Senna case reopened in Italy

**4me2** · 29th January 2003

Almost ten years after the death of Ayrton Senna at Imola on 1st May 1994, the Italian Supreme Court has upheld an appeal by Procurator General Rinaldo Rosini to re-open an inquest into the causes of the tragedy. Senna was killed in the San Marino GP when his Williams hit the barrier at Tamburello corner, on a weekend which had earlier claimed the life of Roland Ratzenberger.

At the original hearing, Frank Williams, Patrick Head and Adrian Newey were all cleared of the charge of culpable homicide on the grounds that there was insufficient proof that Senna�s accident had been caused by a design and production fault in the steering column of his Williams. Rosini has campaigned against this decision. No date has been fixed for the new hearing

http://www.f1racing.net/news.php?ID=53674

**bagone** · 2nd February 2003

i thought they had proved it wasnt the steering that caused it ???? i saw a program early last year about the official report .the crash was put down to an earlier shunt 8 laps earlier and they spent 4 laps behind the pace car .there were no rules about minimum ride height then so while behind the pace car the tires cooled and lost pressure .so when the race restarted as he went to turn into the corner the car bottomed out causing no downforce and the front lifted.they slowed the film down and u cud see the front wheels turn but were not in contact with the floor.

**blaggard** · 19th February 2003

Sennas family should be taking the Italian authorities to court...it was their barrier that killed him !!!

**panther** · 26th February 2003

Originally posted by blaggard
Sennas family should be taking the Italian authorities to court...it was their barrier that killed him !!!

To be fair I don't think you can blame the barrier for doing its job. I read that the impact itself wouldn't have been enough to cause serious injury but it was the wheel flying into the cockpit and hitting his head that killed him.

**blaggard** · 26th February 2003

about as fair as the case against Williams, it was a racing accident. I don't imagine Senna thought he was likely to die in his bed!! Anyway, maybe we'll get some real racing once the new regs sort themselves out, about time, I'd given up on F1 after 35 years of supporting it