The loss of his friend Ayrton Senna. Part 3, the last in a series on Sid Watkins.
Below follows the doctor's recollection of that sad weekend at Imola.
A pensive Senna
"I knew Ayrton better than the other drivers. We were close friends." Proffessor Sid Watkins recalls one experience that captures the essence of who Ayrton Senna was. "I was once their guest at their family's farm in Brazil when there was a terrible storm. It caused the loss of electrical power and telephones communication was down as well. Since I had promised my wife Susan to call her at a certain time, we set out to the nearest town to try and call from there. We drove for quite a while through the storm and over flooded roads and arrived to the town. There we found a garage which had light burning inside. Ayrton asked if I could use their phone to place a call to Europe. But even though the man recognized Ayrton, the man initially refused. Ayrton then explained that it would not cost him anything since I'd be using my British Telecom card.
In the meantime, the news that Ayrton was in town had gone around like fire. Pretty much all the town's children had accumulated outside the garage, and while I telephoned, Ayrton stood in the rain signing authographs under a street-lamp, and continued until everyone had gotten one."
Below follows a short video of an interview that appears in Senna's documentary:
Senna upside down in Mexico
"I once told Ayrton: "You don't have to drive so fast when you are leading, only fast enough to stay out in front."He later told me, "Sid, I always think back to the advice you gave me, when I see your (medical) car when I am on the circuit. But by the time I make it to the next corner I have completely forgotten about it."
During that fateful week at Imola Ayrton was quite devastated by Roland Ratzenberger on Saturday.
In retrospect, it had gone well for some time. There had been some hard crashes with injuries, but excluding some breathing problems, none were life threatening. And I was always quick on the scene. The last fatal accident was that of Riccardo Paletti, twelve years before.
That Friday Rubens Barrichello had a hard crash in the practice session. He had swallowed his tongue and was chocking to death, but our medical procedures had paid off that day.
After Ratzenberger's crash on Saturday, Ayrton proceeded to jump over a fence at the back of the pits, to gain entrance to the medical center. When I gave him the bad news, Ayrton broke down in tears. I advised him to withdraw from the race. I even told him he should hang his helmet for good. He had proven he was the best driver ever and had been world champion three times. I told him, "Stop with it. Let's go fishing." At that moment he regained his composure and became his old self. He simply replied, "Sid, there are certain things over which we have no control. I cannot quit. I have to go on." Those were the last words he ever said to me.
Sid talking to Ayrton
"Mario Casoni was at the wheel of the medical car that Sunday. When we got to Tamburello I saw that it was Ayrton. One would expect this to come as a terrible shock to me, but it didn't. I just went to work and blocked everything out. The only thing I felt sorry for was that I had not pressed him harder to quit. When I took him in my arms and laid him on the asphalt, it struck me how light he was. I cut his helmets' strap loose, took it off, and inserted the breathing tube and looked him in the eyes. At that moment I realized that this accident would cost him his life. Ayrton had suffered a severe head trauma, as a wheel-assembly piece had penetrated the visor and his forehead. Then he made a strange sound - it sounded like a sigh - and although I am totally agnostic, I believe at that moment his spirit left his body.
We air lifted him and the anesthetist to Ospedale Maggiore in Bologna. I didn't go along, for there was nothing I could do. After I tended to a couple of mechanics in the pits, I headed for the hospital onboard another helicopter. At the hospital, I confirmed that they had done everything by the book in order to save him.
As long as the doctors were making tests he was kept on life support. But the end was inevitable, as was the cry that F1 safety standards had somehow slipped, and that the time had come for another round of safety improvements, even though none of these would have saved his life.
Senna's Williams, Imola
"Senna hit a concrete wall at very high speed" Team owner Sir Frank Williams said. "I had Sid tell me later he had no marks other than his skull damage, which was from when the wheel (assemble) hit it. So the car itself - the car proper, with the wheel, and the whole suspension coming off...he was very unlucky to be killed...I suppose, if there should have been a guardrail instead, or a tire wall..."
"We are always looking for ways to improve safety standards," Watkins said. "And although there are higher now than they have ever been, you can never become complacent. There will always be risk in motor racing, as there is in any activity. I had a patient once who fell off a bar stool and broke his neck"
Sid tending to Ayrton, Imola
Professor Sid Watkins was brought in by Bernie Ecclestone in 1978 as chief surgeon and in 1981 his authority was extended to the FIA Medical Directorship. And during all this time he only once considered giving up "this part-time occupation". In 1987, after Sid had revived Nelson Piquet following a 200-mph head banger at Imola, he refused to let Piquet race again that weekend. Piquet was in a tight title race and tried to circumvent the doctor's decicion. Watkins said he would resign if overruled. He wasn't.
Piquest confesed months later that he had been unfit to drive. "Thank God he didn't leave," Piquest said. "He is our guardian Angel."
Senna's burial in Brazil
Parts of this blog are based on a loose translation from Dutch.
Sources: Car & Driver, 2002, article by Jerry Garret, and Avanti 2009, article by Simon Taylor.
Pictures courtesy of, among others: Motorsports.com, Avanti 2009.
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