Ayrton Senna’s cult status in F1 turned his private jet’s pilot into a huge fan. Just like any other fan, Owen O’Mahoney too asked Senna for some autographs, but the Brazilian was always so focused on racing that he failed to oblige. However, days before his tragic accident, Senna went out of his way to sign some autographs for Owen, who has now explained what perhaps led to the three-time champion’s change of heart.
In the F1 great’s biography, The Life of Senna, O’Mahoney recalled, “The odd thing was that he gave them to me in the middle of practice. It was so out of character for him to think about anything other than racing. It was almost as if he wanted to tie up loose ends.”
Incidentally, Owen wasn’t the only one who observed a strange change in Senna’s behavior. Mark Fogarty from Carweek interviewed the then-Williams driver. Fogarty recalled how active and eloquent Senna was in his interviews, but that day, he was struggling to frame his sentences. Fogarty noticed how much Senna was fumbling.
The reason behind Senna’s absentmindedness was Rubens Barrichello’s horrific crash. Going at 140 mph, Barrichello hit a curb and flew in the air before hitting a tire wall. The violent crash saw him break his nose, bruise his ribs, and lie in his car unconscious. The crash had rattled Senna.
Barrichello later recalled regaining consciousness and finding Senna to be the first to meet him in the hospital. Senna had tears in his eyes, something which was unlike him.
Ayrton Senna chose reputation over safety
1994 was a chaotic year for F1, and as fate would have it, Ayrton Senna was one of the lives that the season claimed. The Brazilian, however, was well aware of the risks and, in a way, predicted his own death.
While speaking with Mercedes’ Gerd Kremer, he highlighted how fast the new generation of cars were and how FIA’s ban on driver aids made it even more dangerous. He went as far as prophesying multiple crashes, including life-threatening ones.
Ironically, just a couple of years before the crash, it was Senna who lobbied against electronic driver-aids. That was when he was at McLaren and his car did not have such aids while Williams did. However, in 1994, when he joined Williams, FIA put a ban on those aids that included traction control and active suspension.
Soon, the ruling body would regret that decision. At the 1994 San Marino GP weekend, it wasn’t just Senna who lost his life. A day after Barrichello’s horrific crash, Roland Ratzenberger had a heavy crash that caused his death as well.
What is strange about Senna’s death is that the Brazilian was fully aware of the dangers of the Tamburello curve where he crashed into the concrete wall and lost his life. When asked why he did not raise his voice against the FIA not making the circuit any safer, he simply shrugged it off by lamenting, “I’m the only world champion left and I have opened my big mouth too often.”
