineers who worked for a long time with Senna are convinced that if he eased his foot from the accelerator it was because he noticed that something was wrong with the car. “He could feel the slightest thing,” said Osamu Goto. “He was always like a living sensor.”

  One of the most unlikely theories is that Senna blacked out before Tamburello. Close friends say that one of his techniques to get a quick lap was to try and hold his breath for a lap on the basis that lack of oxygen can heighten perceptions. But the telemetry and rubber strips laid down on the tarmac proved that Senna braked hard and changed gear at least twice before impact from start to end of the accident. If Senna had been incapacitated, none of this would have been possible.

  Honda engineers also believe that the violent bouncing of the Williams that had occurred several times during the previous lap – which is constantly mentioned and was put forward as a possible cause of the accident by Michael Schumacher, who was driving close behind Senna – was probably normal, something that had clearly been calculated, Schumacher said: “Otherwise, Ayrton would have reacted, even if for example tyre damage was developing… Or if, because of the long time held up behind the pace-car, or perhaps because of a wrong tyre pressure, the car had sat differently. He was so sensitised to such things. He must have been suddenly surprised by something.”

  There were internal doubts at Williams that, during the week before Imola, under pressure from Benetton’s successes in the first two races of that year, there was perhaps a little too much experimentation and improvisation going on at the same time. For Imola, the front end of the Williams had been completely remodelled aerodynamically. It was just another ingredient of tragedy.

  And of course the circuit had its faults. The car failures would have been irrelevant if the circuit had been able to contain the car safely. There is little doubt that by 21st century standards, the 1994 Imola track was unsafe. But Senna had recognised the dangers of Tamburello, twice inspected that corner in the previous two years and had ample opportunity to put things right. Equally Jean-Marie Balestre and Max Mosley of FISA, now the FIA, had seen three huge dangerous accidents, involving Nelson Piquet in 1987, Gerhard Berger in 1989 and Michele Alboreto in 1991 in private testing. These drivers were lucky not to lose their lives but absolutely nothing was done about Tamburello. In their own ways, the drivers, the circuit managers and the governing body all contributed to Senna’s death.

  It was also unwise to have less than 10 metres of asphalt and grass as a safety zone, and concrete walls at a 200 mph bend? A three-deep bank of tyres, even unsecured, would have saved Senna’s life. It has never been debated properly why the tyres weren’t there. Mainly because the people who would have been doing the debating were the people culpable for the tyres not being there, including the dead driver himself.

  Some drivers even ridiculously argue that a tyre wall would have been dangerous in itself because they would have caused the car to rebound directly in the track, possibly into other cars. This is a fatuous argument that would see all crash barriers on Europe’s motorways removed as well.

  The argument that one wouldn’t have expected an accident there because it was not a critical bend, as put forward by Ferrari driver Nicola Larini after Roland Ratzenberger’s accident, might have been valid for the Villeneuve bend, but surely not for Tamburello, after the horrific crashes that had occurred there. The circuit had been given a clean bill of health by Roland Bruynseraede, the FIA’s head of safety.

  The best theory is that everyone had been lulled into a false sense of security by the advent of the immensely strong carbon-fibre chassis introduced into Formula One by John Barnard, technical director of McLaren at the start of the 1980s. Since then, years of good luck in Formula One had witnessed many accidents but not a single death, since Elio de Angelis was killed in testing in 1986.

  There is also a theory that Senna contributed to his own death by wearing a special lightweight helmet to reduce the g-forces drivers suffer. Some even went as far as to say it was illegal, and that the outer skin was as flimsy to touch as cardboard and could easily be indented. Certainly the company that fitted the radio sets into the helmets doubted its legality. The anonymous technician who did the job said the helmet could be indented easily and was unlike anything else he had ever seen. This was never documented, never the subject of the trial, and never examined by the FIA. No one felt able to go there, understandably. Some bearing on this can be taken from the indecent speed in which the helmet was destroyed, on the orders of the Senna family, when it was released by the Italian authorities in 2002.

  That it was as light as possible is not in doubt. A heavier helmet would have undoubtedly contributed to Senna’s survival, but it is unlikely to have ultimately saved his life.

  And of course there was the inevitable conspiracy theory. In 1994 stories were going around that mysterious eastern European gangs and mafia operations were trying to manipulate the outcome of the 1994 championship. Presumably these people were financed by gambling syndicates who had made bets on the outcome. They had apparently schemed to enable Michael Schumacher to win the championship instead of the overwhelming favourite, Senna. With sophisticated telemetry in its infancy, the gangs were using sophisticated machinery to aim bursts of data at cars to momentarily disable the electronics and cause a car to crash. The bursts of data were supposedly aimed at Senna’s car at Tamburello, and caused the power steering to lock, causing the accident.

  There is no doubt that team principals had been warned about the possibility in 1994, and advised to electronically shield their systems against illegal interference. Peter Collins, then Lotus team principal, admits he was warned and did instigate modifications to the Lotus electronics system but didn’t take the threats seriously. He admits his attitude was coloured by the fact that Lotus wasn’t a championship contender and he doubted anyone would want to interfere with its electronics, so he thought no more of it. That theory remained only a topic of light conversation in the Formula One paddock; but now all the cars are heavily protected against outside interference, so it was not as outlandish as it seemed.

  One area that left no doubt was the official autopsy. It was comprehensive. In fact the most controversial finding of all the investigations was not the cause of the accident but the fact that Senna had died instantly on impact with the wall. This had huge implications for the race organisers, as Italian law required the race to be cancelled in such circumstances. But the official and actual times of death were over four hours apart, and a subject of huge disagreement in the medical profession. It appears that in reality Senna was kept artificially alive by the extraordinary medical expertise available to Formula One. Short of a stake through the heart, it is now more or less impossible for drivers to die at the circuit. Fire, once the leading cause of driver death, is now almost extinct in Formula One.

  Maggiore hospital doctors are adamant that Senna was still breathing on arrival in Bologna. Professor Watkins is adamant he had a pulse when he was put into the helicopter at the circuit, and doctors have vividly recalled the need to restart his heart during the helicopter trip.

  But it is clear that, by any normal standards, he was dead on impact with the wall and 200 million TV viewers saw his last spasm of life in the cockpit. Sid Watkins and his team supported his life as he lay on the ground at the circuit; apart from his head, his body was untouched. But had he remained alive, the brain damage would have left him severely handicapped and totally incapacitated, and Senna would never have wanted that. Accidents such as Senna’s are almost always fatal, with the few survivors suffering terrible ir
reversible brain damage. This is due to the effects on the brain of sudden deceleration, which causes structural damage to the brain tissues. Estimates of the forces involved in the accident suggest a rate of deceleration equivalent to a 30-metre vertical drop, landing headfirst.

  Medical personnel attending anyone with severe head injuries, such as Senna’s, and believing the heart is still beating, have a three-step procedure. The first is to ensure that the respiratory passages remain free, so that the patient can breathe, usually by means of an emergency tracheotomy. This was performed on Senna immediately. The second is to stem the loss of blood and replace it. Senna lost a lot of blood, which was replaced with intravenous fluid. The third is immobilising the cervical area. This was done as he was lifted from the car and on to the ground.

  After that is done, the urgent need is to reach the intensive-care department of a major hospital with the best facilities. It is for that reason that Sid Watkins ordered that Senna be removed straight to Maggiore hospital and not to the circuit’s albeit well-equipped medical centre.

  The autopsy found that the impact of the 130 mph crash caused multiple injuries at the base of the cranium, resulting in respiratory insufficiency. There was crushing of the brain as it was forced against the wall of the cranium, causing diffuse bruising and oedema , increasing the intra-cranial pressure and causing brain death. The rupture of the artery, caused blood loss and obstruction in the respiratory passages and the consequent heart failure.

  With that sort of terminal injury, the ethics of applying the best medical talent to bringing someone back to life and not allowing them simply to pass on are highly questionable. But at a racetrack with the best talent and the best facilities available, it is the natural thing for doctors to do.

  Professor Pinto da Costa, a Portugese expert, noted: “From the ethical viewpoint, the procedure used for Ayrton’s body was wrong. It involved dysthanasia, which means that a person has been kept alive improperly after biological death has taken place due to brain injuries so serious that the patient would never have been able to remain alive without mechanical means of support. There would have been no prospect of normal life and relationships. Whether or not Ayrton was removed from the car while his heart was beating, or whether his supply of blood had halted or was still flowing, is irrelevant to the determination of when he died. The autopsy showed that the crash caused multiple fractures at the base of the cranium, crushing the forehead, rupturing the artery and obstructing the respiratory passages. It is possible to resuscitate a dead person immediately after the heart stops through cardio-respiratory processes. The procedure is known as putting the patient on the machine. From the medical-legal viewpoint, in Ayrton’s case, there is a subtle point: resuscitation measures were implemented. From the ethical point of view this might well be condemned because the measures were not intended to be of strictly medical benefit to the patient but rather because they suited the commercial interest of the organisation. Resuscitation did in fact take place, with the tracheotomy performed, while the activity of the heart was restored with the assistance of cardio-respiratory devices. The attitude in question was certainly controversial. Any physician would know there was no possibility whatsoever of successfully restoring life in the condition in which Senna had been found.”

  Another expert, Professor Jose Pratas Vital, a neurosurgeon and medical supremo at the old Portuguese Grand Prix, has a different view: “The people who conducted the autopsy stated that, on the evidence of his injuries, Senna was dead. They could not say that. He had injuries which lead to his death, but at that point the heart may still have been functioning.”

  Because a great driver, possibly the greatest driver, died on Sunday 1st May 1994, endless resources, time and effort have been put into establishing the cause. Unfortunately, as in most crashes involving a Formula One car, the definitive answer has never been found.

  CHAPTER 32

  Funeral in São Paulo

  The long goodbye

  The Formula One circus left Imola on Sunday evening and Monday morning in a daze. For some, in the coming week there were two funerals ahead. When Gerhard Berger reached his home in Austria at around 9pm on Sunday 1st May, he shut himself away. He was alone in the house and spoke to no one, as he remembered: “I didn’t talk to anyone for two days. I watched the telephone filling up with messages but I didn’t feel like talking to anyone about it as nothing could change things. I just wanted to spend some time alone. I stayed out of conversations for a few days and then flew to Brazil for his funeral.”

  Alain Prost wanted to attend the funeral but he was not sure whether he should. He was desperately sad, but also pleased he had ended the feud with Senna before he died. He remembered: “Ayrton and I had such a history for so long that I didn’t really know how the Brazilian people would perceive it: would they be upset if I went, upset if I didn’t go, or what?” Prost flew back to Paris on the evening of the accident and Jean-Luc Lagardère, the chairman of Matra, called him to ask about the accident. Lagardère’s wife was Brazilian and Prost asked him what he should do. Lagardère told him the Brazilian people would be upset if he didn’t go.

  Julian Jakobi waited until Monday to fly back to London. He packed a change of clothing and then flew straight out to Brazil for the funeral. He was clear about his role in the coming days: “Because I wasn’t family, but I had to keep the family going. So one kept going, really, on adrenalin and everything else.”

  Josef Leberer had driven home to Austria that morning. He planned to return with Senna’s coffin to São Paulo but was unsure of the arrangements, and waited at home for news.

  Antonio Braga stayed in Bologna to make the arrangements to return Senna’s body to São Paulo. The Bologna authorities refused to release the body immediately, insisting on a full autopsy. Leonardo da Silva was put on the first flight back to São Paulo to be with his family. His grief was unbounded, made worse by the fact that his brother had gone to his grave with the two on bad terms over Adriane.

  Adriane Galisteu woke up on Monday morning in a daze. She had slept very little. When she opened her eyes, she was unsure whether she had had a terrible dream. She hoped and prayed it had been a dream. Her future hung in the balance. She soon realised it was the worst kind of reality.

  On Monday Senna’s body had been moved to Bologna’s mortuary in accordance with Italian law. The mortuary was surrounded by fans. The body of Roland Ratzenberger was also there, awaiting its own autopsy.

  The Braga house in Sintra, Portugal was also surrounded by reporters, anxious to interview Adriane. Pictures from outside the house were being broadcast back to Brazil. The whole world’s media was interested in the story, as the enormity of what had happened sank in. With the immediate family incommunicado, the focus was all on the beautiful 21-year-old blonde model, who, as far as the media were concerned, was effectively Senna’s widow.

  When Braga rang the house from Bologna, Adriane told him she wanted to come and see Senna’s body. She told him she felt a desperate need for firm evidence, seen with her own eyes that he was dead.

  Braga advised her against it, and thought it unlikely that she would even be admitted. She took his advice, believing she would be able to see him for the last time in São Paulo before the funeral. In Brazil it was traditional for the coffin to be left open, or at least to have a glass top. What she didn’t know was that the indent to Senna’s head and the wound caused by the sharp piece of suspension that had penetrated the helmet were disfiguring. Cosmetic experts were to despair in trying to make his face good enough. The coffin would stay closed.

  With the bedlam outside the house, Braga advised his wife Luiza that the best option was to stage a makeshift press conference in the house for the media and then they would go away. Adriane agreed to do it. But during the press conference Adriane was asked some ghoulish questions, especially from Brazilian journalists who had heard about the rift with the da Silva family and were unsure of her status now her boyfriend was dead. One fe
male journalist asked her if she had a return ticket to São Paulo and who would be paying for her ticket. Adriane felt like she was being victimised by a hostile media looking for exclusive stories on the drama of Senna’s death. She was in no state to withstand that.

  Not so Miriam Dutra, who worked for TV Globo and had been dispatched urgently to cover the story. Dutra was very sympathetic to Adriane, who was clearly in great distress. Afterwards Adriane asked Dutra if she could have all the footage of the crash that TV Globo had. She wanted to see everything she could about the accident.

  Monday came and went for dazed Adriane, and she was sedated to help her sleep that night. The sedatives had little effect, as Adriane was still stunned from events.

  Meanwhile Antonio Braga and Galvao Bueno were desperately trying to organise the return of Senna’s body to São Paulo. Naturally the family wanted it returned to Brazil as soon as possible. They thought this would be relatively simple until the Italian authorities told them the autopsy, would not take place until Tuesday. The body would be released that evening.

  On Tuesday morning, Miriam Dutra collected the footage of the race on VHS videotape and the following day sent it by messenger to Adriane Galisteu in Sintra. Adriane sat on the sofa and watched it over and over, accompanied by the Braga children, Luiza and Joanna. They were obsessed with finding the reason for his crash.

  Adriane also telephoned Angelo Orsi, the Italian photographer who had taken pictures of Senna after the accident. Adriane felt a desperate need for some physical proof he was dead. Orsi got permission from the family to send her some photographs.

  The autopsies of Senna and Ratzenberger both took place, as planned, on Tuesday morning. It was straightforward. The causes of death were no more complicated than in any road accident victim.

  By lunchtime the bodies had been authorised for removal. Braga and Bueno worked feverishly on the arrangements to get Senna’s body home that day. They had two options: a direct flight with the Italian Air Force, or via Paris with Varig. The Italians were quite happy to fly the coffin straight back to São Paulo.