He crash itself was seemingly innocuous because, despite the telemetry later revealing that he was travelling at 193mph when he left the track, the collision itself appeared to be glancing and nobody was prepared for outcome that followed.
Tens of thousands of Italian Formula 1 fans looked on, open mouthed and disbelieving as Professor Sid Watkins performed an emergency tracheotomy on the driver whom he later confessed was already beyond saving. Professor Watkins was later quoted as saying “He looked serene. I raised his eyelids and it was clear from his pupils that he had a massive brain injury. We lifted him from the cockpit and laid him on the ground. As we did, he sighed and, although I am totally agnostic, I felt his soul depart at that moment.”
Despite numerous conspiracy theories about what actually happened that day, it is generally accepted that the impact of the collision had caused one of the suspension beams to come adrift, piercing Senna’s helmet and causing inter-cranial trauma just above his right eye. The incident followed a period of six laps where the drivers had been under the control of the safety-car and it was clear from the on-board camera on Michael Schumacher’s Benetton that Senna’s car was suffering from a notable loss of traction as the race restarted.
Suspicion also surrounds the events that led to the fatal accident and the question of whether Senna was actually dead when his body was flown from the circuit.The conspiracy theories
Television pictures of the last couple of seconds before the impact have never been available for viewing by the general public. The host broadcasters have always maintained that the director switched away from Senna’s on-board camera, quite coincidentally, approximately 1.5 seconds before the impact. However, rumours are rife that the footage does exist and that they clearly show Senna trying to turn the steering wheel of the car without any resultant movement at the wheels. Other stories tell of the Senna looking down into the cockpit of the car in the instant before it left the track and even the steering wheel itself coming off in his hands.
Ayrton Senna was not pronounced dead at the track and the official line is that he died from his injuries later in hospital. Under Italian law, a death at any sporting event must be investigated and the event cancelled and this has led to speculation that he was artificially kept alive, despite his brain having died, until he had reached the hospital. This appears to be confirmed in the post-mortem report although this too has since been contested.
That was probably the saddest of all sports accidents.