In the summer of 1994...

“Oh no, not again.”

Those were the words on everyone’s mind in Italy, near the town of Imola, and, in fact, around the world. Triple World Champion Ayrton Senna had just crashed his Williams-Renault at the infamous Tamburello corner at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari. And he had crashed hard.
It was Sunday, May 1, 1994, and Formula One was having a black, black weekend. Just the day before the sport had experienced it’s first fatal accident in twelve years. During qualifying for the San Marino Grand Prix, the third race of the 1994 World Championship, Austrian Roland Ratzenberger had crashed his Simtek-Ford at the Villeneuve kink. A part of his front wing had broken off due to damage suffered on the previous lap. The loss of downforce caused the driver to fail navigating the next corner. Ratzenberger’s car rocketed into a concrete wall at over 310 km/h. Wings, radiators, wheels and hundreds of other parts were violently ripped off the car on impact, and Ratzenberger, a rookie in only his third Grand Prix weekend, died.
Ayrton Senna had watched the accident on the closed-circuit TV screen in his Williams pit box. He didn’t like what he saw — instantly knew something had to be very wrong as Ratzenberger’s helmet leaned onto the side of the cockpit. With the Simtek in the middle of the track, a red flag was shown, indicating that the qualifying session had been interrupted. Senna summoned the Safety Car driver to take him to Villeneuve corner, demonstrating his concern with the matter. Rescue marshals at the scene soon realised Ratzenberger was beyond help. The 33-year-old was flown to nearby Maggiore hospital in Bologna, where he was pronounced dead only minutes after arriving.

Ratzenberger’s accident wasn’t the only ferocious accident that weekend, though. On Friday, during practice, Rubens Barrichello had suffered a major impact with the track fencing in his Jordan-Hart. The Brazilian had entered the penultimate corner much, much faster than usual, touching the kerbs on the inside of the chicane, moving him off course to make the corner. At 225 km/h the Jordan careered off the track, clearing the tire walls and hitting the fence. The car disintegrated, somersaulted, and landed upside down — its driver injured and about to swallow his tongue. Formula One’s medical officer, professor Sid Watkins, prevented this from happening, thus saving Barrichello’s life. The young Brazilian escaped with only a broken nose and wrist, returning to the paddock the next day, and racing again in the next Grand Prix at Monaco, two weeks later.
And sadly, even that wasn’t all, because at the start of the race, J.J. Lehto stalled his Benetton-Ford. And, while as many as sixteen cars missed the Finn, Pedro Lamy found his view blocked by the other drivers, brutally colliding with the stationary Benetton. Wreckage of the cars was launched over the debris fences and into the grandstand, injuring as many as nine spectators. With the main straight in disarray, race control decided to send out the Safety Car. It would curb the field for a few laps to allow marshals to clean up the shards of the accident.
After all debris from the start line collision had been cleared, the drivers were sent off once more. Senna led the pack, having started from pole position, but was closely followed by Michael Schumacher. Then, disaster struck once more. On lap 6, Senna’s car went straight on at the infamous Tamburello corner. And while a narrow strip of tarmac run-off slowed down the Williams-Renault from over 300 km/h, it crashed into the concrete wall at 218 km/h. Immense forces tore the car apart, and it bounced back onto the circuit, with parts flying through the air. Senna slid to a halt beside the track, and, like the Brazilian had witnessed a day earlier at Ratzenberger’s crash, now his own helmet leaned on the side of his cockpit. And didn’t move again.

source : http://www.encounterdownunder.com/story/prologue/