The Life of Senna
Page 76
Helicoptering around Brazil in 1993 and 1994
124. Ayrton Senna use his own helicopter to ease his passage between work and play in Brazil through the European winter and the Brazilian summer. During late 1993 and early 1994, he was marshalling the first phase of a new business empire that he intended to keep him busy after he retired from Formula One.
Ayrton Senna’s favourite place was his family farm at Tatui in Dois Lagos
125. In 1993 Ayrton Senna spent more time at the family farm in Brazil than at any time in his life. He was sharing his time with Adriane Galisteu, his new girlfriend. In his own helicopter, which he piloted himself, he flicked quickly from the farm to his beach house at Angra on the coastal and to the roof of his apartment and office building in Sao Paulo. Tatui was a working farm with cattle and pigs.
The paradise of Tatui
126. Although his parents and family spent most time at Tatui Dois Lagos, it was Ayrton Senna’s paradise, with a lake, a beautiful swimming pool and a superb go-karting track where he raced his nieces and nephews. It was a place the whole da Silva family could relax together in comfort without getting in each other’s way. It was a private place and when he relaxed with friends he took them to his Angra beach house. Tatui was for family.
The official girlfriend Xuxa Meneghel was close to Ayrton Senna between 1988 and 1992
127. Xuxa Meneghel was Ayrton Senna’s girlfriend on and off for four years. She had a very successful career as a TV presenter with TV Globo and rarely accompanied him to races because of her schedule. The da Silva family adored Xuxa and she was the official widow at his funeral in São Paulo in 1994.
The pursuit of leisure
128. Ayrton Senna enjoyed himself with Adriane Galisteu at his two homes in Brazil: Angra, on the beach, and Tatui.
129. The family cattle farm at Dois Lagos.
The Lotus years were Marjorie’s
130. His first serious girlfriend after his marriage fell apart was Marjorie Andrade, who accompanied him during some of the Lotus years.
The F3 years were Maria’s
131. The Brazilian student was studying in Belgium. They met shortly after his marriage to Liliane ended.
Happy days with Adriane Galisteu in 1993
132. Senna laughs with his last love Adriane Galisteu outside the McLaren motorhome during the 1993 season. Adriane was an important presence throughout the last year of Senna’s life and accompanied him to many races around the world.
133. Senna with Adriane in Adelaide for the Australian Grand Prix in 1993. It was a very happy time for him, with Adriane and a Williams Renault contract in his pocket.
134. Adriane was a model, from an underprivileged background very different from Senna’s own.
135. Senna and Adriane at an official photo shoot beside the pool at his Brazilian ranch in Tatui. They also had a beach home at Angra dos Reis.
136. Senna had a passion for flying his helicopter and Adriane Galisteu would often accompany him on flights.
137. Senna and Adriane at the traditional Philip Morris Marlboro party in Budapest in 1993.
Two people at peace with the world and each other
138. Ayrton Senna with his last love Adriane Galisteu, at sunset on the farm called Tatui. It was one of their favourite places. Friends were convinced they would have married after the european season in 1994.
The all-too-brief months of driving and testing for Williams Renault
139. Senna checks times at Imola. Driving the new Williams, he realised he was in for a more difficult season than he had thought.
140. Ayrton Senna is besieged by the press at the first Grand Prix of the year.
141. Senna opted to take the number-two designation at his new team, whilst Damon Hill’s car was numbered zero, as it had been the previous season. Alain Prost had retired. Senna takes his 65th and final pole position at Imola in 1994.
Winter testing at Estoril in January 1994
142. An instant rapport was built up between Frank Willlams and Ayrton Senna. It was as if two destinies had collided by design.
143. Ayrton Senna and Patrick Head immediately knew there was a problem with the new Williams Renault.
144. Ayrton Senna and Damon Hill launch the Rothmans Williams Renault package at Estoril in January 1994.
On the eve of Senna’s first drive of the Williams car in Estoril
145. Senna and Frank Williams at a press luncheon in Estoril, prior to Senna’s first outing on the track as a Williams Renault driver in January 1994. It was the second occasion that Senna had driven a Williams, following his first-ever Formula One test in 1983.
146. Ayrton Senna explains the working of a Formula One steering wheel to the Mayor of São Paulo and his family and guests, during the 1994 Brazilian Grand Prix weekend.
The start of a new partnership
147. Ayrton Senna inherited race engineer David Brown from Nigel Mansell and Alain Prost, who had both won world championships with him. Senna found Brown as delightful as both Mansell and Prost had. The relationship was destined to be all too short-lived.
148. Senna made it look all too easy and few knew just how bad the car was. Damon Hill, his teammate, did. He was not on the pace at all.
1994 Brazilian Brand Prix
149. Ayrton Senna takes the lead at the start in Brazil, negotiating the esses that bear his name.
150. Senna was so quick at Interlagos, in the 1994 Brazilian Grand Prix, that he lapped his team-mate Damon Hill. The Brazilian, however, tried to pursue race leader Michael Schumacher more quickly than his car would allow, and he spun out of the race in the closing stages.
151. Senna gets out of his car on the grid at the start of the Pacific Grand Prix in Aida.
152. Senna is tipped into a spin by Mika Häkkinen’s McLaren at the start in Aida and is promptly t-boned by Nicola Larini’s Ferrari.
153. Senna walks away from the Aida first-corner accident, pursued by an apologetic Larini.
A weekend of trouble from start to finish
154. Rubens Barrichello suffers an impact at the Variante Bassa on the Friday of the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix. His car flipped over before coming to rest. He was extremely lucky to survive an accident which appeared far worse than Senna’s fatal smash two days later.
155. Senna with Barrichello before the accident. Next time they met, he was lying on a hospital trolley.
156. Also with Schumacher after Ratzenberger’s accident.
157. With Gerhard Berger.
Friday 29th April 1994
158. Rubens Barrichello is taken off to hospital. Luckily nothing serious was wrong with him. But he was detained overnight for observation before returning to the track on Saturday morning prior to flying home.
159. Roland Ratzenberger suffered a fatal crash during qualifying on Saturday 30th April 1994 at Imola.
The last moments of life
160. The famous picture of Ayrton Senna contemplating life in the Williams garage before the race. He had under 30 minutes to live. He managed less than seven laps of the race before he was gone.
161. In the highly-charged aftermath of the accident, Leonardo Senna, Ayrtons younger brother, blamed everyone for his death.
162. Alain Prost was with Frank Williams in the Williams pit garage when the accident happened.
163. Senna leads the field behind the safety car at Imola, an episode which some people believe may have been a factor in causing his crash.
164. A faulty steering system has also been cited as a cause of Senna’s crash. This was unlikely.
165. Senna’s car rebounds violently from the wall at Tamburello. It was an exceptionally violent impact, bringing the car to a quick stop in a small piece of ground. The accident was so violent that the carbon-fibre chassis split. The in-car camera cut out before impact.
166. Senna is attended by the medical team beside the car.
167. The final seconds – Senna enters Tamburello for the last time.
168. The s
hattered remains of the cockpit of Senna’s Williams Renault FW16 and the helmet, which took the force of the impact.
169. Senna’s steering wheel with the remains of the steering column attached.
Immediate aftermath
170. At 2:17pm, the remains of Senna’s wrecked Williams lie in the Tamburello run-off area after the race is called to a halt. The steering wheel is hanging loosely over the right side of the car and the monocoque is fractured in the region of the dash bulkhead. The non-structural cockpit cowling has been removed to allow Senna to be lifted from the car.
171. Flavio Briatore, Mika Häkkinen and Michael Schumacher prepare to go on the podium, uncertain of the extent of Senna’s injuries but having heard the rumours.
172. Marshals remove the destroyed Williams Renault from the scene of the accident. It would later be impounded by the Italian authorities to be used as evidence in the manslaughter trial, after Senna’s death was announced.
173. Damon and Georgie Hill talk with Bernie Ecclestone in the Imola paddock. Initial reports of Senna’s condition were conflicting and most of the drivers did not realise how serious the accident had been until the end of the race.
The day after
174. Monday 2nd May 1994. Flowers and a Brazilian flag are left at the spot where Senna’s car hit the wall at Tamburello.
A week of mourning
175. All over the world, magazines cleared their pages to report the tragedy. The world’s most famous magazine, Paris Match, put the tragedy on its cover.
176. Ayrton Senna’s fans weep outside the Imola circuit on the morning of Monday 2nd May 1994.
Funeral in São Paulo
177. The funeral was the most extraordinary affair, with São Paulo virtually at a standstill for the day. It was attented by drivers past and present, including his old foe Alain Prost.
178. Ayrton Senna’s final resting place.
The men left with Ayrton Senna’s legacy
179. The death of Ayrton Senna affected the world of Formula One more than any other event in its history. Bernie Ecclestone, president of the FOM, Max Mosley, president of the FIA, and Professor Sid Watkins, the FIA’s medical supremo, moved quickly to change the can and circuits to make Formula One safer. Since then, no driver has been killed or even seriously injured in a Formula One car, as it becomes one of the safest sports in the world despite the obvious dangers of competing.
180. A minute of silence on the Monaco grid two weeks later. From left: Mika Häkkinen, Bertrand Gachot, Andrea de Cesaris, Martin Brundle, Mark Blundell, Michael Schumacher, Johnny Herbert, JJ Lehto, Christian Fittipaldi, Rubens Barrichello, Gianni Morbidelli, Olivier Beretta, Pierluigi Martini, Olivier Panis (behind Martini), Eric Comas, Eric Bernard, Jean Alesi and Gerhard Berger, Niki Lauda.
The Court of Appeal
181. Inside the Third Appeal Court of Bologna during the appeal trial over Senna’s death, in November 1999. The prosecutor calls on the court to confirm the original requested sentences, which the judge had ignored.
182. Peter Goodman, Williams’s British lawyer, who co-ordinated the team’s defence at the Senna trial in Italy, after Senna’s death.
183. Adrian Newey, Patrick Head and Frank Williams were accused of culpable homicide – manslaughter – in the Italian courts following the events at Imola in 1994. Convictions were never a prospect, but the affair cost the Williams team some $4 million in legal fees.
The Ayrton Senna Foundation
184. The work that Ayrton Senna started with his comic character ‘Senninha’, to bring hope to the poor children of São Paulo, continues through the Ayrton Senna Foundation.
185. Ayrton Senna wears a T-shirt showing ‘Senninha’, little Senna, a cartoon hero who delights the children of Brazil. He spent $5 million developing the character and sent a free copy of his new comic to every schoolchild in São Paulo.
Viviane Senna’s good works
186. Viviane at the São Paulo office from which she runs the Senna Foundation. The charity carries out a lot of work among the poor children of São Paulo.
187. Viviane Senna visits the 1999 Brazilian GP with Gerald de Bar, manager of the Paddock Club.
The Ayrton Senna Foundation:
188. Frank Williams attending the unveiling of the Ayrton Senna monument at Imola.
Ayrton Senna 21st March 1960 – 1st May 1994