The FIA’s report into the findings read: “On race day [1st May 1994], each of the teams were requested to supply the source code for the software on board the car and schematic circuit diagrams of the electrical system.
“One team complied in full with this request and a demonstration of the complete electrical system was set up with entirely satisfactory results.
“Having received nothing from the other two teams, a fax was sent on 9th May asking for urgent action.
“An alternative suggestion was received from Benetton Formula Limited. In this letter dated 10th May, it stated the source code could not be made available for commercial reasons.
“In a fax to Benetton Formula dated 15th May, we accepted this proposal, on the condition that Article 2.6 of the technical regulations was satisfied.
“On 27th May we received a detailed programme for the demonstration at Cosworth Engineering.
“The tests which were scheduled to take place on 28th June were cancelled, by Benetton, after some discussion with Ford concerning nondisclosure agreements.
“In a fax dated 28th June, we again requested the tests take place as a matter of urgency.
“The demonstration and tests took place on 6th July. We received a report from LDRA on 11th July that left a number of unanswered questions, which we were advised could only be addressed by close examination of the source code.
“In a letter to Benetton dated 13th July we made it clear the demonstration had been unsatisfactory and we required the source code for the software.
“Following another exchange of letters on 13th and 14th July a meeting was set up at the Benetton factory on 19th July, an agenda for which was received on 18th July giving our advisers full access to the source code, but only on Benetton’s premises and subject to the instructions set out in Appendix 11.
“Analysis of this software, which had been used at the San Marino Grand Prix, revealed that it included a facility called ‘launch control’. This is a system which, when armed, allows the driver to initiate a start with a single action. The system will control the clutch, gearshift and engine speed fully automatically to a predetermined pattern.
“Benetton stated that this system is used only during testing. Benetton further stated that ‘it [the system] can only be switched on by recompilation of the code’. This means recompilation of the source code. Detailed analysis by LDRA experts of this complex code revealed that this statement was untrue.’Launch control’ could in fact be switched on using a laptop personal computer connected to the gearbox control unit (GCU).
“When confronted with this information, the Benetton representatives conceded that it was possible to switch on the ‘launch control’ using a laptop PC but indicated that the availability of this feature of the software came as a surprise to them.
“In order to enable ‘launch control’, a particular menu with 10 options has to be selected on the PC screen. ‘Launch control’ is not visibly listed as an option. The menu was so arranged that, after 10 items, nothing further appeared. If however, the operator scrolled down the menu beyond the 10th listed option, to option 13, launch control could be enabled, even though this is not visible on the screen. No satisfactory explanation was offered for this apparent attempt to conceal the feature.
“Two conditions had to be satisfied before the computer would apply ‘launch control’: first, the software had to be enabled either by recompiling the code, which would take some minutes, or by connecting the laptop PC as outlined above, which could be done in a matter of seconds.
“Secondly, the driver had to work through a particular sequence of up-down gearshift paddle positions, a specific gear position had to be selected and the clutch and throttle pedals had to be in certain positions. Only if all these actions were carried out would the ‘launch control’ become available.
“Having thus initiated ‘launch control’, the driver would be able to make a fully automatic start. Such a start is clearly a driver aid as it operates the clutch, changes gear and uses traction control by modulating engine power (by changing ignition or fuel settings), in response to wheel speed.
“When asked why, if this system was only used in testing, such an elaborate procedure was necessary in order to switch it on, we were told it was to prevent it being switched on accidentally.”
It seemed that Senna had been right about the traction control, although Schumacher was adamant that the launch control system had not been in use. He said: “I know we don’t use any traction control. I know where these rumours are coming from and they had better watch themselves… I know that we don’t have anything. We proved it to the FIA and there has been a statement from them that we don’t have any traction control. What more can we do than proving, showing and being really willing to prove that we don’t have anything? What more can we do? And there are still these rumours. The only thing I can think of is that they are jealous.”
Accusations flew as Ross Brawn insisted that the systems were just defunct software from 1993, left on the system because they were too difficult to remove. Other teams’ engineers retorted that they had been able to remove their driver aids in the space of two days over the winter.
The FIA was eventually forced to capitulate and Benetton escaped sanctions because the regulations only required that traction control must not be used, not that it must not be present in the software. Some people believed that the FIA had only been so harsh on Benetton after Silverstone because it was punishing the team for every small indiscretion having been unable to penalise it for the mere presence of traction control. The FIA then declared that all such software must be removed from the cars before the Italian Grand Prix and was forced to admit that: “The best evidence is that Benetton Formula Limited was not using ‘launch control’ at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix. Had the evidence proved it was, the World Motor Sport Council would have been invited to exclude it from the world championship. Given the evidence available, such a course of action would obviously have been wrong.”
The German Grand Prix was a disaster for Benetton. Schumacher’s engine failed while Verstappen’s car burst into flames during a pitstop, leaving the driver and crew lucky to escape with minor burns. Luckily for them, Hill was also unable to score. The team was initially blamed by the FIA for the fire but was absolved. Two weeks later in Hungary, Schumacher won and Hill was second. The gap in the drivers’ championship was 76 points to Schumacher, 45 to Hill.
There was more controversy for Benetton at Spa. The weekend started badly for Williams when Renault announced that from 1995 it would be supplying engines to Benetton too. Renault wanted the biggest star in Formula One, and with Senna’s death that was Schumacher. The German finished first in the race ahead of Hill, but was disqualified when his car was found to have an illegally worn plank and the team was fined $500,000. He blamed it on a spin earlier in the race.
Schumacher’s delayed two-race ban kicked in for the following rounds in Italy and Portugal after Benetton’s appeal predictably failed. Hill won both races. On Schumacher’s return for the European Grand Prix at Jerez the pair were forced to shake hands after some bickering in the newspapers. Schumacher won and Hill was second, although the Williams driver could have won if not for a faulty fuel rig. In Japan, Hill produced the drive of his life to take a stunning aggregate win on a soaking wet track, just over three seconds ahead of Schumacher.
Going into the final round at Adelaide, Schumacher was leading the drivers’ championship by a single point from Hill.
It was almost inevitable that there would be a further controversy at the Australian Grand Prix. It came on lap 36. Schumacher, leading but pushed hard by a quickening Hill, ran off the track and hit the wall. Hill came round the corner, saw Schumacher coming off the verge and went for the gap, not realising the Benetton had hit the wall and would soon be eliminated from the running anyway. Schumacher aggressively defended his line and the pair collided. Hill managed to drag his car back to the pits, but the suspension
was bent and he could not continue. Harking back to the days of Prost and Senna at Suzuka, Michael Schumacher became perhaps the most controversial world champion in the history of the sport. A new winner was born.
As Hill and Patrick Head fumed in the pits and Schumacher was informed by trackside marshals of his new status, Mansell took victory. In compensation for the loss of the drivers’ crown, Williams Renault had become constructors’ champion.
Ironically Schumacher dedicated his victory to the last man to win the title by collision. “Winning the championship feels like a dream. I don’t know how to explain it. The emotions are in me but I cannot really express them. Early in the season it had been clear to me that I was not going to win the championship, that it was going to be Ayrton. But he hasn’t been here for these last races and so I would like to take this championship and give it to him. It was difficult at the time to show my feelings because I am not someone who likes to show his feelings on the outside, but I always thought about it. And now it is the right time to give something which I achieved, something which he should have achieved, to him.”
It was not difficult to conclude that if Damon Hill had lost the title by just a single point then Senna would have been able to win it. Damon Hill might have been a race winner and future champion, but Senna was Senna. Victory in 1994 would have meant a fourth world title and perhaps another six or seven wins to add to his total of 41. He might also have beaten Schumacher to the title in 1995 and had he stayed at Williams the following year he would almost certainly have taken the 1996 crown.
Senna had always said that he wanted to end his career with Ferrari. Had he lived he would probably have joined the team in 1997 or 1998, just as its fortunes were on the upturn, although there is little doubt that Senna and Schumacher would not have run in the scarlet cars side by side. Schumacher might even have ended up in the blue and white of a Williams rather than the scarlet of a Ferrari, and then the 1997 battle would no doubt have been very close. Would Senna have succeeded in delivering Ferrari’s longed for world championship three years earlier than Schumacher managed? Julian Jakobi confirms that this was Senna’s plan. Jakobi says: “I had had preliminary negotiations with Luca di Montezemolo. Ayrton was offered the deal that Michael took in 1996.”
Had that occurred and Senna had joined Ferrari in 1998 after four years with Williams, having scored three or even four world championships, he would likely have managed at least one world championship with Ferrari before retiring after three seasons with the Italian team, aged 40 at the end of 2000.
Had he lived it is probable that he could have set new records of around 75 victories, 100 poles and seven, or even eight world titles. Certainly Michael Schumacher’s career would have been very different and not nearly so impressive as it is now.
As it is Ayrton Senna’s record remains 65 poles, 41 wins and three world championships in 10 full seasons of competing. Plus the thoughts of what might have been.
APPENDIX I
1974 to 1982 Karting
Ayrton Senna raced go-karts with varying degrees of seriousness for nine years of which the last two overlapped with his car driving career. His first ever go-kart win was on the 1st July 1973 at the Interlagos kart track. He started in the junior category in 1974, going into the 100cc category in 1976. Between 1977 and 1989 he raced in the Inter category before finally moving up to the 135cc category in late 1980 and competing in the world championship for the first time. The early years were spent mainly in Brazilian local championships and the latter years outside Brazil.
1974
Championship: Sao Paulo Championship
Category: junior category
Classification: 1st
1975
Championship: Brazilian Championship
Category: junior category
Classification: 2nd
Championship: “Nacional Italcolomy” tour
Category: junior category
Classification: 1st
1976
Championship: Sao Paulo Championship
Category: 100cc category
Classification: 2nd
Championship: Brazilian Championship
Category: 100cc category
Classification: 3rd
Championship: “Three hours of go-karting”, Sao Paulo
Category: 100cc category
Classification: 1st
1977
Championship: South American Championship, Uruguay (San Jose)
Category: Inter category
Classification: 1st
Championship: Brazilian Championship
Category: Inter category
Classification: 2nd
Championship: Sao Paolo Championship
Category: Inter category
Classification: 2nd
Championship: “Three hours of go-karting”, Sao Paulo
Category: Inter category
Classification: 1st
1978
Championship: World Championship, France (Le Mans)
Category: Inter category
Classification: 6th
Championship: Japanese Grand Prix, (Sugo)
Category: Inter category
Classification: 4th
Championship: Brazilian Championship
Category: Inter category
Classification: 1st
Championship: “Three hours of go-karting”, Sao Paulo
Category: Inter category
Classification: 1st
Championship: Sao Paulo Championship
Category: Inter category
Classification: 2nd
1979
Championship: World Championship, Portugal (Estoril)
Category: Inter category
Classification: 2nd
Championship: South American Championship, Argentina (San Juan)
Category: Inter category
Classification: 2nd
Championship: San Marino Championship
Category: Inter category
Classification: 1st
Championship: Brazilian Championship, Oberlandia, (Mato Grosso)
Category: Inter category
Classification: 1st (1st round)
Championship: Swiss Grand Prix, (Wholen)
Category: Inter category
Classification: 2nd
Championship: Italian Grand Prix, (Parma)
Category: Inter category
Classification: 2nd
Championship: Champions Cup, Italy (Jesolo)
Category: Inter category
Classification: 10th
1980
Championship: South American Championship
Category: Inter category
Classification: 1st
Championship: Brazilian Championship
Category: Inter category
Classification: 1st
Championship: World Championship, Belgium (Nivelles)
Category: 135cc category
Classification: 2nd
1981
Championship: World Championship, Italy (Parma)
Category: 135cc category
Classification: 4th
Championship: Champions Cup, Italy (Jesolo)
Category: 135cc
Classification: retired, accident
Championship: Swiss Grand Prix (Wholen)
Category: 135cc category
Classification: 1st
1982
Championship: Porto Alegre Championship
Category: 135cc
The Life of Senna Page 60
