Why was the death of Ayrton Senna so controversial? [Part 4]

The car recordings may have been tampered with:

The controversies that surround the death of Ayrton Senna continued long beyond the race weekend itself. One of the more severe accusations toward Williams is that they had private access to the on board telemetry recordings, known as the black box, before the Italian authorities. The London Evening Standard reported that, “After the crash, the car’s ‘black box’ was taken immediately to London by technicians from Williams and when it was returned to the investigating authorities in Italy it was said to be ‘useless’.” (Hilton, 1999, p. 213) This accusation is incredibly severe and once again finds the Williams team, if guilty, of perverting the course of justice by contaminating evidence thus making this issue itself deeply controversial. But, why was this allowed to happen? This is at the centre of the controversy surrounding the tampering of the car’s data. Not only does it involve Williams but also the current FIA Formula One Race Director, Charlie Whiting, who at the time was the FIA technical delegate. According to his report, the download ports to obtain the information from the car were too damaged to be used as a consequence of the crash. Furthermore, Whiting admitted to giving the Williams mechanics access to the black box, this was categorically against FIA ruling. It has now believed that Whiting forced the man guarding the wreckage to open up the garage as he had permission from the FIA security chief John Corsmit. (charrotest, 2009, pp. 1 - 5:40) Whilst this itself is a grievous action, this is just the beginning of the controversies that surround the handling of the black box.

The black box was eventually handed over to the Italian authorities for investigation 30 days after falling into Williams’ hands, in itself making the process of investigation controversial. However when the box was received it was noted that it had some scratches and two out of the twenty chips were damaged. This raises questions: why was the box damaged and why only 2 chips, not the entirety of them? Surely if the impact had damaged the memory chips, then all would be damaged, not just the two. This is still debated as it leads some to believe that Williams engineers removed the chips to wipe the data, hence the scratches and damaged chips and the fact that only two of them were in this state. The public prosecutor Passorini commented: “it must be a coincidence, but it makes you wonder if someone was very jealous regarding its contents”. (charrotest, 2009, pp. 3 - 3:40) Many therefore maintain that this action still took place and this is reflected in his words. As such many believe that the Williams mechanics altered the data to ensure they were not held accountable for Senna’s death. As such the afore mentioned final reading of -7.18N/m2 could have been planted and vital evidence lost in the process. This issue therefore also contributes in making the death of Ayrton Senna such a controversial event due to the uncertain validity of the information handed over and time taken for Williams to do so.

Could the design of the track be the cause of the crash?

One aspect making the death of Ayrton Senna so controversial is the design of the circuit itself. So much so that the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari came under such strict scrutiny as a result of Senna’s death that for the next season’s race the track was redesigned to the reduce the risk of accident. The contentions arise due to its nature, and where it is situated it. As such it became a source of great controversy as a result of Ayrton’s death. With the track running next to the river Santerno this left Imola, a track renowned for its high speed nature, with a major issue. It was confined to a limited amount space as the circuit’s perimeter is just few metres from the river’s edge. (Chapman, n.d.) This meant that the 190mph corner, Tamburello, had only a thin gravel trap and then a concrete wall as run off area as space was so confined. This ensured that anyone who suffered an altercation at this corner had virtually no time to reduce their speed before impact with the concrete wall and as the corner was high speed the impact itself would be potentially fatal. This is of course what happened to Senna, resulting in his death being controversial due to the ill-designed track.

See the proximity of the river.

Tamburello was controversial for its bumpy nature. So much so that in April 1994, a month before his death Senna was filmed in conversation with the circuit’s director, Giorgio Poggi gesticulating at the corner. As well as this meeting the Formula One Constructors Association (FOCA) commissioned an official test of the circuit and concluded that amendments needed to be made. With the race less than a month away it was not feasible for the entirety of the track surface to be re-laid. Instead Poggi controversially opted to have the section of the tarmac smoothed out. However this reportedly only slightly improved the conditions of the corner at racing speed. This is highlighted in Christopher Hilton’s interview with former Minardi driver Pierluigi Martini when writing his book ‘As Time Goes By’. Martini comments, “Senna and I together went to the director –Poggi- to explain that there was a ‘jumping’ at Tamburello... We said the bump was a little bit high... It was however better when they’d done what they could, although there was still a bump.” (Hilton, 1999, p. 193)So despite the efforts to resurface the track, the conditions were still inadequate – hence the controversy over improper precautions taken. This was concluded at the trial on the 5^th March 1997. Public Prosecutor Maurizio Passarini told the court: "If the track had been completely flat, he would have been more able to brake and his speed could have been reduced to 105 mph. Senna paid the price of these circumstances" (Hilton, 1999, p. 215). These are clearly damning accusations that reinforce the theory that negligence was once again a direct cause of Senna’s death. The very fact that this was so easily avoidable ensures that Senna’s death remains controversial.