F1's Darkest Day

Beginning last year, Speed began running a show called "F1 Decade," which chronicled the Formula One season that transpired ten years before, race by race. They've continued this year, which means the next race in the cycle is the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix. It was ten years ago this month that F1 suffered its worst weekend in the modern era. The event is most remembered for the death of the legendary Ayrton Senna, but as the linked article makes clear, it was a horrible weekend from beginning to end. Senna was not the only fatality that weekend. Roland Ratzenberger was killed on Saturday, the first death at an F1 race in a dozen years. Other horribles that weekend included a large shunt by Rubens Barrichello, a pit lane accident that injured several crew members, and a start line crash that sent debris into the crowd, injuring four spectators.

I was never a huge fan of Senna. When I started watching F1 he was the top guy with the top team. My fondness for underdogs led me to root for Ferrari, instead (yes, at one time, Ferrari was an underdog). But I gained a lot of respect for Senna in 1993 when he, along with Michael Andretti, struggled with an uncompetative McLaren-Ford. He still managed four wins, including a brilliant drive in the rain at Donnington Park. The morning of the San Marino race I got up early enough to camp out in front of the communal TV in my dorm at WVU. My sleep-deprived brain was jolted awake by the news of Ratzenberger's death. It was immediately obvious that Senna's wreck was serious, if not fatal. Derek Daly (doing commentary for ESPN) desperately tried to convince himself and the viewers that there was movement in the cockpit of Senna's broken Williams, but there was none. Senna was dead on impact. It cast a pall over the rest of the race, the season, and, really, F1 ever since.

Racing is an inherently dangerous and, sometimes, deadly sport. Still, it hits particularly hard when you see it unfold in front of your eyes.