20 Years On........................

The weekend of the 29th of April through to the 1st of May has been tinged with sadness for the past 20 years. They mark the anniversary of the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, a race meeting that many would rather forget. That weekend saw the death of a new F1 talent in Roland Ratzenberger and more infamously the death of possibly the greatest F1 driver that ever lived Ayrton Senna. I have vague memories of watching Senna's Williams FW16 bounce off the wall at Tamburello and come to rest on the edge of the track, images that will haunt many I'm sure for the rest of their lives.

Senna's accident is only part of a terrible story however. Friday practice saw Rubbens Barrichello's car mount the kerb at the Variante Bassa corner and literally fly into the tyre wall, rolling numerous times and coming to a rest upside down. Thankfully Rubens only suffered minor injuries but his weekend was over. If that accident wasn't bad enough Saturday brought worse. 20 minutes into qualifying Roland Ratzenberger left the road at the Villeneuve Curva due to his front wing failing and tucking in under his car lifting his two front wheels off the ground. This rendered his front brakes and steering useless and he hit the wall almost head on at a very high speed. The impact inflicted a basal skull fracture and the Austrian was pronounced dead in the Maggiore Hospital in Bologna. His death marked the first race meeting fatality since Ricciardo Paletti in 1982.

Sunday the 1st of May 1994 dawned with an air of sadness and reflection. Ratzenberger's accident marked the first time this generation of drivers had to deal with death in Formula 1 and it was a very difficult pill to swallow. Senna himself was noticeably out of character. Before the race started he sat in his car with his helmet off, a routine he never practiced before. His facial expression summed up the entire mood of the paddock. As the race started J.J Lehto's Benetton stalled and was collected by Pedro Lamy's Lotus. The impact sent debris from the two cars into the grandstands and several spectators suffered minor injuries. The safety car was immediately deployed. The race was restarted a few laps later and on the second lap of the restart Senna's car left the road at turn 1 "Tamburello". The Williams hit the wall at well over 100 miles and hour and when the car came to rest it was immediately obvious that the Brazillian was in trouble. Professor Sid Watkins and his medical team treated Senna on site before he was airlifted to the Maggiore Hospital. Professor Watkins would later remark that Senna sighed and his body relaxed as he was pulled from the wreckage. Watkins says he felt that that was the moment when his soul departed his body.

The race was restarted thirty seven minutes after the accident and was won by Michael Schumacher but there was nothing to celebrate. At 6:40 p.m. it was announced that Senna was clinically dead and the world of motorsport had lost one of the best. Senna's death had a silver lining however. His death prompted the reformation of the Grand Prix Driver's Association with the view to improve driver safety and as a result there has been no driver fatalities in Formula 1 since that awful weekend in 1994.

While Senna himself may be gone his legend lives on and there isn't a driver in the world who doesn't respect what he achieved or what he stood for. His like may never be seen again in this sport which makes his story more powerful and more tragic.

AYRTON SENNA DA SILVA         21st OF MARCH 1960 - 1st of MAY 1994

R.I.P.

What a Busy Week!!

I'm writing this blog just 9 hours shy of the start of Practice 1 for the Chinese Grand Prix and the excitement is building again!! There has been no shortness in drama this week in the world of Formula 1, as we've seen the "fuelgate" saga was finally resolved in the courts, Ferrari replace Stefano Domenicali with Marco Mattiacci as team principle and Gene Haas has been granted an entry for next year's championship although it could be deferred until 2016. Plenty to talk about!

On Monday, Red Bull racing saw their appeal for the disqualification of Daniel Ricciardo from second place in the Australian Grand Prix rejected thus bringing to an end what has been a fascinating story from the moment it broke. This whole episode has gone on to prove how difficult the new rules are. The FIA's fuel flow sensor, designed to ensure that the fuel flow rate of the car
does not exceed 100 kg/h, was not operating properly and Red Bull decided to rely on their own sensor which they said was more accurate but this resulted in their fuel flow rate being too high according to the FIA's sensor. It has transpired that following the FIA's sensor was costing them around 0.4 seconds a lap in comparison to their own. I have to say I agree with the verdict. We have entered into a new era in Formula 1 and of course there are going to be technical issues at the start but it's the same for everyone. If this appeal had been won by Red Bull I think it would have set a very bad precedent for the season. There needs to be order because there are certainly plenty of technological genius' in many of these teams and people with a keen talent in finding loopholes in the rules so we could easily have seen the championship descend into technological chaos.

Ferrari have had a change of management in the form of a new team principle. Marco Mattiacci will head the teams assault from now on and judging by their recent form it is the right time for a reshuffle. We saw the look on Luca Di Montezemolo's face during the Bahrain Grand Prix and, as has been widely publicised, he left halfway through the race. It was obvious something had to be done. When Raikkonen re-signed for Ferrari the prospect of Alonso and himself going head to head was mouthwatering but with the cars they have at the minute an attack for race victories doesn't look very likely. As I've already said it's a very new championship so you never know where they'll be in a few races time.

Also it looks like Formula 1 is set to get a 12th team for next year (or possibly 2016) in the form of  Haas Formula. Gene Haas who is better known is Nascar circles is bidding to become the next American team to enter into the sport. With the inclusion of the Circuit of the America's track in Texas on the F1 calender a few years ago it's good the see the American input for the teams side as well. That being said who can forget USF1's attempt to enter into the sport. It wasn't very successful at all and by basing the team in America Haas certainly isn't making things any easier for himself. Still, an american team in the sport can be nothing but positive for F1's ratings in the US so here's hoping it's a sucessful one.

So thats it for another week. I hope to start this year's rallying blog next week. I'l look back on the Circuit of Ireland rally which is this weekend and I'll also look ahead to the 2014 Monaghan Rally, my home one! Enjoy the rest of your week motorsport fans!

What A Show, Don't Ruin It!

What A Show, Don't Ruin It!

Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix, quite possibly one of the best Formula 1 races we have seen in the last decade, made me feel a range of different emotions. Passion: for a sport that I care deeply about there was nothing better than sitting on the edge of my seat watching the best drivers in the world fight it out tooth and nail for positions throughout the field. Confusion: Why the hell are some of the more prominent people in the sport still bad mouthing it?!

When the season started in Australia I watched with both intrigue and awe as the drivers hurtled these brand new cars around Albert Park in fantastic style and from the get go I have to say I was sold. Granted the engine isn't as noisy as previous years but what it provides is a car in which the drivers needs the use of all their skills to master. Lets move away from the engine noise for a second and consider some of the other aspects we have learned so far this season. We have an incredibly exciting intra - team rivalry between Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg that could possibly be on par with the Hill/Villeneuve or Prost/Senna battles to name a few. We have a four time World Champion in Sebastian Vettel who now has a car that certainly that no longer leads the pack and has a teammate who can really give him a run for his money. How he deals with this will be fascinating to watch throughout the season. You have overtaking...........LOTS of overtaking, the very thing fans have been demanding for years and Bahrain proved that we now have it in abundance. This new Formula 1 has a bit of everything!

So why do we still have the Bernie Eccelstones  and the Luca Di Montezemolos of this world crying out for change. We have heard numerous complaints including that the fuel limit is too low and is negatively effecting the racing. As far as I'm concerned I haven't seen anything to suggest that the racing is going in the wrong direction. I have heard reports that all of the attacks by certain prominent individuals in the sport are aimed at devaluing the sport so it can be bought out. If this is true than it is a travesty. I am a firm believer that  politics have no place in sport but unfortunately it's roots are long and deep within Formula 1. The last thing we want is a repeat of the fiasco we had with the FISA-FOCA war in the late 70s and early 80s. They are damaging, ugly and take away from the spectacle that is motor racing. Unfortunately it comes with the package that is Formula 1. As Ayrton Senna said early in his Formula 1 career "Formula 1 is money, Formula 1 is politics."

2014 has started on the right foot but thats the key word, "started". These new rules have only had 3 races, it is essential that the sport does not rush into making drastic changes at this early stage. The sport has under gone one of the biggest face lifts it has has ever experienced and need time to adjust. Things as they stand now will be very different come the end of the year, theres is very little doubt that the gap Mercedes have over the rest of the field at the minute won't decrease before the end of the season for example. For the moment lets enjoy what has been an exciting start to the 2014 Formula 1 season.