1994 was the year Michael Schumacher won the first of his seven world championships but among a huge section of the F1 fanbase, the season is infamous because the racing world lost a legend in Ayrton Senna. The three-time world champion suffered a horrific crash in Imola in 1994 and succumbed to his injuries shortly thereafter.
Today, we all know the minute-by-minute story of Senna’s tragic accident. For the drivers back on the track on 1st May 1994, however, there was a lot of confusion surrounding what happened to Senna. Schumacher and Co. knew that Senna had suffered a crash, but didn’t know the severity of it until the end of the evening.
In an interview following Senna’s death, Schumacher recalls how he was told about the Brazilian being in a coma when the drivers were lining up on the grid once again. For Schumacher, a coma meant that it wasn’t very bad, and he was optimistic about a quick recovery for the Williams driver. It was only after the race ended, did Schumacher learn about the reality.
Michael Schumacher learned about Ayrton Senna’s death on the podium
After the race restarted, Michael Schumacher took home the victory to continue his title charge. He was joined by Nicola Larini and Mika Hakkinen on the podium, but that is when the news he was dreading, was broken out to him.
His Benetton team principal Flavio Briatore told him that even though Senna was in a coma, ‘a coma can be many things’. Schumacher found this comment particularly disturbing because he genuinely believed that Senna was going to be okay.
Two hours after the race was over, Benetton team manager Tom Walkinshaw told Schumacher that things weren’t looking good. Shocked, Schumacher refused to believe what people around him were telling him. “He’s in a coma but coma doesn’t mean anything bad,” was what Schumacher kept saying.
The moment Schumacher learnt Ayrton Senna had died
Hours after the 1994 San Marino GP concluded with Schumacher’s victory, the German driver got to know that Senna had died. He was in disbelief, especially because of the lack of information he and his counterparts were given following the crash.
“There was so little information at this time,” Schumacher said in his Netflix documentary. “That you didn’t know what you should think about this. I still didn’t believe that he was dead. I just couldn’t think of that at that point, I just thought ‘No, he’s going to be the champion.'”
After Schumacher won that year’s world champion, he remembered Senna and his greatness. During the press conference after the season finale in Adelaide, he dedicated his win to the Sao-Paolo-born legend, who left behind a huge legacy in the sport.
